"I don't exactly know," answered Manuel, "but am told that more than half of the nuts sent from Brazil are eaten by schoolboys in England, France, and the United States."
"Yes, I remember now," said Frank, "but had forgotten for the moment the hard, black, triangular nuts we used to buy in our school-days. They are favorites with boys, but the taste for them seems to disappear as we grow older. Now, please tell me about cacao."
"Cacao is cultivated in Brazil and other lowland countries of South America," replied Manuel, "but I can't tell you much about it. You must ask Dr. Bronson."
At this moment the Doctor happened along, and Frank repeated his question.
"Cacao is the substance from which chocolate is made," he explained, "and it is the same as the French 'chocolat' or 'coco.' It is cultivated in tropical countries, twenty-five degrees each way from the equator, and sometimes the forests of cacao are miles and miles in extent. It grows to a height of twenty-five or thirty feet, and resembles a black-heart cherry-tree in size and shape. It is an evergreen, and has a smooth, oblong leaf, terminating in a sharp point. The fruit resembles a short, thick cucumber; it is from five to nine inches long, and contains from twenty to forty, or even fifty, beans which resemble the pit of an almond. From these beans the chocolate of commerce is made."
"Do they make it here or export the bean to other countries?" Frank inquired.
"The beans are separated from the pulp that surrounds them, and when dried are ready for market. Sometimes they undergo a fermentation to remove certain acrid qualities, but, except for local use, no attempt is made to manufacture the chocolate here. The manufacturing is done in England, France, and other countries, by means of delicate but powerful machinery. The shells of the seeds are of a dark-brown color, quite thin and brittle; they are the cocoa-shells which are sold in American grocery-stores to be used in making 'cocoa' for our tables.
"A rich oil is made from the seeds, but its manufacture is less profitable than the sale of the seeds for making chocolate or cocoa. The trees begin to bear when four years old, and the harvest season is in July and August; the industry is said to be profitable when properly managed, as the expense of maintaining a plantation is not great, and the harvest season occurs when other industries are at a standstill. The pulp that surrounds the seeds is made into a refreshing drink for immediate use, and some of the planters make from it a jelly which is said to equal the famous guava jelly. The outer shell is burned, and its ashes are the basis of a strong brown soap, like the home-made soap of New England."
