COCOA AND CHOCOLATE DESPATCH DECK AT BOURNVILLE.
It will be seen from the above analysis that the cacao bean is rich in fats, carbohydrates and protein, and that it contains small quantities of the two stimulants, theobromine and caffein. In the whole range of animal and vegetable foodstuffs there are only one or two which exceed it in energy-giving power. If expressed in quite another way, namely, as "food units," the value of the cacao bean stands equally high, as is shown by the following figures taken from Smetham's result published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 1914:
| "FOOD UNITS." | |
| Turnips | 8 |
| Carrots | 12 |
| Potatoes | 26 |
| Rice | 102 |
| Corn Flour | 104 |
| Wheat | 106 |
| Peas | 113 |
| Oatmeal | 117 |
| Coconut | 159 |
| Cacao Bean | 183 |
These figures indicate the high food value of the raw material; we will now proceed to consider the various products which are obtained from it.
Food Value of Cocoa.
AVERAGE COMPOSITION AND FUEL VALUE OF UNTREATED COCOA.
| Composition. | Energy-giving power Calories per lb. | |||
| Cacao Butter | 28.0 | = | 1,183 | |
| Protein | 18.3 | = | 340 | |
| Cacao Starch Other Digestible Carbohydrates, etc. | 10.2 28.4 | } = | 718 | |
| Stimulants { | Theobromine Caffein | 1.5 0.6 | ||
| Mineral Matter | 5.0 | |||
| Crude Fibre | 4.0 | |||
| Moisture | 4.0 | |||
| 100.0 | 2,241 | |||
("Soluble" Cocoa, i.e., cocoa which has been treated with alkaline salts, is almost identical in composition, save that the mineral matter is about 7.5 per cent.).
As cocoa consists of the cacao bean with some of the butter extracted—a process which increases the percentage of the nitrogenous and carbohydrate constituents—it will be evident that the food value of cocoa powder is high, and that it is a concentrated foodstuff. In this respect it differs from tea and coffee, which have practically no food value; each of them, however, have special qualities of their own. Some of the claims made for these beverages are a little remarkable. The Embassy of the United Provinces in their address to the Emperor of China (Leyden, 1655), in mentioning the good properties of tea, wrote: "More especially it disintoxicates those that are fuddl'd, giving them new forces, and enabling them to go to it again." The Embassy do not state whether they speak from personal experience, but their admiration for tea is undoubted. Tea, coffee, and cocoa are amongst our blessings, each has its devotees, each has its peculiar delight: tea makes for cheerfulness, coffee makes for wit and wakefulness, and cocoa relieves the fatigued, and gives a comfortable feeling of satisfaction and stability. Of these three drinks cocoa alone can be considered as a food, and just as there are people whose digestion is deranged by tea, and some who sleep not a wink after drinking coffee, so there are some who find cocoa too feeding, especially in the summer-time. These sufferers from biliousness will think it curious that cocoa is habitually drunk in many hot climates, thus, in Spanish-speaking countries, it is the custom for the priest, after saying mass, to take a cup of chocolate. The pure cocoa powder is, as we saw above, a very rich foodstuff, but it must always be remembered that in a pint of cocoa only a small quantity, about half an ounce, is usually taken. In this connection the following comparison between tea, coffee and cocoa is not without interest. It is taken from the Farmer's Bulletin 249, an official publication of the United States Department of Agriculture: