The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1885-04-23
COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE.


Tho Plantations Along tho Venezuelan
Coast The Chocolate Industry.
IAspinwail Cor. Inter ocean,
The country along the Spanish main,
from Trinidad to the isthmus, is a mix
ture of Florida and Switzerland, where
one can find within the radius Of a
single days journey any climate OF
scene to suit his taste, from a tropical
jungle, swarming with tigers and alli-
gators to mountain crests crowned with
eternal snow. Down in the southwes-
tern part of Venezuela and east
ern Colombia the Andes noun
tains and twin range, the Cor
dilleras, forming double spinal column
for the continent, split and scatter, and
finally jump into the sea. Between
these mountains, along the coast, are
narrow valleys of the most luxurious
tropical verdurc and the richest soil,
which yield three harvests annually and
are dcnsely populated. Coffee, sugar
and chocolate are the staples Of the
lower region, called ''terre calicntc' thot
earth; corn, beans and other temper
ate one products are raised on the
mountain side, and higher up, on the
plains, 100 and 5000 feet above the
sea, are thousands Of goats and cattle.
The coffee plantations extend from
the coast far up into tho mountains
and are very prolific. The people here
claim to raise the best coffee in the
world, and it is singular fact, as
serted by tho exporters, that only the
poorest grade goes to the mite States,
while all of the better quality is sent tc
France and Germany. Just why this
is SO no one explains further than re
pcating the remark SO often made that
the Americans do not like good coffee
The cocoa plant is an odd sort of af-
fair. 1t has great wax-like leaves, ami
resembles a small magnolia tree. Ipon
its trunk and larger limbs there appears
mi-annually large number OF wart
like prOtuberances, about as large as
the smallest pineapple. They are ugly
looking parasites but, like many other
ugly things have q value and usefulness
AT first they arc green, but when they
get red the natives pick them oil, crush
them in a rude machine, and take from
each a handful Of see s about the sizt
and shape of Il lima bean. This is til.
cocoa.
When the beans are thoroughly drieJ
in the sun they are shipped to the mar
kct in gunny sacks, where tho chocolat.
manufacturer gets hold of them. IL,
grinds them into q fine powder of a gra.
color, that looks like graham flour
mixes it with the pure Juice of the sugar
cane, called .'papillon, and flavors the
mixture with the juice of the vanill;
bean. After being boiled for certain
length of time this is poured into mold
and allowed to harden, when it becomes
the chocolate of commerce.
The Caracas chocolate, as all the pro
duct of Venezuela is termed, is con
sidcrcd the best in the world. 1t cost
Go cents pound at the factories there
but can be purchased for 45 or 30 cent.
a pound in New York The best cocoa
beans arc 10 cents a pound here, but th'
.'anxee manufacturer has Il way of in
crcasing their weight and reducing thei
value by adulteration. Pipc-clay i
cheap and heavy, and it is supposed Il
bo harmless. II weighs about five time
as much as cocoa, and, as the profit il
lager beer is in the foam, SO is the prof
in chololate in tho pipe clay, or what
ever substance it may be mixed with.