The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1885-06-04
COFFEE AND CHOCOLATE.
The Plantations Along the Venezuelan
Coast The Chocolate Industry.

IASpinwall Cor Inter Ocean.
The country along the Spanish main,
from Trinidad to the isthmus, is UiX-
ture of Florida and Switzerland, where
on3 can find within the radius of
single days Journey any climate or
enc to suit his ta-tr, from a tropical
Jungle, swarming with tigers and ALI
gators to mountain crests crowned with
eternal snow. LOTu in the sOuthWes-
tern part of cnezu,la and east
ern colombia the Andes noun
tain5 and twin range, the or
dillerts, forming double spinal column
tor the continent, split ana scatter, and
finally jump into the sea. Between
these mountains, along the coast, are
narrow valleys of the most lnXur Gus
tropical verdurc ard the richest soil,
Win h yield three harvest annually and
are dcnsely opulated. Coffee, sugar
and chocolate are the staples of the
lower region, called 'terre calente' (hot
earth; corn, beans and other temper
ate one products are raised on the
mountain side. and higher up, on the
plains, 1850 and 1000 feet above the
sea, are thousands Of goats and cattle.
The coffee Plantations extend from
the coast far up INFO the mountains
and are very prolific. The people here
claim TO raise the best coffee in the
world, and it is singular fact, as
serted 10y the exporters, that only the
poorest grade 60 to the Unite States,
waile all OF the better quality is sent to
rance and Germany. Just why this
is 50 no one explains, further than re-
tir,.r la vi oft
tie Americans do not like a good coffee.
The cocoa plant is an odd sort of al
fair 1t has great waX-like leaves, AMI
resembles small magnolia tree. Upon
its trunk and larger limbs there appears
Semi-annually large number of wart-
like proLuLeranceS, about as large as
the smallest pineapple. They are ugly
looking para ties, but, like many other
gb things have value and usefulness.
At first they are green, but when they
get red the natives pick them off, crush
them in rude machine, and take from
each a hiniiul Of see about the size
and shape of lima bean. This is the
cocoa.
When the beans are thoroughly Dire
i'll the sun they are shipped TO the mar
ket in gunny sacks, where ~" chocolate
manufacturer gets hold of them. lie
grinds them into fine powder Of a gray
roor, that looks like graham flour,
mixes it with the pure Juice o: the sugar
cane, callel ''plpillon, aAd !lavors the
mixture with the Juice Of the vanilla
bean. After beng boiled for a certain
tngth of time this is poured into molds
an allowed to harden, when it LEGO mes
the chocolate of commerce.
The aracas chocolate, as all the pro,
duct of Venezuela is termed, is con-
S!dcred the best in the world 1t costs
65 cents pound at the factories there,
but can be purchased for rs or 50 cents
n poUnl in New York The best cocoa
beans are 20 cents IA pound here, but the
Yankee manufacturer has a way of in
treasing their weight and reducing their
va'ue by adulterat;on. Fipe-clay is
cheap and heavy, and it is supposed to
he harmless. 1t weighs about five times
as much rs cocoa, and, as the profit i'll
lager teer is in the foam, so is the profit
in chocolate in the pipe clay, or what
ever substance it may be mixed with.