Brandon Head

“ At the present day, when the beans are plentiful on the cacao estates, but no machines for manufacture exist, the planters prepare a palatable drink by roasting the beans on a moving shovel or pan over the open fire, husking them by the time-honoured plan of tossing in the breeze, and grinding out on a flat stone in much the same manner as did the old Spaniards. ”

“ The fruit gardens and vineries belonging to "Bournville Hall" are used for the benefit of work-people who are ill.
Turning back again, we find on the other side of the road a magnificent pavilion, the Coronation gift of the firm to their employees, which overlooks the broad level stretch of one of the finest cricket grounds in the Midlands. Away in the hollow beyond, the Bourn forms a picturesque, shady pool, part of which is used to make a capital open-air swimming bath for the men. In the rising background are the pretty houses and the gardens of the model village. ”

“ Brillat Savarin, the author of the "Physiologie du Goût," remarks: "The persons who habitually take chocolate are those who enjoy the most equable and constant health, and are least liable to a multitude of illnesses which spoil the enjoyment of life."
It certainly behoves us, therefore, to learn something more of such a valuable article than may be gleaned from the perusal of an advertisement, or the instructions on a packet containing it. There is something more than
A Cacao Harvest, Trinidad. ”

“ Year by year the factory grew and developed, until the green hay-fields, with the trout stream flowing through them, became gradually covered with buildings. To-day the factory seems like a small town in itself, intersected by streets, and
Bournville Cocoa Works: Office Buildings.
surrounded by its own railway. But the greenness of the country clings wherever a chance is afforded, ivy and other creepers adorning the brick walla, window boxes bright with flowers, and trees planted here and there; for no opportunity has been neglected of making the surroundings beautiful. ”

“ Here are grazing donkeys, mules, and cattle, while the chickens run under the shrubs for shelter, reminding one of home. The house is surrounded with crotons and other brilliant plants, beyond which is a rose garden, the special pride of the planter's wife. If the sun has gone down behind the western hills, the boys will come out and play cricket in the hour before sunset. ”

“ Cocoa is of domestic drinks the most alimentary; it is without any exception the cheapest food that we can conceive, as it may be literally termed meat and drink, and were our half-starved artisans and over-worked factory children induced to drink it, instead of the in-nutritious beverage called tea, its nutritive qualities would soon develop themselves in their improved looks and more robust condition. ”

“ In health or sickness, infancy or age, at home or on our travels, nothing is so generally useful, so sustaining and invigorating. Far better than the majority of vaunted substitutes for human milk as an infant's food, to supplement what other milk may be available; incomparable as a family drink for breakfast or supper, when both tea and coffee are really out of place unless the latter is nearly all milk; prepared as chocolate to eat on journeys, and in many other ways, cocoa is a constant stand-by. ”

“ Before proceeding to study the manufacture of cocoa essence and chocolate from the bean as it is imported, it will be interesting to see the careful provision that is made for the health and cleanliness of the workers, for in connection with any food nothing is of greater importance than the circumstances attending its preparation. A gratuitous sick club is provided by the firm for the employees, including the services of a doctor and three trained nurses. A special retiring room, comfortably furnished, is provided for girls needing a quiet hours rest. ”

“ When they deliver a Parcel of Cacao, they tell them by five, thirty, and a hundred. Their Charity to the Poor never exceeds above one Cacao-nut. The chief Reason for which this Fruit is so highly esteem'd, is for the Chocolate, which is
made of the same, without which the Inhabitants (being so us'd to it) are not able to live. Before the Spaniards made themselves Masters of Mexico, no other Drink was esteem'd but that of the Cacao; none caring for Wine, notwithstanding the Soil produces Vines everywhere in great Abundance of itself. ”

“ In the reign of Queen Anne there was a famous chocolate-house known as the "CocoaTree," a favourite sign to mark that new and fashionable beverage. Its frequenters were Tories of the strictest school. De Foe tells us in his "Journey through England," that "a Whig will no more go to the 'Cocoa Tree' . . . than a Tory will be seen at the coffee-house of St. James's." In course of time the "Cocoa Tree" developed into a gaming-house and a club. ”

