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THE FOOD OF THE GODS
[Greek: _Theô Brôma_]
A Popular Account of Cocoa
by
BRANDON HEAD
London: R. Brimley Johnson
4, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
1903
[Illustration--Colour Plate: EAST INDIAN COOLIES ON A TRINIDAD
CACAO ESTATE]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. ITS NATURE 1
II. ITS GROWTH AND CULTIVATION 25
III. ITS MANUFACTURE 45
IV. ITS HISTORY 71
V. ITS SOURCES AND VARIETIES 91
Appendices:
ANCIENT MANUFACTURE OF COCOA 103
BOURNVILLE WORKS SUGGESTION SCHEME 106
THE EARLY COCOA HOUSES 109
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS.
PAGE
EAST INDIAN COOLIES OF A TRINIDAD CACAO ESTATE
(COLOURED) frontispiece
CEYLON, A HILL CACAO ESTATE to face 1
"MAKE A CUP OF COCOA IN PERFECTION" (see p. 19) 1
CACAO TREES, TRINIDAD to face 3
ANCIENT MEXICAN DRINKING CUPS 4
"MOLINILLO," OR CHOCOLATE WHISK 5
CACAO HARVEST, TRINIDAD to face 7
THE COCO-NUT PALM 8
COCO-DE-MER 9
LEAVES AND FLOWER OF THE CUCA SHRUB 10
GATHERING CACAO: SANTA CRUZ, TRINIDAD to face 11
PURE DECORTICATED COCOA, MAGNIFIED 12
ADULTERATED COCOA, MAGNIFIED 13
HOW THE CACAO GROWS to face 17
CACAO CROP, TRINIDAD " 21
ANALYTICAL APPARATUS 20
CACAO PODS (COLOURED) to face 25
CACAO HARVESTING 25
CEYLON, NURSERY OF CACAO SEEDLINGS to face 27
SAMOA: CACAO IN ITS FOURTH YEAR " 29
YOUNG CACAO CULTIVATION WITH CATCH CROP " 30
PODS OF CACAO THEOBROMA 31
VARIETIES OF THE CACAO to face 32
THE HOME OF THE CACAO " 35
ORTINOLA, MARACAS, TRINIDAD " 36
GOULET AND WOODEN SPOON 37
CUTLASSES 37
CACAO DRYING IN THE SUN to face 39
LABOURERS' COTTAGE, CACAO ESTATE " 40
BASKETS OF CACAO ON PLANTAIN LEAVES 41
CACAO TREE AND SEEDLING (COLOURED) to face 43
BOURNVILLE: "THE FACTORY IN A GARDEN" " 45
" "ON ARRIVAL AT THE FACTORY" 45
" OFFICE BUILDINGS to face 47
" CRICKET PAVILION " 49
" GIRLS' DINING-HALL " 51
" BOOT-SHELF ON STOOL 53
" THE DINNER HOUR to face 54
" LABURNAM ROAD " 58
" PACKING-ROOM " 60
" SUGGESTION BOX 62
" LINDEN ROAD to face 63
" FISHING POOL " 64
" ALMSHOUSES " 67
SECTION OF A COCOA FACTORY (COLOURED) " 69
AMERICAN INDIAN WITH CHOCOLATE POT 71
NATIVE AMERICANS PREPARING COCOA to face 72
A CACAO PLANTATION 75
GRENADA: CACAO DRYING ON TRAYS to face 77
MEXICAN DRINKING-VESSELS AND WHISK 78
CACAO TREE, TRINIDAD to face 80
MEXICAN COCOA WHISK 83
WHITE'S COCOA HOUSE to face 87
CHART OF COCOA-PRODUCING COUNTRIES (COLOURED) to face 91
SACKS OF CACAO BEANS " 91
MARACAS VALLEY, TRINIDAD " 92
MAP OF TRINIDAD (COLOURED) " 95
" GRENADA, BRITISH WEST INDIES 96
CACAO ESTATE, GRENADA to face 96
MAP OF PRINCIPE 97
" S. THOMÉ 98
CEYLON: CARTING CACAO TO RAIL to face 99
MAP OF CEYLON 99
" SAMOA 100
SAMOA, CLEARING FOR CACAO to face 100
MEXICAN GRINDING-STONE 104
[Illustration--Black & White Plate: Ceylon: A Hill Cacao Estate.]
"THE FOOD OF THE GODS."
I. ITS NATURE.
[Illustration--Drawing: "MAKE A CUP OF COCOA IN PERFECTION"]
When one thinks of the marvellously nourishing and stimulating virtue
of cocoa, and of the exquisite and irresistible dainties prepared from
it, one cannot wonder that the great Linnæus should have named it
_theo broma_, "the food of the gods." No other natural product, with
the exception of milk, can be said to serve equally well as food or
drink, or to possess nourishing and stimulating properties in such
well-adjusted proportions. Few, however, realize that in its
stimulating properties cocoa ranks ahead of coffee, though below tea.
As a matter of fact, the active principles of all three are alkaloids,
practically identical and equally effective.[1] Each derives its value
from its influence on the nervous system, which it stimulates, while
checking the waste of tissue, but the cocoa-bean provides in addition
solid food to replace wasted tissue. It is, indeed, so closely allied
in composition to pure dried milk, that in this respect there is
little to choose between an absolutely pure cocoa essence and the
natural fluid.[2] It is this which makes it invaluable as an
alternative food for invalids or infants.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Cacao Trees, Trinidad.]
