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Show Sources Chocolate ' tell v:;: Y& ::W;vi; 5?S fcv7 Ju-H . v im m Cacao Beans Are Cleaned by Shuffling Feet In Brazil. Prepared hy National Geographic Society, Washington. D. C. WNU Service. DO YOU like hot chocolate candy? Chocolate cake? Or chocolate ice cream sodas? Then you'll be interested in the news that science is waging a determined de-termined fight to save the famous cacao plantations of Trinidad, an island is-land in the West Indies, from a destructive de-structive plant disease. Trinidad is one of the principal sources of the bean which furnishes "the makings" for a hot beverage surpassed sur-passed In world importance only by coffee and tea, as well as for candies, sweetmeats, etc. Chocolate was a gift to man's palate pal-ate from the western hemisphere. Like tobacco, the potato, and a number of other plant products, it was taken back to Europe by explorers soon after Columbus opened the road to the New world, and launched on the way that has led to world markets. In trade circles today three terms are used : chocolate, cocoa and cacao. The tropical tree which is the source of chocolate is called the cacao. In its leathery, cucumberlike fruit are cacao pods which contain cacao beans. But when the beans are roasted and ground, and much of the fat Is pressed out, the remaining brown substance (ground to a dry powder), is cocoa. If the fat is not pressed out, the darker substance is chocolate. Credit for the manufacture of chocolate choc-olate from the hidden seed of an unprepossessing un-prepossessing fruit belongs to the original orig-inal Inhabitants of Mexico. In 1519, when Hernando Cortez invaded that country, he discovered that the cacao tree was widely cultivated. The natives na-tives had concocted a drink called "chocolatl" or "cacahuatl," from which have come the names "chocolate" and "cocoa." Frothing pitchers of chocolate choco-late were served by Montezuma when he entertained Cortez. Long in Use In Mexico. Students of American native customs cus-toms have estimated that the drink was in use 1,000 years before the arrival ar-rival of Europeans. According to Mexican Mex-ican mythology, the seed of the cacao tree was carried from a New world version of the Garden of Eden into Mexico by Quetzalcoatl, God of Air. The fruit, it is related, was a favorite food of the gods. The great Swedish botanist Linnaeus, christened the fruit theobroma cacao, meaning in Greek "Food of the Gods." Cacao was used as a means of barter bar-ter and the payment of tribute by the Aztecs and Mayans. A man's wealth was often Judged by the number of cacao beans he possessed. In Mexico a good slave could be purchased for 100 beans. Its highly concentrated food value, low cost of production, and numerous uses, have stimulated cacao cultivation to such an extent that now it is grown in practically all tropical countries. The wet tropical areas of the West African colonies of Great Britain and Portugal, and the South and Central Americas are especially well suited to the cultivation of the trees. The introduction of the cacao tree in Africa has resulted in a remarkable growth of the industry and economic development of the continent. The Gold coast has taken first place away from Brazil in the world's production of cacao. What were once trackless and useless African Jungles, inhabited only by savage bushmeu and wild animals, an-imals, today are cacao plantations, operated op-erated for the most part by natives. America Largest Consumer. As an International commodity, the cacao bean has grown in importance to such an extent that the United States alone, in 1933, imported 474,-270,000 474,-270,000 pounds, valued at $18,739,000. The United States is by far the largest larg-est consumer, cacao ranking sixteenth in value on our list of imports. Germany, Ger-many, Great Britain, and the Netherlands Nether-lands follow in the order named. For many years the Spaniards of South America and of some of the West Indies monopolized the cacao industry. in-dustry. Chocolate was introduced into Spain by Cortez and his conquista-dores conquista-dores about the beginning of the Sixteenth Six-teenth century, but the process of chocolate manufacture was kept a secret se-cret for almost 100 years. In 1606 an Italian discovered the method of preparation. prep-aration. Shortly afterwards, monks and travelers spread the news throughout through-out Europe. