Cocoa and Chocolate Part 7

MANUFACTURER: The beauty of a polished bean attracts, although they know the beauty is less than skin deep.

PLANTER: And washing?

MANUFACTURER: In my opinion washing is bad, leaves the sh.e.l.l too fragile. I believe in Hamburg they used to pay more for washed beans; although very little, I suppose less than five per cent., of the world's cacao is washed, but in London many buyers prefer "the great unwashed." However, brokers are conservative, and would probably look on unwashed Ceylon with suspicion.

PLANTER: Well, I have been very interested in everything that you have said, and I think every planter should strive to produce the very best he can, but he does not get much encouragement.

MANUFACTURER: How is that?

PLANTER: There is insufficient difference between the price of the best and the common.

MANUFACTURER: Unfortunately that is beyond any individual manufacturer's control. The price is controlled by the European and New York markets. I am afraid that as long as there is so large a demand by the public for cheap cocoas so long will there be keen compet.i.tion amongst buyers for the commoner kinds of beans.

PLANTER: The manufacturer should keep some of his own men on the spot to do his buying. They would discriminate carefully, and the differences in price offered would soon educate the planters!

MANUFACTURER: True, but as each manufacturer requires cacao from many countries and districts, this would be a very costly enterprise. Several manufacturers have had their own buyers in certain places in the Tropics for some years, and it is generally agreed that this has acted as an incentive to the growers to improve the quality.[8] But in the main we have to look to the various Government Agricultural Departments to instruct and encourage the planters in the use of the best methods.

[7] Cameroon cacao sometimes has an objectionable odour and flavour, which may be due to its being fermented in an unripe condition, for, as Dr. Fickendey says: "Cameroon cacao has to be harvested unripe to save the pods from brown rot."

[8] The Director of Agriculture, in a paper on _The Gold Coast Cocoa Industry_, says: "We are indebted to Messrs.

Cadbury Bros., of Bournville, for a lead in this direction. They have several agents in the colony who purchase on their behalf only the best qualities at an enhanced price, and reject all that falls below the standard of their requirements."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WORLD'S CACAO PRODUCTION.

(Mean of 5 years, 1914-1918. Average world production 295,600 tons per annum.) Diagram showing relative amounts produced by various countries.

The shaded parts show production of British Possessions.]

CHAPTER IV

CACAO PRODUCTION AND SALE

When the English Commander, Thomas Candish, coming into the Haven Guatulco, burnt two hundred thousand tun of cacao, it proved no small loss to all New Spain, the provinces Guatimala and Nicaragua not producing so much in a whole year.

John Ogilvy's _America_, 1671.

When one starts to discuss, however briefly, the producing areas, one ought first to take off one's hat to Ecuador, for so long the princ.i.p.al producer, and then to Venezuela the land of the original cacao, and producer of the finest criollo type. Having done this, one ought to say words of praise to Trinidad, Grenada and Ceylon for their scientific methods of culture and preparation; and, last but not least, the newest and greatest producer, the Gold Coast, should receive honourable mention. It is interesting to note that in 1918 British Possessions produced nearly half (44 per cent.) of the world's supply.

Whilst the war has not very materially hindered the increase of cacao production in the tropics, the shortage of shipping has prevented the amount exported from maintaining a steady rise. The table below, taken mainly from the "Gordian," ill.u.s.trates this:

WORLD PRODUCTION OF CACAO.

Total in tons (1 ton = 1000 kilogrammes)

1908 194,000 1914 277,000 1909 206,000 1915 298,000 1910 220,000 1916 297,000 1911 241,000 1917 343,000 1912 234,000 1918 273,000 1913 258,000 1919 431,000

The following table is compiled chiefly from Messrs. Theo. Vasmer & Co.'s reports in the _Confectioners' Union_.

CACAO PRODUCTION OF THE CHIEF PRODUCING AREAS OF THE WORLD.

(1 ton = 1000 kilogrammes).

Country. 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons.