An early English writer on this valuable product spoke truly when he
remarked: "All the American travellers have written such panegyricks,
that I should degrade this royal liquor if I should offer any; yet
several of these curious travellers and physicians do agree in this,
that the cocoa has a wonderful faculty of quenching thirst, allaying
hectick heats, of nourishing and fattening the body."
A modern writer[3] affords the same testimony in a more practical form
when he records that: "Cocoa is of domestic drinks the most
alimentary; it is without any exception the cheapest food that we can
conceive, as it may be literally termed meat and drink, and were our
half-starved artisans and over-worked factory children induced to
drink it, instead of the in-nutritious beverage called tea, its
nutritive qualities would soon develop themselves in their improved
looks and more robust condition."
Such a drink well deserved the treatment it received at the hands of
the Mexicans to whom we are indebted for it. At the royal banquets
frothing chocolate was served in golden goblets with finely wrought
golden or tortoise-shell spoons. The froth in this case was of the
consistency of honey, so that when eaten cold it would gradually
dissolve in the mouth. Here is a luscious suggestion for twentieth
century housewives, handed to them from five hundred years ago!
[Illustration--Drawing: ANCIENT MEXICAN DRINKING CUPS.
(_British Museum._)]
In health or sickness, infancy or age, at home or on our travels,
nothing is so generally useful, so sustaining and invigorating. Far
better than the majority of vaunted substitutes for human milk as an
infant's food, to supplement what other milk may be available;
incomparable as a family drink for breakfast or supper, when both tea
and coffee are really out of place unless the latter is nearly all
milk; prepared as chocolate to eat on journeys, and in many other
ways, cocoa is a constant stand-by. Travelling in Eastern deserts on
mule-back, the present writer has never been without a tin of cocoa
essence if he could help it, as, whatever straits he might be put to
for provisions, so long as he had this and water, refreshment was
possible, and whenever milk was available he had command in his lonely
tent of a luxury unsurpassed in Paris or London. For the sustenance of
invalids he has found nothing better in the home-land than a nightly
cup of cocoa essence boiled with milk.
[Illustration--Drawing: MOLINILLO (LITTLE MILL) OR CHOCOLATE WHISK.]
Add to these experiences a love for the flavour which dates from
childhood, and his admiration for this "food of the gods" will be
appreciated, even if not sympathized in, by the few who have escaped
its spell. Its value in the eyes of practical as well as scientific
men is sufficiently demonstrated by its increasing use in naval and
military commissariats, in hospitals, and in public institutions of
all classes. In the British Navy, which down to 1830 consumed more
cocoa than the rest of the nation together, it is served out daily,
and in the army twice or thrice a week. Brillat Savarin, the author of
the "Physiologie du Goût," remarks: "The persons who habitually take
chocolate are those who enjoy the most equable and constant health,
and are least liable to a multitude of illnesses which spoil the
enjoyment of life."
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: A Cacao Harvest, Trinidad.]
It certainly behoves us, therefore, to learn something more of such a
valuable article than may be gleaned from the perusal of an
advertisement, or the instructions on a packet containing it. There is
something more than usually fascinating even in its history, in all
the tales regarding this treasure-trove of the New World, and in the
curious methods by which it has been treated. The story of its
discovery takes us into the atmosphere of the Elizabethan period, and
into the company of Cortes and Columbus; to learn of its cultivation
and preparation we are transported to the glorious realms of the
tropics, and to some of the most healthful centres of labour in the
old country--in one case to the model village of the English Midlands.
It is therefore an exceedingly pleasant round that lies before us in
investigating this subject, as well as one which will afford much
useful knowledge for every-day life.
Before proceeding to a closer acquaintance with the origin of cocoa,
it may be well to clear the ground of possible misconceptions which
occasionally cause confusion.
[Illustration--Drawing: THE COCO-NUT PALM.]
First, there is the word "cocoa" itself, an unfortunate inversion of
the name of the tree from which it is derived, the cacao.[4] A still
more unfortunate corruption is that of "coco-nut" to "cocoa-nut,"
which is altogether inexcusable. In this case it is therefore quite
correct to drop the concluding "a," as the coco-nut has nothing
whatever to do with cocoa or the cacao, being the fruit of a palm[5]
in every way distinct from it, as will be seen from the accompanying
illustration.
[Illustration--Drawing: COCO-DE-MER.]
The name "coco" is also applied to another quite distinct fruit, the
_coco-de-mer_, or "sea-coco," somewhat resembling a coco-nut in its
pod, but weighing about 28 lbs., and likewise growing on a lofty tree;
its habitat is the Seychelles Islands. Sometimes also, confusion
arises between the cacao and the coca or cuca,[6] a small shrub like
a blackthorn, also widely cultivated in Central America, from the
leaves of which the powerful narcotic cocaine is extracted.
[Illustration--Drawing: LEAVES AND FLOWER OF THE CUCA SHRUB.]
In the second place, the name "cocoa," which is strictly applicable
only to the pure ground nib or its concentrated essence, is sometimes
unjustifiably applied to preparations of cocoa with starch, alkali,
sugar, etc., which it would be more correct to describe as "chocolate
powder," chocolate being admittedly a confection of cocoa with other
substances and flavourings.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Gathering Cacao: Santa Cruz,
Trinidad.]
