Page:Cacao by Dahlgren, B. E. (Bror Eric).djvu/18

10 by a slight crushing and winnowing. The kernels are known in the trade as "cacao nibs". They are roasted like coffee in iron cylinders to develop the aroma, to modify the bitter taste and to improve the color. They are then either ground directly, without any addition, into a dark-brown paste which we know in its moulded form as "bitter chocolate", or they are subjected to other treatment. Sugar or milk products and flavoring matter, principally vanilla or its substitutes, are added to increase the palatability, or starch to increase the bulk of the mass before it is pressed into moulds and made into convenient shapes and packages for the trade and for the consumer. The cacao shells contain some theobromine (1%) and are sometimes ground up and are known to the trade as "miserable", or "shells", sold as a poor substitute for cacao, "cacao coffee" or "cacao tea". They are seldom added to the chocolate mass, never to the better grades. Lately they have been employed as cattle fodder. If cacao powder is desired, the ground mass is usually heated slightly and subjected to pressure to express about one-half of the easily liquified fat, which is present in large quantity. This is then used separately as "cacao butter". It is a fixed oil, a soft solid at ordinary temperatures, with a pleasant odor and flavor of chocolate. At first yellowish in color, it becomes white with age. It has excellent keeping qualities and does not readily turn rancid. It is therefore valuable, being largely used in the manufacture of the filling for chocolate creams, and in the drug trade for the preparation of salves and pomades.

Cacao is never entirely soluble, but the drink when prepared is a suspension of cacao in the fine and thin paste of the natural starch of the bean. To make a smoother beverage the starch content may be increased somewhat in the manufacture of "breakfast cocoa". The sweetened cacao may have also all [ 34 ]