Cocoa Nibs.Chocolate made
from Cocoa and
Sugar.
per cent.per cent.
Moisture at 100°6·411·65
Fat51·4722·57
Starch11·754·58
Other organic substances, insoluble in
water.
18·038·58
Organic substances, soluble in water8·5460·63
Mineral Ash3·801·99
100·00100·00
Ash of insoluble substances0·890·30

Recent analysis of shelled cocoa-beans, made by Boussingault, gave the following results:—

Fresh.Dry.
per cent.per cent.
Fat49·954·0
Starch and starch-sugar2·42·5
Theobromine3·33·6
Asparaginetraces..
Albumin10·911·8
„gum2·42·5
Tartaric acid3·43·7
Tannin0·20·2
Soluble cellulose10·611·5
Ash4·04·4
Water7·6..
Undetermined5·35·8

Dr. Weigman[15] obtained the following results from an examination of several varieties of the shelled beans:—

Water.Fat.Ash.Nitrogen.
per cent.per cent.per cent.per cent.
Machala4·9747·803·882·25
Arriba6·5747·443·522·31
Caracas6·0046·394·192·23
Puerto Cabello5·7148·743·942·13
Surinam5·0146·262·992·20
Trinidad6·0745·742·042·04
Port au Prince4·7348·583·892·33

The most important constituents of cocoa are the fat (cocoa-butter), and the alkaloid (theobromine).

Cocoa butter forms a whitish solid of 0·970 specific gravity, fusing at 30°, and soluble in ether and in alcohol.

Theobromine (C7H8N4O2) crystallises in minute rhombic prisms, which are insoluble in benzol, but dissolve readily in boiling water and alcohol. It sublimes at 170°. Theobromine is exceedingly rich in nitrogen, containing over 20 per cent. of the element. In this and many other respects it bears a great resemblance to theine.

The proportion of mineral ash in cocoa varies from 3·06 to 4·5 per cent.