"Chocolate" is, therefore, a much wider term than "cocoa,"
embracing both the food and the drink prepared from the cacao, and is
the Mexican name, _chocolatl_, slightly modified, having nothing to do
with the word cacao, in Mexican _cacauatl_.[7] In the New World it was
compounded of cacao, maize, and flavourings to which the Spaniards, on
discovering it, added sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and other ingredients,
such as musk and ambergris, cloves and nutmegs, almonds and
pistachios, anise, and even red peppers or chillies. "Sometimes," says
a treatise on "The Natural History of Chocolate," "China [quinine] and
assa [foetida?]; and sometimes steel and rhubarb, may be added for
young and green ladies."
In our own times it is unfortunately common to add potato-starch,
arrowroot, etc., to the cocoa, and yet to sell it by the name of the
pure article. Such preparations thicken in the cup, and are preferred
by some under the mistaken impression that this is a sign of its
containing more nutriment instead of less. Although not so wholesome,
there could be no objection to these additions so long as the
preparations were not labelled "cocoa," and were sold at a lower
price.
[Illustration--Drawing: PURE DECORTICATED COCOA, HIGHLY MAGNIFIED.]
Such adulteration is rendered possible by the presence in the bean of
a large proportion of fatty matter or cocoa-butter, which renders it
too rich for most digestions. To overcome this difficulty one or other
of two methods is available: (1) Lowering the percentage of fat by the
addition of starch, sugar, etc.; or (2) removing a large proportion of
the fat by some extractive process; this latter method being in every
respect preferable to that first mentioned.
[Illustration--Drawing: COCOA ADULTERATED WITH ARROWROOT OR POTATO STARCH.]
In order to avoid the expense and trouble consequent on the latter
process, some manufacturers add alkali, by which means the free fatty
acids are saponified, and the fat is held in a state of emulsion, thus
giving the cocoa a false appearance of solubility.
Another effect of the alkali is to impart to the beverage a much
darker colour, from its action on the natural red colouring matter of
the cocoa, this darkening being often taken, unfortunately, as
indicative of increased strength. On this account the presence of
added alkali should be regarded as an adulteration, unless notified on
the package in which the cocoa is contained.
A more subtle treatment with alkali for the same purpose is the
addition to the pulverized bean of carbonate of ammonia, or caustic
ammonia. This is afterwards volatilized by the application of heat.
Scents and flavourings are then added to disguise their smell and
taste.
Besides these combinations of cocoa with starch, sugar, etc., and
cocoa treated with alkali, there are now found on the market mixtures
of cocoa with such substances as kola, malt, hops, etc., sold under
strange-sounding names, reminding one of the many mixtures that are
made up as medicines rather than food. While the substances thus
incorporated are of value in their place, they possess no virtues
which are absent from the pure cocoa, and cannot be in any way
considered an improvement of cocoa as food. The sooner this practice
of drug taking under cover of diet comes to an end the better it will
be for the national health.
Formerly Venetian red, umber, peroxide of iron, and even brick-dust,
were employed to produce a cheaper article, but modern science and
legislation combined have rendered such practices almost impossible.
As early as the reign of George III. an Act[8] was passed, providing
that, "if any article made to resemble cocoa shall be found in the
possession of any dealer, under the name of 'American cocoa' or
'English cocoa,' or any other name of cocoa, it shall be forfeited,
and the dealer shall forfeit £100." Yet this Act was allowed to become
so much a dead letter that in 1851 the _Lancet_ published the analysis
of fifty-six preparations sold as "cocoa," of which only eight were
free from adulteration. In some of the "soluble cocoas," the
adulteration was as high as 65 per cent., potato starch in one case
forming 50 per cent. of the sample. The majority of the samples were
found to be coloured with mineral or earthy pigments, and specimens
treated with red lead are on exhibition at South Kensington.
The inclusion of the husk or shell in some of the cheaper forms of
chocolate is another reprehensible practice (strongly condemned), as
they do not possess the qualities for which the kernel or nib is so
highly prized. To prevent this practice it was enacted in 1770 that
the shells or husks should be seized or destroyed, and the officer
seizing them rewarded up to 20s. per hundredweight. From these a
light, but not unpalatable, table decoction is still prepared in
Ireland and elsewhere, under the designation of "miserables."
Among other beverages which have from time to time been produced from
the cacao was a fermented drink much in vogue at the Mexican Court, to
which it appears from the accounts of the conquest that Montezuma was
addicted, as "after the hot dishes (300 in number) had been removed,
every now and then was handed to him a golden pitcher filled with a
kind of liquor made from cacao, which is very exciting." One variety,
called _zaca_, drunk by the Itzas, consisted of cocoa mixed with a
fermented liquor prepared from maize; but a more harmless invention
was a drink composed of cocoa-butter and maize.
[Illustration--Black and White Photgraph: How the Cacao Grows.
(Showing Leaf, Flower, and Fruit.)]
There remain three forms in which pure cocoa may be prepared as a
beverage:
1. _Cocoa-nibs._--The natural broken segments of the roasted
cocoa-bean, after the shell has been removed, prepared for table as an
infusion by prolonged simmering.
It is strange that this ridiculous and wasteful means is still in use
at all, as next to none of the valuable portions of the nib are
extracted. The quantity of matter removed by the hot water is so
small, that close upon 90 per cent, of the nourishing and feeding
constituents are left behind in the undissolved sediment, the
substances extracted being principally salts and colouring matters.
