CACAO CULTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES. part 6

HARVEST.

The ripening period of cacao generally occurs at two seasons of the

year, but in these islands the most abundant crop is obtained at about the

commencement of the dry season, and the fruits continue to ripen for

two months or longer. The time of its approaching maturity is easily

recognized by the tyro by the unmistakable aroma of chocolate that pervades

the orchard at that period, and by some of the pods turning reddish

or yellow according to the variety.

The pods are attached by a very short stalk to the trunk of the tree, and

those within reach of the hand are carefully cut with shears. Those

higher up are most safely removed with an extension American tree

pruner. A West Indian hook knife with a cutting edge above and below

and mounted on a bamboo pole. If kept with the edges very sharp, does

excellently well, but should only be intrusted to the most careful workmen.

There is hardly a conceivable contingency to warrant the climbing of a

cacao tree. If it should occur, the person climbing should go barefooted.

As soon as the fruit, or so much of it as is well ripened, has been gathered,

it is thrown into heaps and should be opened within twenty-four hours.

The opening is done in a variety of ways, but the practice followed in

Surinam would be an excellent one here if experienced labor was not at

command. There, with a heavy knife or cutlass (bolo), they cut off the

base or stem end of the fruit and thereby expose the column to which the

seeds are attached, and then women and children, who free most of the

seeds, are able to draw out the entire seed mass intact. It is exceedingly

important that the seeds are not wounded, and for that reason it is inexpedient

to intrust the more expeditious method of halving the fruit with

a sharp knife to any but experienced workmen.

The process of curing that I have seen followed in these Islands is simplicity

itself. Two jars half filled with water are provided for the cleaners,

and as the seeds are detached from the pulp they are sorted and

graded on the spot. Only those of large, uniform size, well formed and

thoroughly ripe, being thrown into one ; deformed, small, and imperfectly

matured seeds going to the other.

In these jars the seeds are allowed to stand in their own juice for a day, then they are taken out, washed in fresh water, dried in the sun from two to four days, according to the weather, and the process from the Filipino standpoint is complete.

Much of the product thus obtained is singularly free from bitterness

and of such excellent quality as to be salable at unusually high prices,

and at the same time in such good demand that it is with some hesitancy

that the process of fermentation is recommended for general use.

But it is also equally certain that localities in these Islands will be

planted to cacao where all the conditions that help to turn out an unrivaled natural product are by no means assured.

For such places, where the rank-growing, more coarse-flavored, and bitter-fruited Forastero may produce exceptionally good crops, it will become incumbent on the planter to adopt some of the many methods of fermentation, whereby he can correct the crudeness of the untreated bean and receive a remunerative price for the "processed” or ameliorated product.

Undoubtedly the Strickland method, or some modification of it, is

the best, and is now in general use on all considerable estates where the

harvest is 200 piculs or upward per annum, and its use probably assures

a more uniform product than any of the ruder processes in common use

by small proprietors.

But it must not be forgotten that the present planters in the Philippines

are all small proprietors, and that until such time as the maturing

of large plantations calls for the more elaborate apprratus of the Strickland pattern, some practice whereby the inferior crude bean may be economically and quickly converted into a marketable product can not be

avoided. As simple and efficacious as any is that largely pursued in some

parts of Venezuela, where is produced the famous Caracas cacao.

The beans and pulp are thrown into wooden vats that are pierced with

holes sufficient to permit of the escape of the juice, for which twenty-four hours suffices. The vat is then exposed to the sun for five or six hours, and the beans, while still hot, are taken out, thrown into large heaps,. And covered with blankets.

The next day they are returned to the box, subjected to a strong sun

heat and again returned to the heap. This operation is repeated for sevral

days, until the beans, by their bright chocolate color and suppleness,

indicate that they are cured. If, during the period of fermentation, rain

is threatened or occurs, the beans are shoveled, still hot, into bags and retained there until they can once more be exposed to the sun. Before the

final bagging they are carefully hand rubbed in order to remove the adherent gums and fibrous matters that did not pass off in the primary

fermentation.

In Ceylon, immediately after the beans have been fermented they are

washed, and the universally high prices obtained by the Ceylon planters

make it desirable to reproduce here a brief resume of their method. The

fermentation is carried on under sheds, and the beans are heaped up in

beds of 60 cm. to 1 meter in thickness apon a platform of parallel joists

arranged to permit of the escape of the juices. This platform is elevated

from the ground and the whole heap is covered with sacks or matting.

The fermentation takes from five to seven days, according to the heat of the atmosphere and the size of the heap, and whenever the temperature

rises above 40° the mass is carefully turned over with wooden shovels.

Immediately after the fermentation is completed the Ceylon planter

passes the mass through repeated washings, and nothing remains but to

dry the seed. This in Ceylon is very extensively done, in dryers of different kinds, some patterned after the American fruit dryer, some in

slowly rotating cylinders through the axis of which a powerful blast of

hot air is driven.

The process of washing unquestionably diminishes somewhat the

weight of the cured bean; for that reason the practice is not generally

followed in other countries, but in the case of the Ceylon product it is;

one of the contributing factors to the high prices obtained.

Source: S.LYON,IN CHARGE OF SEED AND PLANT INTRODUCTION. OF PUBLIC PRINTING 1902.WILLIAM S. LYON