Gold Coast[1] 53,000 77,300 72,200 91,000 66,300 Brazil 40,800 45,000 43,700 55,600 41,900 Ecuador 47,200 37,000 42,700 47,200 38,000 San Thome 31,400 29,900 33,200 31,900 26,600 Trinidad[1] 28,400 24,100 24,000 31,800 26,200 San Domingo 20,700 20,200 21,000 23,700 18,800 Venezuela 16,900 18,300 15,200 13,100 13,000 Lagos[1] 4,900 9,100 9,000 15,400 10,200 Grenada[1] 6,100 6,500 5,500 5,500 6,700 Fernando Po 3,100 3,900 3,800 3,700 4,200 Ceylon[1] 2,900 3,900 3,500 3,700 4,000 Jamaica[1] 3,800 3,600 3,400 2,800 3,000 Surinam 1,900 1,700 2,000 1,900 2,500 Cameroons 1,200 2,400 3,000 2,800 1,300 Haiti 2,100 1,800 1,900 1,500 2,300 French Cols. 1,800 1,900 1,600 2,200 1,700 Cuba 1,800 1,700 1,500 1,500 1,000 Java 1,600 1,500 1,500 1,600 800 Samoa 1,100 900 900 1,200 800 Togo 200 300 400 1,600 1,000 St. Lucia[1] 700 800 700 600 500 Belgian Congo 500 600 800 800 900 Dominica[1] 450 550 300 300 300 St. Vincent[1] 100 100 75 50 75 Other countries 3,200 3,000 3,500 3,500 3,500 ------------------------------------------- Total 275,900 296,100 295,400 344,000 275,600 ------------------------------------------- Total British Empire 102,000 128,000 120,000 153,000 119,000

[1] British Possessions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF THE WORLD, WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED.]

_SOUTH AMERICAN CACAO._

In the map of South America given on p. 89 the princ.i.p.al cacao producing areas are marked. Their production in 1918 was as follows:

CACAO BEANS EXPORTED.

Percentage of Country. Metric Tons.[2] World's production.

Brazil 41,865 15.4 Ecuador 38,000 14.0 (Guayaquil alone 34,973 tons) Venezuela 13,000 5.0 Surinam 2,468 0.9 British Guiana 20 0.01 ------------------------------------------ South American Total 95,353 tons 35.31 per cent.

[2] These figures, and others quoted later in this chapter, are estimates given by Messrs. Theo. Vasmer & Co. in their reports.

ECUADOR.

_Arriba and Machala Cacaos._--In Ecuador, for many years the chief producing area of the world, dwell the cacao kings, men who possess very large and wild cacao forests, each containing several million cacao trees. The method of culture is primitive, and no artificial manures are used, yet for several generations the trees have given good crops and the soil remains as fertile as ever. The two princ.i.p.al cacaos are known as _Arriba_ and _Machala_, or cla.s.sed together as Guayaquil after the city of that name. Guayaquil, the commercial metropolis of the Republic of Ecuador, is an ancient and picturesque city built almost astride the Equator. Despite the unscientific cultural methods, and the imperfect fermentation, which results in the cacao containing a high percentage of unfermented beans and not infrequently mouldy beans also, this cacao is much appreciated in Europe and America, for the beans are large and possess a fine strong flavour and characteristic scented aroma. The amount of Guayaquil cacao exported in 1919 was 33,209 tons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAKING CACAO BEANS ON THE DRIERS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GATHERING CACAO PODS IN ECUADOR.

(La Clementina Plantation, Ecuador.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SORTING CACAO FOR SHIPMENT, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR.]

An interesting experiment was made in 1912, when a protective a.s.sociation known as the _Asociacion de Agricultores del Ecuador_ was legalised. This collects half a golden dollar on every hundred pounds of cacao, and by purchasing and storing cacao on its own account whenever prices fall below a reasonable minimum, attempts in the planter's interest to regulate the selling price of cacao. Unfortunately, as cacao tends to go mouldy when stored in a damp tropical climate, the _Asociacion_ is not an unmixed blessing to the manufacturer and consumer.

BRAZIL.

_Para and Bahia Cacaos._--Brazil has made marked progress in recent years, and has now overtaken Ecuador in quant.i.ty of produce; the cacao, however, is quite different from, and not as fine as, that from Guayaquil. The princ.i.p.al cacao comes from the State of Bahia, where the climate is ideal for its cultivation. Indeed so perfect are the natural conditions that formerly no care was taken in cacao production, and much of that gathered was wild and uncured. During the last decade there has been an improvement, and this would, doubtless, be more noteworthy if the means of transport were better, for at present the roads are bad and the railways inadequate; hence most of the cacao is brought down to the city of Bahia in canoes. Nevertheless, Bahia cacao is better fermented than the peculiar cacao of Para, another important cacao from Brazil, which is appreciated by manufacturers on account of its mild flavour.

Bahia exported in 1919 about 51,000 tons of cacao.

VENEZUELA.

_Caracas, Carupano and Maracaibo Cacaos._--Venezuela has been called "the cla.s.sic home of cacao," and had not the chief occupation of its inhabitants been revolution, it would have retained till now the important position it held a hundred years ago. It is in this enchanted country (it was at La Guayra in Caracas, as readers of _Westward Ho!_ will remember, that Amyas found his long-sought Rose) that the finest cacao in the world is produced: the criollo, the bean with the golden-brown break. The tree which produces this is as delicate as the cacao is fine, and there is some danger that this superb cacao may die out--a tragedy which every connoisseur would wish to avert.