One can but suppose that the long habit of drinking an infusion from
coffee-beans and tea-leaves has fixed in the mind the erroneous idea
that the substance of the cocoa-bean is also valueless. The fact
remains, however, that it is still customary at some hydropathic
establishments, and perhaps in a few other instances, for doctors to
order "nibs" for their patient, which may sometimes be accounted for
by injury having resulted from drinking one of the many "faked" cocoas
offered for sale; the order for "nibs" being a despairing effort to
obtain the genuine article.
2. _Consolidated Nibs_--_i.e._, cocoa-nibs ground between heated
stones, whence it flows in a paste of the consistency of cream, which,
when cool, hardens into a cake containing all the cocoa-butter. Cocoa
in this form (mixed with sugar before cooling) is served in the
British Navy--a somewhat wasteful and inconvenient practice, as when
stirred, the excess of fat at once floats to the top of the cup, and
is generally removed with a spoon, to make the drink more appetising.
3. _Cocoa Essence._--This is the same article as No. 2, with about 60
per cent, of the natural butter removed; consequently the proportion
of albuminous and stimulating elements is greatly increased. It is
prepared instantly by pouring boiling water upon it, thus forming a
light beverage with all the strength and flesh-forming constituents of
the decorticated bean.[9]
Chemical analysis of cacao-nibs and cocoa essence shows them to
contain on an average:
Cacao-nibs. Cocoa Essence.
Cocoa-butter 50 parts. 30 parts.
Albuminoid substances 16 " 22 "
Carbohydrates (sugar, starch,
and digestible cellulose) 21 " 30 "
Theobromine 1.5 " 2 "
Salts 3.5 " 5 "
Other constituents 8 " 11 "
------ ------
100 100
The _cocoa-butter_ when clarified is of a pale yellow colour, and as
it melts at about 90° F. it is of great value for pharmaceutical
purposes, especially as it only becomes rancid when subjected to
excessive heat and light, as to the direct rays of the sun.
[Illustration--Drawing: ANALYTICAL APPARATUS.]
The _albuminoid_ or _nitrogenous constituents_ will be seen to form
about a sixth of the whole nib, or more than a fifth of the cocoa
essence, and to their presence is due the fact that absolutely pure
cocoa is such a remarkable flesh-former.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Cacao Crop, Trinidad.]
The _carbohydrates_, producing warmth and fat, are also important food
substances, the proportion of which, while forming about a fifth of
the whole bean, rises to close upon a third of the essence.
Cocoa also contains a _volatile oil_, from which it derives its
peculiar and delicious aroma.
Thus _nearly nine-tenths of the cacao-bean may be assimilated by the
digestive organs_, while three-fourths of tea and coffee are thrown
away as waste. For the same bulk, therefore, cocoa is said to yield
thirteen times the nutriment of tea, and four and a half times that of
coffee. Its value as a substitute for mother's milk has already been
alluded to, but may well be emphasized by a quotation from a paper
read before the Surgical Society of Ireland in 1877 by one of its
Fellows, Mr. Faussett:
"Without presuming to pass any judgment on the many artificial
substitutes which, on alleged chemical and scientific
principles, have from time to time been pressed forward under
the notice of the profession and the public to take the place
of mother's milk, I beg to call attention to a very cheap and
simple article which is easily procurable--viz., cocoa, and
which, _when pure and deprived of an excess of fatty matter_,
may safely be relied on, as cocoa in the natural state abounds
in a number of valuable nutritious principles, in fact, in
every material necessary for the growth, development, and
sustenance of the body."
After giving some remarkable cases of children being restored from
"the last stage of exhaustion" by its use, and "continued through the
whole period of infancy," with the effect of their becoming fine,
healthy children, he concluded by saying:
"I beg therefore respectfully to commend cocoa, as an article
of infant's food, to the notice of my professional brethren,
especially those who, holding office under the Poor Laws, have
such large and extensive opportunities of testing its value."
As a beverage for mothers or nurses cocoa is recommended by Dr. Milner
Fothergill, in his work on "The Food we Eat," in preference to
porter, stout or ale, an opinion now becoming generally adopted. It
may, therefore, be regarded as the indispensable, all-round nursery
food, if not the constant stand-by of the family.
That it is as nutritious for old as well as young we have an
interesting proof in the fact that the first Englishman born in
Jamaica, Colonel Montague James, who lived to the age of 104, took
scarcely any food but cocoa and chocolate for the last thirty years of
his life. For athletes and all who desire the development of the
muscular tissues, its use is most beneficial. Professor Cavill, in his
celebrated swim from Southampton to Portsmouth, and his nearly
successful attempt to swim across the English Channel, considered it
to be the most concentrated and sustaining food he could use for that
trying test of endurance.
In his "Treatise on Food and Dietetics," Dr. Pavy remarks that:
"Containing, as pure cocoa does, twice as much nitrogenous
matter, and twenty-five times as much fatty matter as wheaten
flour, with a notable quantity of starch, and an agreeable
aroma to tempt the palate, it cannot be otherwise than a
valuable alimentary material. It has been compared in this
respect to milk. It conveniently furnishes a large amount of
agreeable nourishment in a small bulk, and, taken with bread,
will suffice, in the absence of any other food, to furnish a
good repast."
