COCOA, or THE CHOCOLATE TREE: derived from the word Cacao, which has the scientific preference in English, from Mexican (Aztec) Caucatl, Cacahuatl, Chocolatl (the suffix "lad* meaning water). The origin of the word is in doubt, being by one authority ascribed to the name of the district — Choco of its greatest production. Etymologically, however, it would seem to be the name in its doubled or intensive form of the tree from which it is produced, the word "Ca,* among the Central and South American Indians, mean ing "the plant,* and, intensified, "Ca-ca-o,* "the plant or plants.* It is analogous to "Yerba Mate,* known to the Guarani Indians as "Caap —"the plant.* Botanically it bears the name Theobroina — the "Food of the Gods* — so called by Linnzus.
The cocoa tree is indigenous to the sub tropical and tropical portions of the Western Hemisphere. It is mentioned by the earliest of the Spanish-American chroniclers—par ticularly by those who wrote concerning the conquest of Mexico, in which country it was the principal beverage. It is stated (Prescott, and authorities cited by him) that the annual tribute of the royal household of Montezuma included "20 chests of ground chocolate, 80 loads of red chocolate, 200 loads of chocolate, and 800 xicaras," the vessels from which the prepared beverage was drunk. The same authority states that the royal account book showed annual expenditures for cocoa to the amount of 2,744,000 fanegas (fanega, about 100 pounds). So generally was cocoa used that it constituted a part of the currency of the Aztecs, it being circulated in small bags each containing a specified number of beans.
The tree is a perennial evergreen of the natural order of Sterculiaceee, Byttneriaceee, thriving in low altitudes and high temperatures f rotn— to 100° F. It is generally found at about 50 feet about sea-level, but recent experi ments with cultivated varieties indicate that it may be successfully grown at 1,500 feet above the sea if compensating rainfall and temperature conditions exist. In its wild state the tree at tains to a height of about 40 feet, but under cultivation the growth is maintained at from 15 to 20 feet, to the end of producing a fuller developed fruit, for convenience in caring for the tree, and as a safeguard against high winds. At from five to seven feet from the ground the bare stem or trunk divides into several lateral branches, at the juncture of which rises another stem, which, in turn, divides likewise, and so on to the maximum height. The destruction of the perpendicular stem checks the upward growth of the tree. The leaves are large, alternate and undivided, of an oblong-lanceolate or lance ovate, acute shape, and the blossoms are pale-pink, five-petalled clusters growing from the axes of old leaf scars, developing into straight, oblong, cucumber-shaped fruit — about 20 to 30 per tree—with a five- or a ten-f ur rowed rind. The fruit, or pod — gathered twice
every year—is from 5 to 10 inches in length and 3 inches in diameter, and is filled with a sweetish, pulpy mass in which five rows of seeds, or beans, are embedded. These — the cocoa beans—are the part of value in com merce. They are from 0.6 to 1 inch in length, and are covered by a thin, fragile, paper-like skin, within which are the embryo and two oily cotyledonal lobes — the last named being the nourishment for the germinating seed, and the source of cocoa butter.
The preparation of the seed for commerce begins with its removal from the fruit, cleaning, drying and sorting, at which time it has a bitter, astringent taste. It is then subjected to a sweating process by being piled in heaps and covered with green plantain or other leaves, or enclosed in a receptacle and buried for a few days. On extensive plantations these operations are carried on in specially constructed sweating houses, affording every facility for uniformity of treatment. At the end of this operation, a chemical change is noted, resulting in the loss of much of the bitterness and astringency. After the sweating, the seeds are roasted (similar to the roasting of coffee), being then ready for the mill, the operations of which vary in accordance with the ultimately desired form of the cocoa or chocolate. The method ordinarily followed is to break and shell the roasted beans, grind the same with the addi tion of sugar, starch and flavoring matter, then mold and pack. The various products are: (1) The cocoa shells; (2) cocoa nibs, the broken or partly crushed beans, the simplest state of commercial cocoa; (3) chocolate, the ground cocoa nibs with the addition of sugar, or sugar and starch and flavoring matter; (4) cocoa, the ground cocoa nibs with most of the fat extracted, used as a beverage; and (5) cocoa butter. So indiscriminately are the two terms, cocoa and chocolate, used, that the dis tinction between the two is in many cases not recognized, but the addition of other elements to the pure cocoa is commercially accepted as producing chocolate. Another form of cocoa is the paste passed through the grinding mill, known as flake cocoa. The usual commercial form of cocoa —known as both rock cocoa or chocolate consists of cocoa, approximately 44 per cent, sugar 40 per cent, and arrow-root, or other form of starch, 16 per cent. Milk chocolate, so-called, is similar, with the addi tion of vanilla, cinnamon, or other flavoring extract, and condensed milk, and frequently an extra proportion of cocoa butter.