How We are Fed Part 8

You know that tea parties are very common. The most celebrated tea party ever held was called the "Boston Tea Party." See what you can find out about it.

A CUP OF COCOA

On the eighteenth day of June, in the year 1771, this notice appeared in the _Ess.e.x Gazette_ of Ma.s.sachusetts:--

"AMOS TRASK,

At his House a little below the Bell-Tavern in

DANVERS,

Makes and sells Chocolate,

which he will warrant to be good, and takes Cocoa to grind. Those who may please to favor him with their Custom may depend upon being well served, and at a very cheap Rate."

This seems to have been the first notice of the manufacture and sale of cocoa and chocolate in our country. What is peculiar about the notice?

In those days the raw product was brought to Ma.s.sachusetts by the Gloucester fishermen. They obtained it in the West Indies in exchange for fish and other things which they took there.

When the Spanish soldier, Cortez, conquered Mexico in 1519, he found that the people of that country were very fond of a drink which they called "chocolatl." It was served to their ruler, Montezuma, in a cup of gold. When the Spaniards went home, they of course introduced the drink into their own country. For a long time it was very expensive and was not commonly used outside of Spain, for the Spaniards kept the secret of its preparation.

Cocoa and chocolate are products of the seeds of a tree called the cacao tree. It is a tropical tree and grows in both the Old and the New World.

Although the cacao tree grows wild, it is also cultivated in orchards much like fruit orchards which you have seen. The trees are seldom more than twenty feet high, but they are rather inclined to spread out. They require some shade, and so other trees are often planted between the rows to shade them. The trees begin to bear when five or six years old, and continue to yield for forty years. There are generally two chief harvests each year, but the fruit is ripening all of the time.

The blossoms, which grow in cl.u.s.ters, are small and pink or yellow in color. They grow directly from the branches or the trunk of the tree.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 39.--Cocoa Pods and Leaves.

(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]

In about four months after the tree has blossomed, you will find dark yellow or brown pods hanging from it. These look a little like ripe cuc.u.mbers, but they are more pointed at one end and are grooved or fluted. These pods are from six inches to a foot or more in length, with a rather thick, tough rind.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 40.--Native Cocoa Pickers. Ceylon. (Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]

How do you think the pods are gathered? They are cut off by men carrying long poles, sometimes of bamboo, to the ends of which knives are fastened. Only the ripe pods are cut off and collected in a heap under the tree. They are left in these heaps for about twenty-four hours, when they are cut open and the seeds are gathered in baskets.

The seeds are called "beans." There are five rows of them, about the size of almonds, within the pink pulp of the fruit. When fresh they are white, but when dried they are brown. If you taste one, you will find it bitter.

You have often seen on packages of chocolate, as well as on the cans of breakfast cocoa, the picture of a young woman carrying some chocolate upon a tray. It is the picture of a beautiful girl who once served chocolate in the old city of Vienna. Her name was Anette Baldauff, and she married a rich count and "lived happily ever after." It is said that a painting of her hangs upon the walls of the great art gallery in Dresden. Point out the cities I have mentioned.

The seeds are carried from the orchard to the sheds, where they are prepared for market. Here they go through a process of fermentation or "sweating." For this purpose they are placed in a covered box, or they may even be covered with earth. This is called "claying." Now the seeds must be dried. They are spread out on platforms, raised a little above the ground, so that the air can circulate underneath. You notice that the roofs do not cover them just now, for their only purpose is to keep off the dew and the rain. They are fastened to frames which have wheels under them. During the day they are not used, but at night they are rolled over the cocoa.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 41.--Drying Cocoa Seed. Ceylon.

(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]

The cocoa is stirred by workmen using long shovels or rakes, so that it may dry quickly and evenly. Once a day the beans are shoveled into heaps and the workmen tread upon them with their bare feet, as you see. This is called "dancing the cocoa."

After the seeds have dried for about two weeks they are nearly the color of red bricks. They are put up for s.h.i.+pment in canvas sacks holding one hundred and fifty pounds each. The name of the plantation is usually stamped upon the outside. Guayaquil exports more cocoa than any other city. Find it. A great deal comes from the island of Trinidad, and from the northern part of South America.

When the "beans" have reached their destination, they must be cleaned, to rid them of dust and dirt collected on the way. They are then placed in a great revolving cylinder and roasted. You remember that when coffee is roasted it brings out a pleasant odor called its _aroma_. The same is true of cocoa. The roasting also helps to loosen a sh.e.l.l which surrounds the seed. The sh.e.l.l is next removed and the "beans" are then crushed.

The Mexicans used to crush the seeds on a large stone, hollowed out on top. This they called a "matate."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 42.--Grinding Cocoa.

(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]

The crus.h.i.+ng is now done by machinery. The broken bits of the cocoa are called "cocoa nibs." When the cocoa is ground to a powder, it is put into strong bags and pressed. This pressure removes a part of an oily substance known as "cocoa b.u.t.ter." Remember, then, that cocoa is the meal or flour made from the crushed seeds from which some of the oil has been removed. Chocolate differs from cocoa in that none of this oil is removed in making it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 43.--Moulding Cocoa.

(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]

You have often seen the words "sweet chocolate" on the labels. This is made by adding a quant.i.ty of pulverized sugar to the "plain" or "bitter"

chocolate. Sometimes vanilla beans are added.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 44.--Cooling Cocoa.

(Permission of WALTER BAKER & CO., Ltd.)]

The pasty ma.s.s known as chocolate must be molded. When the proper amount has been placed in each of several metal molds which rest on a table, they are made to rock or shake, and this causes the chocolate to a.s.sume the right shape. The molds are then taken to the cooling room, where they are placed on frames, one above another, in long rows. Girls and women wrap the cakes of chocolate in the wrappers specially prepared for them, after which they are packed in boxes ready for s.h.i.+pment.

At Dorchester, Ma.s.sachusetts, on the Neponset River, is situated the largest establishment for the manufacture of cocoa and chocolate in America. It is interesting to know that on the very spot where these great mills now stand, was built, in 1765, the first one of the kind in this country.

A CRANBERRY BOG

WAREHAM, Ma.s.sACHUSETTS, Dec. 10, 1901.

DEAR FRANK: How surprised you will be to learn that I am now a country boy. We left Boston early last spring, and came out here to go into the business of cranberry raising. It seemed very strange at first to travel along country roads, or through woods and fields, instead of upon the cement walks of our city streets, but we all think the country delightful.

A cranberry farm is a marsh or a bog, so you will see that the vines need a great deal of water. There are both wild and cultivated bogs.

Those that are cultivated are provided with a system of ditches, so that they can be flooded from time to time. It is a good deal like irrigation in Southern California, I suppose. We flood the bogs to prevent the berries from freezing, as well as to furnish the vines with water. I will tell you more about that by and by.

Father wanted a larger bog than the one he first bought, so, soon after we came, he got another small piece of marsh land which joins it on the west, and started vines on it.

You know that willows, rosebushes, grapevines, and many other plants will grow from _cuttings_. It is the same with cranberry vines. The lower end of each cutting is pressed into the soil, and it soon begins to grow. They are set in rows about fourteen inches apart. One of our neighbors, who was starting a bog at the same time, cut the vines into pieces an inch or two long, and scattered them over the ground. He then harrowed them in. The vines multiply just as strawberry plants do, by putting out _runners_.

They tell us that our new bog will produce a crop in three years. Do you have to wait that long for a crop of oranges?