Indeed, the value of cocoa as food for ordinary mortals as well as for
mythical beings cannot be better summed up than in the words of
Professor Lankester, Superintendent of the Food Collections at South
Kensington, who declares:
"It can hardly be regarded as a substitute for tea and coffee;
it is, in fact, a substitute for all other kinds of food, and
when taken with some form of bread, little or nothing else need
be added at a meal. The same may be said of chocolate."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] According to Drs. Playfair and Lankester:
Tea contains 3 per cent. theine.
Coffee " 1¾ " caffeine.
Cocoa " 2 " theobromine.
Probably the proportion of caffeine in coffee would be more correctly
stated as 1¼ per cent. Theine and caffeine are identical, but
theobromine (C_{7}H_{8}N_{4}O_{2}) differs from both in the greater
proportion of nitrogen which it contains.
[2] Dr. Johnson's analysis:
Dried milk 35 \
Cocoa essence 34¾ \ Flesh formers in
Cocoa-nibs 23 / each hundred parts.
Best French chocolates 11 /
[3] Mr. O.L. Symonds, "Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom."
[4] The _Cacao theobroma_. There are several other varieties of cacao,
but none of them produce the famous food.
[5] The _Cocos nucifera_, or "nut-bearing coco."
[6] _Erythroxylon coca._
[7] Or, as otherwise written, _cacava quahuitl_.
[8] 10 George III., c. 10.
[9] To make cocoa in perfection, for three breakfast-cups: in a quart
jug (with rounded bottom and narrower neck by preference) mix 1½
dessert spoonfuls (¾ oz.) of Cocoa Essence with equal bulk of
powdered white sugar, and stir to a thin paste with a little boiling
water. Mix in an enamelled saucepan one breakfast-cup of milk with two
cups of water (cups to be about ¾ full), and boil with care. When on
the boil, pour this over the contents of the jug, and whisk vigorously
for a few seconds (see illustration, p. 1). Serve to table without
delay. To make a richer drink, use equal parts of milk and water. To
ensure the beverage being served as hot as possible, it is desirable
to warm the jug before the cocoa is put into it. The effect of this
method of preparation is to impart to the cocoa a more mellow taste,
and to produce a deep froth on the surface, giving it a most
appetizing appearance. The thorough mixing to which the cocoa is
subjected also materially lessens the amount of sediment in the bottom
of the cup.
[Illustration--Colour Plate: CACAO PODS]
II. ITS GROWTH AND CULTIVATION.
[Illustration--Drawing: CACAO HARVESTING.]
Cocoa is now grown in many parts of the tropics, reference to which is
made in another chapter. The conditions, however, do not greatly vary,
and there are probably many lands in the tropical belt where it is yet
unknown that possess soil well suited to its extended cultivation.
The cacao-tree grows wild in the forests of Central America, and
varieties have been found also in Jamaica and other West Indian
islands, and in South America. It does not thrive more than fifteen
degrees north or south of the equator, and even within these limits it
is not very successfully grown more than 600 feet above the sea-level;
in many districts where sugar formerly monopolized the plains, it was
supposed that cocoa needed an altitude of at least 200 feet, but
experiments of planting on the old sugar estates and other low-lying
places are generally successful where the soil is good, as in
Trinidad, Cuba, and British Guiana. It has been found that the expense
saved in roads, labour, and transit on the level has been very
considerable in comparison with that incurred on some of the hill
estates.
In appearance the cacao-tree is not greatly unlike one of our own
orchard trees, and trained by the pruning knife it grows similar in
shape to a well-kept apple tree, no very low boughs being left, so
that a man on horseback can generally pass freely down the long
glades. Left to nature, it will in good soil reach a height of over
twenty feet, and its branches will extend for ten feet from the
centre.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Ceylon: Nursery of Cacao
Seedlings in Baskets of plaited Palm Leaf.]
The best soil is that made by the decomposition of volcanic rock, so
that it is a common sight to find areas strewn with large boulders
turned into a cocoa plantation of great fertility; but the best trees
of all lie along the _vegas_ which intersect the hills, where the soil
is deep, and the stream winding among the trees supplies natural
irrigation. The tree also grows well in loams and the richer marls,
but will not thrive on clay and other heavy soils.
The cacao is one of the tenderest of tropical growths, and will not
flourish in any exposed position, for which reason large shade belts
are left along exposed ridges and other parts of a hill estate, thus
greatly reducing the total area under cultivation, in comparison with
an estate of equal extent on the level plains, where no shade belts
are necessary.
The beans are planted either "at stake,"--when three beans are put in
round each stake, the one thriving best after the first year being
left to mature,--or "from nursery," whence, after a few months' growth
in bamboo or palm-leaf baskets, they are transplanted into the
clearing.
The preparation of the land is the first and greatest expense; trees
have to be felled, and bush cut down and spread over the land, so that
the sun can quickly render it combustible. When all is clear, the
cacao is put in among a "catch crop" of vegetables (the cassava,
tania, pigeon-pea, and others), and frequently bananas, though, as
taking more nutriment from the soil, they are sometimes objected to.
But the seedling cacao needs a shade, and as it is some years before
it comes into bearing, it is usual to plant the "catch crop" for the
sake of a small return on the land, as well as to meet this need.
In Trinidad, at the same time that the cacao[10] is planted at about
twelve feet centres, large forest trees are also planted at from fifty
to sixty feet centres, to provide permanent shade. The tree most used
for this purpose is the _Bois Immortelle_ (_Erythrina umbrosa_); but
others are also employed, and experiments are now being made on some
estates to grow rubber as a shade tree. In recent clearings in Samoa,
trees are left standing at intervals to serve this end.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Samoa: Cacao in its fourth Year.]
