The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-04-23
cAcAo, COCA, COCO AND COCOA.
A Clearing Up of Singular Confusion of
Names.

n
Names.
A striking example of the ignorance of
tropical things on the part of jewellers in
temperate regions is to be found in the
confusion into which the articles various
ly termed cacao, coca COCO, cocoa, have
been got by shippers, tradesmen, diction-
tionary and encyclopedia makers, and the
public following them. There are four
widely separated vegetable growths that
: are variously mixed under these names.
The first cacao, is well placed in tho
genus theobrOma, a name given it by Lin
neus, and signifying "food for the gods"
| The specific name comes from the Portu-
guese "cacau," in turn derived from the
ancient Mexican "cacautl" Its name is
almost universally spelled cocoa in the
United States and England and confused
with the cocoanut of the palm tribe, with
| which it has far less natural affinity than
has the rose with the pear. All the die
tionaries confuse or misapply these names.
| Even the Encyclopedia Britannica talks
of the cocoa tree, and, though admitting
that it is "more properly oacao, " says I'M
! der that heading 'see cocoa" Worcestcr's
| school dictionary actually says, Cocoa,
"A beverage made of the cocoanut, " which
is quite as accurate as it would be to de-
| fine gOoseherry pie as product of the as
paragus plant.
The caCao is a small evergreen tree from
| 10 to 30 feet high under cultivation and
| higher in its native forests. Though a
native of America, from Mexico to Peru,
it was introduced into Africa over 200
years ago, where it has since escaped from
cultivation and may now be found grow
ing wild. Its somewhat egg shaped pods
are from to 12 inches long, with thick,
almost woody rind. Ten elevated outside
ridges indicate five celled fruit This con-
tains from % to 100 seeds, imbedded in
the sweetish pulp. These are the "cacao
beans" from which are prepared seed. The
tree must have plenty of heat and rain, a
deep, rich soil and but little wind. The
best cacao is that of Venezuela-Caracas
cacao.
The cacao pods are gathered cwice a
year. in June and December. Roasted and
Invested of husks, the pods become 'cacao
nibs;" ground into paste, sweetened and
favored, they yield chocolate in a crude,
unsweetened paste, cacao, enormously call
ed coco, with the oil extracted, dried and
powdered, ''broma," and the oil of the
seed yields nonrancid fat, "cacao but
ter, much used in pharmacy.
The second of our quartet, coca, often
incorrectly spelled cuca, is shrub closely
, resembling blackthorn and a native of the
Andes, attaining six or eight feet in height,
with straight branches and brilliant green
leaves. The latter, when chewed, produce
; a sense of warmth in the mouth, having a
pleasant, pungent taste.
| OF coco much less can be said than OF
the others. So little is it known in north
ern countries that the dictionaries and en-
/ cyclopedias, with one exception, ignore it.
1t yields "A root which, properly cooked,
is not unlike sweet potato, and which
have found palatable and very nourishing.
1t is not of sufficient value, however, Ia
} come into general use where either pota-
toes, breadfruit or plantains abound
The last OF our quartet, the cocoanut
) palm, is the most widely distributed OF
. tropical growths and without exception
3 the most useful of any single one of ma,
+ lures products-save earth, air and water
| The cocoanut palm, which the Ency.
clopedia Britannica enormously thinks
: should be called coconut, grows from AZ
t to 10 feet high and is sometimes 2 feet
e in diameter. The trunk is exceedingly
l elastic, ! have seen trees as feet high benz
in a hurricane till their tops touched tn,
5 ground and then right themselves unin
jured, n moment after. The leaf, some
7 times over 90 feet long, has midrib Dor
, dered by many long leaflets, the whole re
. sembling mammoth feather. The nuts
e grow in punches of 10 to 90, are IL to Il
3 inches long and to o in diameter. -SaI
t Francisco Chronicle.