We have already called attention to the simple process by which the
natives of Central America prepared a nutritious beverage from the
seeds of the chocolate-plant. The essential features of this process,
modified and greatly improved by modern science, are worthy of
consideration at this time.
The selected cocoa-beans are first cleaned from the dust and attached
particles which have come from various sources during the fermentation
of the seeds. The machines for cleaning the beans are very ingenious
and effective, removing from the seed-coat every trace of foreign
matter.
The cleaned seeds are next roasted in the most careful manner, every
precaution being taken to secure a uniform effect through the whole
mass. During the roasting the seeds change color somewhat and become
more or less modified in taste. In under-roasted seeds the flavor is
not fully developed, while in over-roasted seeds the pleasant taste is
likely to become greatly impaired, or it may even be wholly replaced by
a bitter and harsh flavor. These relations of color and taste to the
roasting of the seeds make this portion of the manufacture one of the
most delicate processes from beginning to end.
By the roasting the shell becomes more readily detachable, and its
complete removal is the next step. The crushing of the seeds into small
fragments is easily accomplished; and this is followed by a thorough
winnowing, by which the lighter shells are carried away by themselves,
leaving the clean fragments of the roasted seeds ready for further
manipulation.
Among the fragments can be detected minute and very tough bits of
tissue. These bits are the hardened germs, or rather portions of the
germs, and these are separated from the rest by an apparatus of much
simplicity and efficiency.
The clean shells are usually placed at once in packages for
transportation. They are extensively used for the domestic preparation
of a wholesome and very low-priced drink. This beverage contains a fair
proportion of the active principle of the chocolate-seeds themselves,
and the flavor is suggestive of chocolate.
The cleaned fragments constitute the so-called “cocoa-nibs” of some
foreign markets, and in this state they are used for the preparation of
a simple decoction. But in this form they require to be boiled a good
while for the development of flavor, and it is therefore better to have
them treated beforehand in order to reduce the time of boiling; and
this is all the more necessary, since during the long boiling a part
of the more delicate aroma peculiar to chocolate-seeds is apt to be
dissipated.
We are next to trace these fragments, through the chocolate-mill, and
afterwards follow similar fragments through the cocoa-factory.
In the preparation of chocolate, the fragments are ground by a
complicated mechanism until they attain the greatest degree of
fineness, and constitute a perfectly homogeneous mass or paste. If the
chocolate is to be a plain chocolate, it is to receive its delicate
flavoring and then go directly into the moulds for shaping it. Every
step of the process has to be watched with the most assiduous care.
When the chocolate is formed and properly cooled, it is wrapped and
packed for the market.
But if the chocolate is to be sweetened, a definite amount of the
purest sugar, previously pulverized, is to be added, the whole ground
and commingled, the proper flavoring of pure vanilla added, and the
semi-solid mass formed in moulds as before. After being moulded it is
sent to the packing-room and wrapped.
The variations in the process are innumerable, but all of them
are comparatively unimportant when taken singly; the skill in the
manufacture requires that each of these slight changes should be made
at just the right time and in the right way. In the manufacture of
Walter Baker and Co.’s chocolate, this skill has become developed to a
very high degree during the hundred years of success. That the firm is
ready to avail itself of every appliance known in modern manufacture,
is seen by their adoption of the complicated machinery illustrated on
page 29. This chocolate-machine has a capacity of five tons of pure
chocolate daily. It is accessible to visitors, who may apply at the
office in Dorchester for permission to see it in operation.
It is unnecessary to detail the steps of manufacture of many of the
chocolate specialties of the firm.
We turn now to the consideration of breakfast cocoa.
The manufacture of breakfast cocoa is based upon two important factors:
first, the removal of a definite portion of the cocoa-oil from the
roasted seeds; and second, increasing the miscibility of the powdered
seeds by securing the greatest practicable degree of fineness.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE CHOCOLATE-MACHINES AT THE MANUFACTORY OF
WALTER BAKER & CO.