In Grenada, British West Indies, and some other districts, shade is
entirely dispensed with, and the trees are planted at about eight feet
centres, thus forming a denser foliage. By this means at least 500
trees will be raised on an acre, against less than 300 in Trinidad,
the result showing almost invariably a larger output from the Grenada
estates. This practice is better suited to steep hillside plantations
than to those in open valleys or on the plains.
The cacao leaves, at first a tender yellowish-brown, ultimately turn
to a bright green, and attain a considerable size, often fourteen to
eighteen inches in length, sometimes even larger. The tree is subject
to scale insects, which attack the leaf, also to grubs, which quickly
rot the limbs and trunks, this last being at one time a very serious
pest in Ceylon. If left to Nature the trees are quickly covered
lichen, moss, "vines," ferns, and innumerable parasitic growths, and
the cost of keeping an estate free from all the natural enemies which
would suck the strength of the tree and lessen the crop is very great.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Young Cultivation, with catch
Crop of Bananas, Cassava, and Tania: Trinidad.]
The cacao will bloom in its third year, but does not bear fruit till
its fourth or fifth. The flower is small, out of all proportion to the
size of the mature fruit. Little clusters of these tiny pink and
yellow blossoms show in many places along the old wood of the tree,
often from the upright trunk itself, and within a few inches of the
ground; they are extremely delicate, and a planter will be satisfied
if every third or fourth produces fruit. In dry weather or cold, or
wind, the little pods only too quickly shrivel into black shells; but
if the season be good they as quickly swell, till, in the course of
three or four months, they develop into full grown pods from seven to
twelve inches long. During the last month of ripening they are subject
to the attack of a fresh group of enemies--squirrels, monkeys, rats,
birds, deer, and others, some of them particularly annoying, as it is
often found that when but a small hole has been made, and a bean or
so extracted, the animal passes on to similarly attack another pod;
such pods rot at once. Snakes generally abound in the cacao regions,
and are never killed, being regarded as the planter's best friends,
from their hostility to his animal foes. A boa will probably destroy
more than the most zealous hunter's gun.
[Illustration--Drawing: PODS OF CACAO THEOBROMA.]
From its twelfth to its sixtieth year, or later, each tree will bear
from fifty to a hundred and fifty pods, according to the season, each
pod containing from thirty-six to forty-two beans. Eleven pods will
produce about a pound of cured beans, and the average yield of a large
estate will be, in some cases, four hundredweight per acre, in
others, twice as much. The trees bear nearly all the year round, but
only two harvests are gathered, the most abundant from November to
January, known as the "Christmas crop," and a smaller picking about
June, known as the "St. John's crop." The trees throw off their old
leaves about the time of picking, or soon after; should the leaves
change at any other time, the young flower and fruit will also
probably wither.
Of the many varieties of the cacao, the best known are the _criollo_,
_forastero_, and _calabacilla_. The _criollo_ ("native") fruit is of
average size, characterized by a "pinched" neck and a curving point.
This is the best kind, though not the most productive; it is largely
planted in Venezuela, Columbia and Ceylon, and produces a bean light
in colour and delicate in flavour. The _forastero_ ("foreign") pod is
long and regular in shape, deeply furrowed, and generally of a rough
surface. The _calabacilla_ ("little calabash") is smooth and round,
like the fruit after which it is named. All varieties are seen in
bearing with red, yellow, purple, and sometimes green pods, the colour
not being necessarily an indication of ripeness.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Varieties of the Cacao.]
On breaking open the pod, the beans are seen clinging in a cluster
round a central fibre, the whole embedded in a white sticky pulp,
through which the red skin of the cacao-bean shows a delicate pink.
The pulp has the taste of acetic acid, refreshing in a hot climate,
but soon dries if exposed to the sun and air. The pod or husk is of a
porous, woody nature, from a quarter to half an inch thick, which,
when thrown aside on warm moist soil, rots in a day or two.
Much has been written of life on a cocoa estate; and all who have
enjoyed the proverbial hospitality of a West Indian or Ceylon planter,
highly praise the conditions of their life. The description of an
estate in the northern hills of Trinidad will serve as an example. The
other industry of this island is sugar, in cultivating which the
coloured labourers work in the broiling sun, as near to the steaming
lagoon as they may in safety venture. Later on in the season the long
rows between the stifling canes have to be hoed; then, when the time
of "crop" arrives, the huge mills in the _usine_ are set in motion,
and for the longest possible hours of daylight the workers are in the
field, loading mule-cart or light railway with massive canes. In the
yard around the crushing-mills the shouting drivers bring their
mule-teams to the mouth of the hopper, and the canes are bundled into
the crushing rollers with lightning speed. The mills run on into the
night, and the hours of sleep are only those demanded by stern
necessity, until the crop is safely reaped and the last load of canes
reduced to shredded _megass_ and dripping syrup.
But upon the cocoa estate there is lasting peace. From the railway on
the plain we climb the long valley, our strong-boned mule or lithe
Spanish horse taking the long slopes at a pleasant amble, standing to
cool in the ford of the river we cross and re-cross, or plucking the
young shoots of the graceful bamboos so often fringing our path.
