Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-01-01
a CHOCOLATE FACTORY,
WHAT COCOA rs AND HOW IT Is
MADE.
The Raw Product Comes From Ven.
ezuela and is of Many Different
Kfnds-COcoa Butter.

'hio CouutFy Is In NeN
L York. 1t uses 100, 900 pound
9 of the beans in year. The,
are not at all pretty to look at From
thelr appearance one would never SUP
pose that such delicious preparation
could be made from them. Most O
them come from Venezuela. The con
cern described ordinarily keeps il
stock as many as fifteen different kind
OF them. Varieties differ so much in
quality that prices paid for them run
al the way from fifteen cents tc
twenty-five cents pound raw. Fine
chocolates are made from mixture OF
rhe different sorts of beans in carefully
adjusted portions, few pounds ofthe
best in each hundredweight contribut-
ing flavor
The broken chocolate kernels, duly
mixed, are poured into 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 Il machine which grinds
them between two great steel disks
revolving horizontally in the fashion
OF 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-f 7e
per cent of oil. The cells holding the
latter are broken by the grinding
process, and the oil liquefes 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 n 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 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. " The liquid stuff, some
what thicker than molasses, is termed |
cocoa. 1t is transformed into the |
chocolate of commerce simply by add |
ing sugar. 1t is commonly imagined
that cocoa is made from the shells of
the beans, but such a notion is alb
surd. What cocoa is really will be
presently explained. The liquid stuff
is transferred to 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. 1t goes through them
again and again, until it is so finely di-
gided that there is not the smallest
lump in it. Now it is finished and has
merely to be cooled in molds in the re-
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. Honce, in dry state,
it has little more flavor than SO much
lust. By subjecting the liquid stuff to
pressure the oil is squeezed out of it.
Of the original forty five 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
as transparent as water.
Poured into molds it hardens when
,old, and is thus turned ont in the
shape OF great cakes of n yellowish-
white color. These cakes are sold to
ipothecaries and other dealers. They
're pure cocoa butter" To great
'xtent this soothing and deliciously
fragrant substance has taken the place :
IF the old fashioned cold cream. 1t is
for sun-burned noses and
or chapped hands. In South America !
he natives have recognized its virtues
or many centuries.
Cocoa butter, obtained from the u
hocolate factories. is sold by the ton
Wholesale. 1t is a useful and profit
BILE by product of this sort of manu-
acture. But how about the cocoa?
t comes out from the pressing appa-
atus in the form of dry cakes. These >
re reduced to powder beneath rollers, !,
nd the powder is then sifted through a
10th to an impalpable dust. Now it
5 ready for market and is poured into n
machine which fills cans with it auto k
The cocoa butter is put to "
mother use. Some of it is added to u
he chocolate that is employed for q
oating creams and other candies, be. e
auses it makes the flavor richer. The s,
hocolate tablets for nickel in -the-slot Q
lachines are made in molds and set in o
be refrigerating room to harden. n
ONE people make sort of tea out of h
ocoa beans and recommend it highly. i,
The factory described uses most of b
IS chocolate in making candies and Ii
,s greater part of that for coating W
,eams and nuts The way in which
cs creams are made is very odd. A b
allow tray of woo1 ic hllad ,,,;+L A