Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-05-01

CHOCOLATE FACTORY
WHAT COCOA IS AND HOW IT r.
MADE

1
WHAT COCOA IS AND HOW 1t r.
MADE
fhe Raw Product Comes From Ven.
ezuela and is of Many Di6eren
kinds-COcoa Butter.
ITTHE biggest chocolate factor.
in this country is in New
York. 1t uses 100, 900 pounds
of the beans in year. They
arc not at all pretty to look at. From
their appearance one would never sup.
pose that such delicious preparations
conld be made from them. Most oi
thcm come from Venezuela. The con-
cern 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
u!l tine way from fifteen cents to
Twenty-Five cents pound raw. Fine
chocolates are made from a mixture oi
inc 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, are poured into a hopper on
the seventh floor. They fall through
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 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-fi re
per cent. of oil. The cells holding the
latter are broken by the grinding
process, and the oil iqueies the pow
Tered substance
The processes by which the beans
are transformed into commercial choc-
olate are very interesting. To begin
with, they ere roasted. Then they are
broken in a mill, coarsely. Next,
they are sifted. The shells separated
from the kernels by sitting are sold for
half a cent pound to wholesale gro
GERS, who grind them up to adulterate
pepper with. Incidentally to the sam,
process the vegetative germs of the
beans are removed. 1t is desired tc
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 fiooy
'f 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 notion is alb
mrd. What cocoa is really will be
presently explained. The liquid stuff
is transferred to circular receptacle
IN which huge rollers 60 round. Ther
sugar is put in. The rollers mix the
cocoa liquid and the sugar thoroughly
together. When this has been DON
the mixture is passed through 9th,
machines with rollers revolving again,
each other. 1t goes through them
igain and again, until it is SO finely di-
Tided that there is not the smallest
Jump in it. Now it is finished and has
merely to be cooled in molds in the re-
migrating room in order to be read,
or sale.
Commercial cocoa is exactly tn,
anne thing as chocolate, without any
sugar, and with two-thirds of the OF
aiken away. Hence, in dry state,
it has little more flavor than SO much
dust. By subjecting the liquid stuff to
pressure the oil is squeezed out of it.
Of the original forty-five per cent. Ga
oil thirty per cent. is extracted, leav-
ing only fifteen per cent. This oil i,
caught in tubs. 1t is clear and lin
pid-almost rs transparent as water.
Poured into molds it hardens when
cold, and is thus turned out in tn.
shape Of great cakes of yellowish.
white color. These cakes are sold tu
apothecaries and other dealers. They
are pure 'cocoa butter" To a great
extent this soothing and deliciously
fragrant substance has taken the plac:
of the old fashioned cold cream. 1t is
admirable for sun-burned noses and
for chapped hands. In South America
the natives have recognized its virtue'
or many centuries.
Cocoa butter, obtained from the
chocolate factories. is sold by the ton
Wholesale. 1t is useful and profit
able by product of this sort of manu-.
facture. But how about the cocoa
1t comes out from the pressing appa
ratus in the form of dry cakes. These
are reduced to powder beneath rollers,
aad the powder is then sifted through
cloth to an impalpable dust. Now il
is ready for market and is poured into
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 o.
'ocoa beans and recommend it highly.
The factory described uses most oi
is chocolate in making candies and
ths 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 filed with
finely sifted -four. Upon the smooth |
surface of this is laid down a board,
the under side of which is covered |
with eEcrescences in whatever shapes
nay be desired. The board being re.
moved perfect molds of the excres-
eences are left in the flour. A num-
Der of such trays of molds having been