Villages and straggling cottages, with palm thatch and _adobe_ walls,
are passed, orange or bread-fruit shading the little garden, and
perhaps a mango towering over all. The proprietor is still at work on
the plantation, but his wife is preparing the evening meal, while the
children, almost naked, play in the sunshine.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: The Home of the Cacao.
(_One of Messrs. Cadburys' Estates, Maracas, Trinidad._)]
The cacao-trees of neighbouring planters come right down to the ditch
by the roadside, and beneath dense foliage, on the long rows of stems
hang the bright glowing pods. Above all towers the _bois immortelle_,
called by the Spaniards _la madre del cacao_, "the mother of the
cacao." In January or February the _immortelle_ sheds its leaves and
bursts into a crown of flame-coloured blossom. As we reach the
shoulder of the hill, and look down on the cacao-filled hollow, with
the _immortelle_ above all, it is a sea of golden glory, an
indescribably beautiful scene. Now we note at the roadside a plant of
dragon's blood, and if we peer among the trees there is another just
within sight; this, therefore, is the boundary of two estates. At an
opening in the trees a boy slides aside the long bamboos which form
the gateway, and a short canter along a grass track brings us to the
open savanna or pasture around the homestead.
Here are grazing donkeys, mules, and cattle, while the chickens run
under the shrubs for shelter, reminding one of home. The house is
surrounded with crotons and other brilliant plants, beyond which is a
rose garden, the special pride of the planter's wife. If the sun has
gone down behind the western hills, the boys will come out and play
cricket in the hour before sunset. These savannas are the beauty-spots
of a country clothed in woodland from sea-shore to mountain-top.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Ortinola, Maracas, Trinidad.]
Next morning we are awaked by a blast from a conch-shell. It is 6.30,
and the mist still clings in the valley; the sun will not be over the
hills for another hour or more, so in the cool we join the labourers
on the mule-track to the higher land, and for a mile or more follow a
stream into the heart of the estate. If it is crop-time, the men will
carry a _goulet_--a hand of steel, mounted on a long bamboo--by the
sharp edges of which the pods are cut from the higher branches without
injury to the tree. Men and women all carry cutlasses, the one
instrument needful for all work on the estate, serving not only for
reaping the lower pods, but for pruning and weeding, or "cutlassing,"
as the process of clearing away the weed and brush is called.
[Illustration--Drawing: GOULET AND WOODEN SPOON.]
[Illustration--Drawing: CUTLASSES.]
Gathering the pods is heavy work, always undertaken by men. The pods
are collected from beneath the trees and taken to a convenient heap,
if possible near to a running stream, where the workers can refill
their drinking-cups for the mid-day meal. Here women sit, with trays
formed of the broad banana leaves, on which the beans are placed as
they extract them from the pod with wooden spoons. The result of the
day's work, placed in panniers on donkey-back, is "crooked" down to
the cocoa-house, and that night remains in box-like bins, with
perforated sides and bottom, covered in with banana leaves. Every
twenty-four hours these bins are emptied into others, so that the
contents are thoroughly mixed, the process being continued for four
days or more, according to circumstances.
This is known as "sweating." Day by day the pulp becomes darker, as
fermentation sets in, and the temperature is raised to about 140° F.
During fermentation a dark sour liquid runs away from the sweat-boxes,
which is, in fact, a very dilute acetic acid, but of no commercial
value. During the process of "sweating" the cotyledons of the
cocoa-bean, which are at first a purple colour and very compact in the
skin, lose their brightness for a duller brown, and expand the skin,
giving the bean a fuller shape. When dry, a properly cured bean should
crush between the finger and thumb.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Cacao Drying in the Sun, Maracas,
Trinidad.]
Finally the beans are turned on to a tray to dry in the sun. They are
still sticky, but of a brown, mahogany colour. Among them are pieces
of fibre and other "trash," as well as small, undersized beans, or
"balloons," as the nearly empty shell of an unformed bean is called.
While a man shovels the beans into a heap, a group of women, with
skirts kilted high, tread round the sides of the heap, separating the
beans that still hold together. Then the beans are passed on to be
spread in layers on trays in the full heat of the tropical sun, the
temperature being upwards of 140° F.[11] When thus spread, the women
can readily pick out the foreign matter and undersized beans. Two or
three days will suffice to dry them, after which they are put in bags
for the markets of the world, and will keep with but very slight loss
of weight or aroma for a year or more.
Between crops the labourers are employed in "cutlassing," pruning,
and cleaning the land and trees. Nearly all the work is in pleasant
shade, and none of it harder than the duties of a market gardener in
our own country; indeed, the work is less exacting, for daylight lasts
at most but thirteen hours, limiting the time that a man can see in
the forest: ten hours per day, with rests for meals, is the average
time spent on the estate. Wages are paid once a month, and a whole
holiday follows pay-day, when the stores in town are visited for
needful supplies. Other holidays are not infrequent, and between crops
the slacker days give ample time for the cultivation of private
gardens.
Labourers from India are largely imported by the Government under
contract with the planters, and the strictest regulations are observed
in the matter of housing, medical aid, etc. At the expiration of the
term of contract (about six years) a free pass is granted to return to
India, if desired. Many, however, prefer to remain in their adopted
home, and become planters themselves, or continue to labour on the
smaller estates, which are generally worked by free labour, as the
preparations for contracted labour are expensive, and can only be
undertaken on a large scale.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Labourer's Cottage, Cacao Estate,
Trinidad. (Bread Fruit and Bananas.)]
