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[Easter C. <pas...@gr...>]

Ave it in such a condition that it does not change, and thus with cacao
it becomes necessary to get rid of the pulp, and, whilst this may be
done by washing or simply by drying, experience has shown that the
finest and driest product is obtained when the drying is preceded by
fermentation. Just as broken grapes will ferment, so will the fruity
pulp of the cacao bean. Present day fermentaries are simply convenient
places for storing the cacao whilst the process goes on. In the process
of fermentation, Dr. Chittenden says the beans are "stewed in their own
juice." This may be expressed less picturesquely but more accurately by
saying the beans are warmed by the heat of their own fermenting pulp,
from which they absorb liquid. In Trinidad the cacao which the girls
have scooped out into the baskets is emptied into larger baskets, two of
which are "crooked" on a mule's back, and carried thus to the
fermentary. In Surinam it is conveyed by boat, and in San Thome by
trucks, which run on Decauville railways. The period of fermentation and
the receptacle to hold the cacao vary from country to country. With
cacao of the criollo type only one or two days fermentation is required,
and as a result, in Ecuador and Ceylon, the cacao is simply put in heaps
on a suitable floor. In Trinidad and the majority of other
cacao-producing areas, where the forastero variety predominates, from
five to nine days are required. The cacao is put into the "sweat" boxes
and covered with banana or plantain leaves to keep in the heat. The
boxes may measure four feet each way and be made of sweet-smelling cedar
wood. As is usual with fermentation, the temperature begins to rise, and
if you thrust your hands into the fermenting beans you find they are as
hot and mucilaginous as a poultice. [Illustration: "SWEATING" BOXES,
TRINIDAD. The man is holding the wooden spade used for turning the
beans.] _Time._ _Temperature._ When put in 25 deg. C. or 77 deg. F.
After 1 day 30 deg. C. or 89 deg. F. After 2 days 37 deg. C. or 98 deg.
F. After 3 days 47 deg. C. or 115 deg. F. (After the third day the heat
is maintained, but the temperature rises very little.) The temperature
is the simplest guide to the amount of fermentation taking place, and
the uniformity of the temperature in all parts of the mass is desirable,
as showing that all parts are fermenting evenly. The cacao is usually
shovelled from one box to another every one or two days. The chief
object of this