Part 88

What Are Cocoa Shells?

There are other products which are obtained from the cacao seed. One is called Broma--which is the dry powder of the seeds, after the oil has been taken out.

Cocoa shells are the husks which surround the cocoa bean. These are ground up into a fine powder and sold for making a kind of cocoa for drinking, although the flavor is to a great extent missing and it is, of course, not nearly so nourishing as a drink of real cocoa.

MILL IN WHICH THE BEANS ARE ROASTED.]

What is Cocoa Butter?

The oil from the cacao seeds, when separated from the seeds, is what we call cocoa butter. It has a pleasant odor and chocolate-like taste. It is used in making soap, ointments, etc.

COCOA TREE WITH FRUIT KNOWN AS COCOA PODS, WHICH CONTAIN THE COCOA BEANS.]

How is Cacao Gathered?

When the cacao pods ripen on the tropical plantations, where the climate is such that they can be grown successfully, the native laborer cuts off the ripened pods as we see him doing in the picture showing the pods on the tree. He does this with a scissors-like arrangement of knives on a long pole.

As he cuts off the pods he lays them on the ground and leaves them to dry for twenty-four hours. The next day they are cut open, the seeds taken out and carried to the place where they are cured or sweated.

In the process of curing or sweating, the acid which is found with the seeds is poured off. The beans are then placed in a sweating box. This part of the process is for the purpose of making the beans ferment and is the most important part of preparing the beans for market, as the quality and the flavor of the beans and, therefore, their value in the market, depends largely upon the ability of whoever does it in curing or fermenting.

Sometimes the curing is done by placing the seeds in trenches or holes in the ground and covering them with earth or clay. This is called the clay-curing process. The time required in curing the cacao beans varies, but on the average requires two days. When cured they are dried by exposure to the sun and packed ready for shipping. At this time beans of fine quality are found to have a warm reddish color. The quality or grades of beans are determined by the color at this stage.

How Chocolate is Made.

When the cacao beans arrive at the chocolate factory they are put through various processes to develop their aroma, palatability and digestibility.

~PROCESSES IN CHOCOLATE MAKING~

The seeds are first roasted. In roasting the substance which develops the aroma is formed. The roasting is accomplished in revolving cylinders, much like the revolving peanut roasters, only much larger. After roasting the seeds are transferred to crushing and winnowing machines. The crushing machines break the husks or “shells,” and the winnowing machine by the action of a fan separates the shells from the actual kernel or bean. The beans are now called cocoa-nibs. These nibs are now in turn winnowed, but in smaller quantities at a time, during which process the imperfect pieces are removed with other foreign substances. Cacao beans in this form constitute the purest and simplest form of cacao in which it is sold. The objection to their use in this form is that it is necessary to boil them for a much longer time, in order to disintegrate them, than when they are ground up in the form of meal. For that reason the nibs are generally ground before marketing as cacao or cocoa.

Another form in which the pure seeds are prepared is the flaked cocoa. This is accomplished by grinding up the nibs into a paste. This grinding is done in a revolving cylinder machine in which a drum revolves. In this process the heat developed by the friction in the machine is sufficient to liquefy the oil in the beans and form the paste. The oil then solidifies again in the paste when it becomes cool.

What we know as cakes of chocolate are made from the cocoa-nibs by heating the mixture of the cacao, sugar and such flavoring extracts as vanilla, until an even paste is secured. This paste is passed several times between heavy rollers to get a thorough mixture and finally poured into molds and allowed to cool. When cool it can be taken from the molds in firm cakes and wrapped for the market. This is the way Milk Chocolate is made. The difference in the taste and consistency of milk chocolate depends upon how many different things the chocolate maker adds to the pure cocoa-nibs to produce this mixture. Often substances such as starchy materials are added to make the cakes more firm. They add nothing to the quality of the chocolate.

~HOW CHOCOLATE CANDIES ARE MADE~

Chocolate-covered bonbons, chocolate drops, and the many different kinds of toothsome confections are prepared in the American candy factories, as we all well know. The chocolate covering of this confectionery is generally put on by dipping the inside of the choice morsel in a pan of liquid chocolate paste and then placing the bits in tins to allow them to cool and harden.

A great many of the choicest bits of confectionery are now produced by machines entirely. These machines are almost human, apparently, as we see them make a perfect chocolate bonbon which is delivered to a candy box all wrapped for packing. These wonderful machines thus give us candy which has not been touched by the hands of any one prior to the time we thrust our own fingers in the brightly-decorated box and take our pick of the assortment it offers.

WOOLWORTH BUILDING, NEW YORK CITY.

This building, the tallest in the world, is equipped with 26 gearless traction elevators.

Two of the elevators run from the first to the fifty-first floor with actual travels of 679 feet 9¹⁄₂ inches and 679 feet 10¹⁄₄ inches, respectively. There is also a shuttle elevator which runs from the fifty-first to the fifty-fourth floor.

Total height of building from curb to base of flagstaff, 792 feet.]

COMPLETE GEARLESS TRACTION ELEVATOR INSTALLATION.]

How Does an Elevator Go Up and Down?

Ordinarily, when we think of an elevator we think merely of the cage or car in which we ride up or down. But the car is really only the part which makes the elevator of service to man, and from the standpoint of the machinery, is a relatively unimportant part of the equipment.