The natives of India work on very friendly terms with the coloured
people of the islands, the descendants of the old African slaves, and
the cocoa estate provides a healthy life for all, with a home amid
surroundings of the most congenial kind.[12]
[Illustration--Drawing: BASKETS OF CACAO ON PLANTAIN LEAVES.]
In other cocoa-growing countries processes vary somewhat. On the
larger estates artificial drying is slowly superseding the natural
method, for though the sun at its best is all that is needed, a
showery day will seriously interfere with the process, even though the
sliding roof is promptly pulled across to keep the rain from the
trays.
In Venezuela an old Spanish custom still prevails of sprinkling a fine
red earth over the beans in the process of drying; this plan has
little to recommend it, unless it be for the purpose of long storage
in warehouses in the tropics, when the "claying" may protect the bean
from mildew and preserve the aroma. In Ceylon it is usual to
thoroughly wash the beans after the process of fermentation, thus
removing all remains of the pulp, and rendering the shell more tender
and brittle. Such beans arrive on the market in a more or less broken
state, and it seems probable that they are more subject to
contamination owing to the thinness of the shell. The best "estate"
cocoa from Ceylon has a very bright, clear appearance, and commands a
high price on the London market; this cocoa is of the pure _criollo_
strain, light brown (pale burnt sienna) in colour.
[Illustration--Colour Plate: CACAO TREE AND SEEDLING]
The valleys of Trinidad and Grenada have grown cocoa for upwards of a
hundred years, but up to the present time very little in the way of
manuring has been done beyond the natural vegetable deposits of the
forest. In many estates of recent years cattle have been quartered in
temporary pens on the hills, moving on month by month, with a large
central pen for the stock down on the savanna.
The cocoa-beans are shipped to Europe in bags containing from one to
one and a half hundredweight, and are disposed of by the London
brokers nearly every Tuesday in the year at a special sale in the
Commercial Sale Room in Mincing Lane.
The cacao-tree has sometimes been grown from seed in hot-houses in
this country, but always with difficulty, for not only must a mean
temperature of at least 80° F. be maintained, but the tree must be
shielded from all draught. Among the most successful are the trees
grown by Mr. James Epps, Jun., of Norwood, by whose kind permission
the accompanying sketches from life were made. Success has only
crowned his efforts after many years of patient care. To grow a mere
plant was comparatively simple, but to produce even a flower needed
long tending, and involved much disappointment; while to secure
fruition by cross-fertilization was a still more difficult task,
accomplished in England probably on only one other occasion.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] For full information on the subject of planting, see Simmond's
"Tropical Agriculture" (Spon, London and New York); Nicholl's
"Tropical Agriculture" (Macmillan).
[11] See plate facing p. 77.
[12] See _frontispiece_.
III. ITS MANUFACTURE.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Bournville: "The Factory in
a Garden."]
[Illustration--Drawing: "ON ARRIVAL AT THE FACTORY".]
Up to this point the operations described have taken place in the
lands where cacao is produced. To watch the further processes in its
development as an article of food, let us in imagination follow one of
the shiploads of cacao on its sea journey from the far tropics to one
of the countries of the old world, until the sacks of beans are
finally deposited at a cocoa factory. An English factory, that of
Messrs. Cadbury, at Bournville, affords an excellent illustration of
its manufacture, not only because about a third of all the beans
imported into this country are treated there, but also because this
treatment is effected amid ideal surroundings. Half a century ago
Messrs. Cadbury Brothers employed but a dozen or twenty hands, and
until within the last twenty-six years the firm was established in the
town of Birmingham. The need for greater accommodation for the rapidly
growing business, and a desire to secure improved conditions for the
work-people, led to the removal of the factory to a distance of about
four miles south of the city. A number of cottages erected for the
work-people in those early days became the nucleus of a great scheme
which in the last few years has expanded into the model village of
Bournville, a name taken from the neighbouring Bourn stream. Year by
year the factory grew and developed, until the green hay-fields, with
the trout stream flowing through them, became gradually covered with
buildings. To-day the factory seems like a small town in itself,
intersected by streets, and surrounded by its own railway. But the
greenness of the country clings wherever a chance is afforded, ivy and
other creepers adorning the brick walls, window boxes bright with
flowers, and trees planted here and there; for no opportunity has been
neglected of making the surroundings beautiful.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Bournville Cocoa Works: Office
Buildings.]
Taking train from the city, glimpses can be caught, as we near our
destination, of the pretty houses and gardens of the village, forming
a great contrast to the densely populated district of Stirchley on the
other side of the line. Stepping on to the station, we are greeted by
a whiff of the most delicious fragrance, which is quite enough of
itself to betray the whereabouts of the great factory lying beneath
us, of which from this point we have a fairly good bird's-eye view.
Down the station steps, and a few yards up the lane to the left, with
a playing field on one side, and on the other a plantation of
fir-trees almost hiding the red brick and timbered gables of the
office buildings, and we have arrived at the factory lodge. Looking
through the open door down a vista of archways bowered in clematis
and climbing roses, with an alpine rock garden at each side of the
broad walk, we might almost imagine ourselves to be at the entrance to
some botanical gardens. But a glance at the thousands of check hooks
covering the inner wall of the lodge informs us that more than 2,400
girls pass in and out every day. The men's lodge is at a separate
gate.