The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-08
THE 1.FooD TOR THE GoDs.'s

[
 Tn every civilized country of the world the dark brown cake of com mercia1 chocolate is known. and wherever candies and confections de- light the appetite for sweets shared by many of the adults and practically all of the children Of all nations the chocolafe-coated bon-bon is a favorite. ChoceIate has become both food and drink in many lands, but Of the mill lions who now use it comparatively few know that it is made from a bean which grows ons beautiful tropical tree,-wrftes Edward AIbes in the January number of the Bulletin of the Pan American Union. Still it is quite an old story, this drinking of choco- late. cocoa, or cacao, as the author points out in his story Columbus is said to have introduced the delight fuI drink into Europe. for cacao is indigenous to the tropical regions of the Americas, and prior to the dis covery of the western world it was un- known elsewhere
 Chocolatl, as it was known by the Aztecs of Mexico. formed the favorite beverage of the luxurious Montezuma, no less than 50 jars being prepared for that monarcI,s daily consunpt ion. The Incas of Peru Cultivated great fields of cacao. and the connection
 made from the bean had been, in use among them for centuries before the Span1sn conQuesI. 20 the Seory or cacaos is rather old in the New world and 8 little over 400 years young in the stO1d."
 Theobroma cacao is the scientific name Of the tree, and it means flood for the gods" It is found most plen- tifully in Ecuador, Brazil. Trinidad. Venezuela, and the Dominican Replilb- lie. It grows to a height of 1e or IS feet when cultivated. The fruit is a pod shaped like a cucumber, from to 10 inches long and from 3 to { inches in diameter, has a thick 1eath- cry rind, and It's interior is divided into long cells in each of which is a row Of from to 10 seeds innbedded in a soft pink pulp. These seeds which look much like thick almonds
 are the cacao beans of commerce.
 The picking on large plantations generally takes place twice a year, a1- 1 though there are no regular seasons
 the trees frequently having buds,
 flowers and fully rapened pods on them at the same time. The pods,
 which grow directly out of the trunk as we'll as from the limbs, are cut off with a specially designed instrument known as a. cacao tpicker,' a sharp pole.A and so constructed that each pod may be cut from the tree by skilled workmen without damaging either the l other pods or the limbs of the tree. The severed pods are gathered in l heaps and left lying on the ground 1 for a day or two before being opened and the beans extracted or shelIeH. Alter the acid juice and pulp has been 1 removed the beans are assorted ac- cording to size and state of ripeness 1 and then taken to the sweating boxes These are made of wood, are
 cubic in form, and from 3 or 4 feet each way in size. They are provided l with a grating at the base through .l which the Hquid products of fermen- l tation can pass away. The beans are l placed dn these receptac1es and allow
 ed to ferment for several days. and then taken out and dried either by the natural agency of the sun or by the Inechinical means of hot air blasts They are then ready for the market
 Upon their arrival at the factory
 the beans are usually blended to get
 the best results. they are roasted,
 crushed, ground to the fineness of four and by this reduction process | become a thick, biscous liquid, o7~ine
 to the presence in the beans of the fat
 or cocoa butter as it is called. Ur to this point all products of caeaso are
 about the same. But if the product Il we know as tsCocoas' is desired. this paste is placed between sheets Of fine
 cloth and then put into presses, and the fat or butter expressed from the | AA4eSS. <AfI6T Ino puCISTE Is thus. eX-
 tracted the cacaO can be dried and l pulverized. In other words, choco. | late is cacao with the fat left in, while z cocoa dS eaeao with the fat extracted
 Both preparations have stimulating l and nutritive qualities the first due
 to the presence of the alkaloid called
 theobroInin similar to caffein, the ac
 tive principle Of coffee, while ths
 nutTitlve value, which makes a foot
 as we'll as a drink of chocolate is dut
 to the oils and vegetable ingredient. of the cacao bean. In a cup of choco
 late made from the pure product al
 the nutritive factors are retained Some idea as to the popularity O chocolate may be had when it is stat
 ed that accurate statistics show tha the world consumed 251,5s2 tons O
 cacao in 1913 and that in the frs
 five months of 1914 no less than 134, l 549 tons were used. Of the las amount Ecuador alone furnished 25. : 038 tons.
 !. Seventeen members of the bark Pill 3 grim which sank during a gale about