The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-04-16
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

cocoa, as Il found that quite a few were interested in the two stories which I had recently in this column about the two popular beverages and the other eatable products,
 In the first place the cacao tree is an evergreen in appearance, and is of low stature. seldom exceeding twenty-five feet in height, though in Ecuador, the coun- try from which the largest supply of crude cocoa is drawn, they sometimes run thirty feet tall, but it is taller in it's native forests than it is in culti- vated plantations where they are kept low by trimming to make it easier to gather the fruit
 The leaves are large, smooth and glossy, elliptic-oblong and tapering in form, growing principally at the end of | the branches, but sometimes springing di- rectly from the trunk, which at the base usually runs from six to ten inches in | thickness. It has small, pinkish-white
 blossoms of wax-like appearance on the | trunk and the branches. While the
 flowers occur in clusters. generally only a single fruit natures, and has the losk
 of being artihcially attached to the tree. |
 | This fruit when ripe resembles cu- cumber, but more accurately a gherkin,
 in shape, and is from six to ten inches in length and from three to five inches
 in diameter. The fruit or pod, which is elliptical ovoid, has a hard, thick, leath- cry rind of rich purplish-yellow color, a strange combination, externally rough and marked with ten very distinct longi- tudinal ribs. The ripe fruit contains in
 it's warty skin a sweet. soft, delicately pink pulp, hid away in five cells, in each of which is a row of from five to twelve seeds, which constitute the raw cacao, or "cacao beans,' of commerce.
 | These seeds are about as big as sweet
 almonds, only little thicker, and it is from their kernels which are more than | half oil, that we get our chocolate and i are first planted in nurseries or put in l the fields, I imagine very much on the
 the order of our great pecan groves as l have seen them in Alabama Georgia and Florida They sprout quickly and soon grow a foot or more high. They arc
 They require for successful cultivation ! a deep, we'll watered and yet well drained soil, shelter from strong winds, and thoroughly tropical climate. with
 a mean temperature of about 80 Fahren- heit, rainfall of 50 to 100 or more inches
 and freedom from long droutlrs. They
 also require to be shaded and the young
 plants are frequently planted in fields shaded with bananas.
 l They have to be carefully weeded un- | til they are four or five years old, when | they should begin to bear a little; but they are not in full fruit until they are about eight years of age, when they will continue to bear for many years. In portant of the cacao-growing countries, the fruit is harvested twice year. The blossoms lose their petals, and in about fifty to seventy days the pod is formed. They are cut from the tree, the ones on I
 the higher branches being chopped off with sharp knives fastened to long poles, and the fruit caught as it falls.
 l
 The average yield of the tree varies in the different countries in which they grow. In Ecuador the average is said to be from one to two pounds of dry nocoa to a tree, but before pass let me say ithat the pods when gathered are usually Ileft in a heap on the ground for about twenty four hours; they are then cut lopen And the seeds are taken out and carried in baskets to the place where they are to undergo the operation o1 sweating or curing. They are allo~ed tc undergo fermentation, either in covered barrels or lightly buried in the soil. Dur ling this time they lose water and a bitter Iprinciple. and at the same time acquire la peculiar flavor which varies with the }method of fermentation used. Great care however, must be used to keep the tenn lperature from rising too high Fermen. Itation is not universally practiced.
 After the fermentation is completed, Il iusualIy taking from one to twelve ol lmore days. when they are stirred daily oi loftener. the pale colored variety requlr' ing less time than the deep purple ane bitter kinds, they may or may not DC
 washed, opinion as to the desiraniiity o ithis process varying in different coun tries The process of fermentation de. strnvs the mucilage, and causes them no Iorly to lose some of their bitterness, pu even modifies their color. No matte
 what inc process used, they have to p' ldried and cured They are placed II tbe sun. or spread out on floors, bu must be protected from ram. some o' Ithe more progr essive planters nave arti lficial drying houses
 smoke of them as sometimes beint leoverad with earth This comes from th' fact that the appearance of the beans
 may often be improved by 'claying, very slight coating of red earth or cia! being added Polishing the beans ais'
 rives them a brighter look, removes mli dew and remnants of dried muciiage This is done by what is called "dahcihs the cacao,' i. e., treading heap wltl , lhare feet. or by the use of special pol
 ish;ng machines. So it can be readily
 seen that it pays to know h9w to get product ready for sale.
 Jbev are now ready for shipment, ant are ordinarily packed in bags, betor' i. the great war Hamburg was the ehie
 mort in the world for cacao. Here IS . chance for some enterprisng Ameiicans for there is no good reason Wny one o ou Atlantic or gulf coast cities ,shoui' uo, fall heir. 10 the lucrative trade. Hayr'
 carve next to Hamburg and the chances
 ara that the French will wrest the hono from all competitors as the chlel coco'
 a,,xet in Europe. I am inclined, now