Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-11-17
CHOCOLATE FACTORY.
WHAT COCOA Is AND HOW 1T IS
MADE
The Raw Product Comes From Ven
ezuela and is of Many Different
kinds-Cocoa Butter.

are not at all pretty to look at. From
their appearance one would never sup
pose that such delicious preparations
| could be made from them. Most of
them come from Venezuela. The con-
Germ described ordinarily keeps in
stock as many as fifteen different kinds
of them Varieties differ so much in
| quality that prices paid for them run
all the way from fifteen cents to
seventy-fve cents a pound raw. Fine
chocolates are made from mixture of
the different sorts of beans in carefully
| adjusted portions, a few pounds ofthe
best in each hundredweight contribut-
ing flavor.
The broken chocolate kernels, duly
mixed, aHe poured into q hopper on
the seventh floor. They fall through
a metal tube all the way down to the
| first floor of the building. There they
drop into machine which grinds
them between two great steel disks
revolving horizontally in the fashion
of a mill, From this mill they come
| out by spout-not dry any longer,
but in the form of thick liquid. This
is because the beans contain forty-ti re
per cent of oil. The cells holding the
latter are broken by the grinding
| process, and the oil liquefies the pow
dered substance.
The processes by which the beans
are transformed into commercial choc-
olate are very interesting. To begin
with, they are roasted. Then they are
| broken in mill, coarsely. Next,
they are sifted. The shells separated
from the kernels by sitting are sold for
half cent pound to wholesale gro
GERS, who grind them up to adulterate
pepper with. Incidentally to the same
process the vegetative germs of the
| beans are removed. 1t is desired to
| get rid of them because they are too
hard to be utilized to advantage; but
they are purchased by manufacturers
of cheap candies for making a poor
| quality of chocolate. Each germ looks
somewhat like little Glove. All of this
work is performed on the seventh floor
of the factory.
The chocolate beans are called
"cocoa beans. B" The liquid stuff, some
what thicker than nolasses, is termed
cocoa" It is transformed into the
| ing sugar. 1t is commonly imagined
that cocoa is made from the shells of
| the beans, but such notion is alb.
surd What cocoa is really will be
presently explained. The liquid stuff
| is transferred to a circular receptacle
on which huge rollers go round. Then
| sugar is put in. The rollers mix the
cocoa liquid and the sugar thoroughly
| together. When this has been done
the mixture is passed through other
| machines with rollers revolving against
each other. It goes through them
again and again, until it is so finely di-
vided that there is not the smallest
lump in it. Now it is finished and has
merely to be cooled in molds in the re-
frigerating room in order to be ready
for sale.
Commercial cocoa is exactly the
same thing as chocolate, without any
sugar, and with two-thirds of the oil
taken away. Hence, in a dry state,
it has little more flavor than so much
dust. By subiecting the liquid stuff to
pressure the oil is squeezed out of it.
Of the original fortyfve per cent. of
oil thirty per cent. is extracted, leav-
ing only fifteen per cent. This oil is
caught in tubs. 1t is clear and linn
pid-almost as transparent as water.
Poured into molds it hardens when
cold, and is thus turned out in the
shape of great cakes of a yellowish-
white color. These cakes are sold to
apothecaries and other dealers. They
are pure cocoa butter" To great
extent this soothing and deliciously
fragrant substance has taken the place
of the cid fashioned cold cream. It is
admirable for sun burned noses and
for chapped hands. In South America
the natives have recognized its virtues
for many centuries.
Cocoa butter, obtained from the
chocolate factories. is sold by the ton
wholesale. It is useful and profit
able by product of this sort of manu-
facture. But how about the cocoa?
It comes out from the pressing appa-
ratus in the form of dry cakes. These
are reduced to powder beneath rollers,
and the powder is then sifted through
cloth to an impalpable dust. Now it
is ready for market and is poured into
O machine which fills cans with it auto
matically. The cocoa butter is put to
another use. Some of it is added to
the chocolate that is employed for
coating creams and other candies, be-
causes it makes the flavor richer. The
chocolate tablets for nickel in the slot
machines are made in molds and set in
the refrigerating room to harden.
Some people make sort of tea out of
cocoa beans and recommend it highly
The factory described uses most of
its chocolate in making candies and
the greater part of that for coating
creams and nuts. The way in which
the creams are made is very odd. A
shallow tray of wood is filled with
finely sifted -four Upon the smooth
surface of this is laid down board,
che under side of which is covered
with excrescences in whatever shapes
may be desired. The board being re-
moved perfect molds of the excres-
cences are left in the -four A num-
Der of such trays of molds having been
provided, the workman goes along
with cone of canvas filled with
'cream,' which is simply sugar and
water boiled and favored At the
point of the cone is n small copper
spout, through which the operator
squeezes enough cream into each mold
to fill the latter. Now it only remains
for the stuff to harden, and the trays
are dumped into sitter, thus separat-
ing the nodded cream drops from the
flour.
The cream drops next pass into the
hands of young woman with deft
fingers, who drops them one after an
other into a copper pot filled with hot
chocolate. As she fishes them ont
again she places them in rows upon
sheets of waxed paper, which cover
rectangular pieces of tin. To each one
she gives final touch, as she sets it
down, BY q twirl of her fingers, which