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries found the popularity popu-larity of the drink steadily Increasing. Cocoa houses were established in England, Eng-land, as well as on the continent. Chocolate, however, was a luxury which only the rich could afford, since It sold for as much as $5 a pound. Today To-day good chocolate can be purchased for a few cents a pound, anj is consumed con-sumed in one form or another by million!! mil-lion!! of people the world over. Modern methods of cocoa and choco late manufacture differ little from those used by primitive people centuries cen-turies ago. In Mexico the natives roasted the beans and then ground them between two warm flat stones until a fine paste was obtained. This was sometimes mixed with maize (corn) and flavored with vanilla and spices. The paste was molded Into forms desired and allowed to cool. Modern preparation of the commodity Is more scientific and thorough, but the principal steps taken are much the same. Cocoa butter is an Important byproduct by-product of the cacao bean, which contains con-tains 50 per cent fats. The butter, removed re-moved by crushing the beans under hydraulic pressure, is extensively used in confectionery, and in pharmaceutical pharmaceu-tical preparations. Almost every household house-hold has some commodity that contains con-tains this vegetable fat. Cocoa butter Is an ingredient of many soaps, pomades, po-mades, perfumes, ointments, plasters, and cosmetics. The Gold coast colony in Africa is normally the world's largest producer of cacao. In one recent year the colony col-ony shipped 54,000 tons of cacao, valued val-ued at $10,000,000, to the United States. While the Gold coast no longer puts its trust In gold,' cacao has displaced the metal only within the last few years. For 400' years gold was the hope that glittered for white men on the Gold coast. Gold mines built the railroad to Seccondee, for which Ta-koradi Ta-koradi is the port. In 1924 gold shipments ship-ments reached more than $4,000,000, but the mines seem to be nearing exhaustion. ex-haustion. A geological survey of the Gold coast colony In 1915 revealed other oth-er minerals which may themselves relegate rel-egate gold to the background. Manganese Manga-nese and bauxite are Important exports. ex-ports. The first is used In steel making mak-ing and the second for aluminum. Big Industry in Brazil. In the state of Bahia in Brazil are about 80,000,000 cacao trees ; this fruit has been grown here for about 150 years, and a tiny railway serves the heart of the great cacao region. It hauls more tons of freight per mile than any other railway line in South America. Leaving the coastal plain and entering enter-ing the foothills, one sees the cacao plantations In long shaded groves. Among bigger, protecting trees the small cacao trees are planted, thus sheltered from sun and wind. Twist off a green fruit, break it open and taste the whitish seeds; the flavor is like watermelon. Barefoot men and women split the pods, empty the seeds on a wide platform, and tread them free of pulp and pith. They call this "Dancing the Cacao." The seeds are dried by stirring them in a big flat bin. A wide roof, set on wheels, is at hand, to be hastily hauled over the bin If It rains. Turning Turn-ing a dark brown when dried, and tasting of unsweetened chocolate when ripe, the beans are packed in bags and sent to Europe and the United States. In 30 years Bahia's export has risen from 150,000 to 1,200,000 bags a year. Brazil drinks very little chocolate, but much coffee. Near a station named "Lava Pes," or "Wash Your Feet," the visitor may stop to watch a long file of umbrella ants. Each carries a leaf, as If it were an umhrella. Many ants are un in a tree, biting off bits of leaf and dropping them to other ants waiting on the ground. This line of marching ants is often a mile or more long. The ants carry the leaves to their underground un-derground home, and store them. On the leaves a fungus forms, and this the insects eat. Farther up the line one crosses a small stream running among cacao-covered cacao-covered hills. Long chutes made of boards run down the hillsides to the water's edge. Down these chutes natives na-tives slide fresh cacao beans, which empty into waiting dugout, canoes. Although Al-though cacao has been grown here for so long, the methods of harvesting it are still primitive, for human labor is cheap. White men find life here hard, because be-cause of so many insects and malaria. Bugs are a plague: horned tumble-bugs more than seven Inches long larger than many kinds of birds, snails weighing weigh-ing half a pound, and the fer de lance and other bad snakes. |