Cocoa and Chocolate | Page 7

the finished article,
it should be remembered that there are substantial losses in
manufacture. Thus the beans are cleaned, which removes up to 0.5 per
cent.; roasted, which causes a loss by volatilisation of 7 per cent.; and
shelled, the husks being about 12 per cent. Therefore, the actual yield
of usable nib, which has to bear the whole duty, is about 80 per cent. It
may be well to add that the yield of cocoa powder is 48 per cent. of the
raw beans, or roughly, one pound of the raw product yields half a
pound of the finished article.

Introduction of Cocoa Powder.
The drink "cocoa" as we know it to-day was not introduced until 1828.
Before this time the ground bean, mixed with sugar, was sold in cakes.
The beverage prepared from these chocolate cakes was very rich in
butter, and whilst the British Navy has always consumed it in this
condition (the sailors generally remove with a spoon the excess of
butter which floats to the top) it is a little heavy for less hardy
digestions. Van Houten (of the well-known Dutch house of that name)
in 1828 invented a method of pressing out part of the butter, and thus
obtained a lighter, more appetising, and more easily assimilated
preparation. As the butter is useful in chocolate manufacture, this
process enabled the manufacturer to produce a less costly cocoa
powder, and thus the circle of consumers was widened. Messrs.
Cadbury Bros., of Birmingham, first sold their "cocoa essence" in 1866,
and Messrs. Fry and Sons, of Bristol, introduced a pure cocoa by
pressing out part of the butter in 1868.

Growing Popularity of Cacao Preparations.
The incidence of import duties did not prevent the continuous increase

in the amount of cacao consumed in the British Isles. When Queen
Victoria came to the throne the cacao cleared for home consumption
was about four or five thousand tons, more than half of which was
consumed by the Navy. At the time of Queen Victoria's death it had
increased to four times this amount, and by 1915 it had reached nearly
fifty thousand tons. (For statistics of consumption, see p. 183).
* * * * *
This brief sketch of the history of cacao owes much to "Cocoa--all
about it," by Historicus (the pseudonym of the late Richard Cadbury).
This work is out of print, but those who are fortunate enough to be able
to consult it will find therein much that is curious and discursive.
[Illustration: ANCIENT MEXICAN DRINKING CUPS (British
Museum)]


CHAPTER II
CACAO AND ITS CULTIVATION
O tree, upraised in far-off Mexico!
"Ode to the Chocolate Tree," 1664.
How seldom do we think, when we drink a cup of cocoa or eat some
morsels of chocolate, that our liking for these delicacies has set minds
and bodies at work all the world over! Many types of humanity have
contributed to their production. Picture in the mind's eye the graceful
coolie in the sun-saturated tropics, moving in the shade, cutting the
pods from the cacao tree; the deep-chested sailor helping to load from
lighters or surf-boats the precious bags of cacao into the hold of the
ocean liner; the skilful workman roasting the beans until they fill the
room with a fine aroma; and the girl with dexterous fingers packing the

cocoa or fashioning the chocolate in curious, and delicate forms. To the
black and brown races, the negroes and the East Indians, we owe a debt
for their work on tropical plantations, for the harder manual work
would be too arduous for Europeans unused to the heat of those
regions.

Climate Necessary.
Cacao can only grow at tropical temperatures, and when shielded from
the wind and unimpaired by drought. Enthusiasts, as a hobby, have
grown the tree under glass in England; it requires a warmer temperature
than either tea or coffee, and only after infinite care can one succeed in
getting the tree to flower and bear fruit. The mean temperature in the
countries in which it thrives is about 80 degrees F. in the shade, and the
average of the maximum temperatures is seldom more than 90 degrees
F., or the average of the minimum temperatures less than 70 degrees F.
The rainfall can be as low as 45 inches per annum, as in the Gold Coast,
or as high as 150 inches, as in Java, provided the fall is uniformly
distributed. The ideal spot is the secluded vale, and whilst in Venezuela
there are plantations up to 2000 feet above sea level, cacao cannot
generally be profitably cultivated above 1000 feet.

Factors of Geographical Distribution.
Climate, soil, and manures determine the possible region of
cultivation--the extent to which the area is utilised depends on the
enterprise of man. The original