Cocoa and Chocolate | Page 9

appears naked, save on
the rare occasions when it is stripped by the wind, and the leaves are
green all the year round, save when they are red, if the reader will
pardon an Hibernianism. And indeed there is something contrary in the
crimson tint, for whilst we usually associate this with old leaves about

to fall, with the cacao, as with some rose trees, it is the tint of the young
leaves.
[Illustration: CACAO PODS.]

The Cacao Pod.
The fruit, which hangs on a short thick stalk, may be anything in shape
from a melon to a stumpy, irregular cucumber, according to the botanic
variety. The intermediate shape is like a lemon, with furrows from end
to end. There are pods, called Calabacillo, smooth and ovate like a
calabash, and there are others, more rare, so "nobbly" that they are
well-named "Alligator." The pods vary in length from five to eleven
inches, "with here and there the great pod of all, the blood-red
sangre-tora." The colours of the pods are as brilliant as they are various.
They are rich and strong, and resemble those of the rind of the
pomegranate. One pod shows many shades of dull crimson, another
grades from gold to the yellow of leather, and yet another is all
lack-lustre pea-green. They may be likened to Chinese lanterns hanging
in the woods. One does not conclude from the appearance of the pod
that the contents are edible, any more than one would surmise that
tea-leaves could be used to produce a refreshing drink. I say as much to
the planter, who smiles. With one deft cut with his machete or cutlass,
which hangs in a leather scabbard by his side, the planter severs the pod
from the tree, and with another slash cuts the thick, almost woody rind
and breaks open the pod. There is disclosed a mass of some thirty or
forty beans, covered with juicy pulp. The inside of the rind and the
mass of beans are gleaming white, like melting snow. Sometimes the
mass is pale amethyst in colour. I perceive a pleasant odour resembling
melon. Like little Jack Horner, I put in my thumb and pull out a
snow-white bean. It is slippery to hold, so I put it in my mouth. The
taste is sweet, something between grape and melon. Inside this fruity
coating is the bean proper. From different pods we take beans and cut
them in two, and find that the colour of the bean varies from purple
almost to white.

[Illustration: CUT POD, REVEALING THE WHITE PULP ROUND
THE BEANS (CEYLON.)]
[Illustration: CACAO PODS, SHEWING BEANS INSIDE.]

Botanical Description.
Theobroma Cacao belongs to the family of the Sterculiaceae, and to the
same order as the Limes and Mallows. It is described in Strasburger's
admirable Text-Book of Botany as follows:
"Family. Sterculiaceae.
IMPORTANT GENERA. The most important plant is the Cocoa Tree
(Theobroma Cacao). It is a low tree with short-stalked, firm, brittle,
simple leaves of large size, oval shape, and dark green colour. The
young leaves are of a bright red colour, and, as in many tropical trees,
hang limply downwards. The flowers are borne on the main stem or the
older branches, and arise from dormant axillary buds (Cauliflory). Each
petal is bulged up at the base, narrows considerably above this, and
ends in an expanded tip. The form of the reddish flowers is thus
somewhat urn-shaped with five radiating points. The pentalocular
ovary has numerous ovules in each loculus. As the fruit develops, the
soft tissue of the septa extends between the single seeds; the ripe fruit is
thus unilocular and many-seeded. The seed-coat is filled by the embryo,
which has two large, folded, brittle cotyledons."
The last sentence conveys an erroneous impression. The two
cotyledons, which form the seed, are not brittle when found in nature in
the pod. They are juicy and fleshy. And it is only after the seed has
received special treatment (fermentation and drying) to obtain the bean
of commerce, that it becomes brittle.

Varieties of Theobroma Cacao.

As mentioned above, the pods and seeds of Theobroma Cacao trees
show a marked variation, and in every country the botanist has studied
these variations and classified the trees according to the shape and
colour of the pods and seeds. The existence of so many classifications
has led to a good deal of confusion, and we are indebted to Van Hall
for the simplest way of clearing up these difficulties. He accepts the
classification first given by Morris, dividing the trees into two
varieties--Criollo and Forastero:
[Illustration: DRAWINGS OF TYPICAL PODS, illustrating varieties.
CRIOLLO FORASTERO FORASTERO (CALABACILLO
VARIETY)]

Extremes of Characteristics.
Criollo. Forastero.
(Old Red, Caracas, etc.) Grading from Cundeamor (bottle-necked) to
Calabacillo (smooth).
Pod walls. Thin and warty. Thick and woody.