“ Excited on the one hand by the pungent cravings of the throat to moisten it, reproved on the other by breaking their fast, they experience grave remorse of conscience; and, with consciences agitated and torn with drinking the sweet beverage, they sin. Under the guidance of these skilful theologians, the remorse aroused by natural and Divine light being blunted, Christians drink joyfully. For all agree that he will break his fast who eats any portion of chocolate, which, dissolved and well mixed with warm water, is not prejudicial to keeping a fast. ”

“ The cacao will bloom in its third year, but does not bear fruit till its fourth or fifth. The flower is small, out of all proportion to the size of the mature fruit. Little clusters of these tiny pink and yellow blossoms show in many places along the old wood of the tree, often from the upright trunk itself, and within a few inches of the ground; they are extremely delicate, and a planter will be satisfied if every third or fourth produces fruit. In dry weather or cold, or wind, the little pods only too quickly shrivel into black shells ”

“ The quantity of matter removed by the hot water is so small, that close upon 90 per cent, of the nourishing and feeding constituents are left behind in the undissolved sediment, the substances extracted being principally salts and colouring matters. One can but suppose that the long habit of drinking an infusion from coffee-beans and tea-leaves has fixed in the mind the erroneous idea that the substance of the cocoa-bean is also valueless. ”

“ Joseph Acosta tells us that "the Indians used no gold nor silver to trafficke in or buy withall . . . and unto this day (1604) the custom continues amongst the Indians, as in the province of Mexico, instede of money they use cacao." The Aztecs also made use of cacao in this way, as many as 8,000 beans being legal tender—rather a task, one would imagine, for the money-changers.
In Nicaragua this practice was so general that "none but the rich and noble could afford
Native Americans Preparing and Cooking Cocoa. ”

“ Looking through the open door down a vista of archways bowered in clematis and climbing roses, with an alpine rock garden at each side of the broad walk, we might almost imagine ourselves to be at the entrance to some botanical gardens. ”

“ Trinidad has for more than a century deservedly claimed to be the first of these cocoa-producing islands. As far back as the sixteenth century the Spaniards who first colonized the island were interested in the cultivation of cacao. In the year 1780 a French gentleman residing in the neighbouring island of Grenada visited Trinidad, and gave such a glowing account of its fertility
that agriculturists from France and elsewhere flocked to the colony, and ever since this date it has maintained a high standard of agricultural advance. ”

“ A most important feature is, that although the rents are calculated to yield a fair return on the cost, including a proportion of development expenses, they are so low that a five-roomed cottage with bath and every convenience can be had for the rent of a two-roomed hovel in the slums. About two-fifths of the householders find employment in the cocoa works, the rest in the adjoining villages or in Birmingham. ”

“ No wonder the faces around are bright, no wonder that openings at the Bournville factory are in demand, and that long service for the firm is the boast of so many of the employees. Among these, a little band of about thirty still upholds the traditions of the old firm that laid the foundations of the present company in the city of Birmingham.
Packing Room, Bournville.
The work hours are forty-eight each week, and the wages depend both on age and length of service, no man of twenty-three years of age and over twelve months' service receiving less than 24s. weekly. ”

“ That it is as nutritious for old as well as young we have an interesting proof in the fact that the first Englishman born in Jamaica, Colonel Montague James, who lived to the age of 104, took scarcely any food but cocoa and chocolate for the last thirty years of his life. For athletes and all who desire the development of the muscular tissues, its use is most beneficial. ”

“ It is a regrettable fact that some unprincipled makers are tempted to use cheaper vegetable fats as substitutes for the natural butter, but none of these are really palatable or satisfactory in use, and none of the leading British firms are guilty of using such adulterants, or of the still more objectionable practice of grinding cocoa-shells and mixing them with their common chocolates. ”

“ Bancroft, for instance, writing of the Maya races of the Pacific, tells us that "before planting the seed they held a festival in honour of their gods, Ekchuah, Chac, and Hobnil, who were their patron deities. To solemnize it, they all went to the plantation of one of their number, where they sacrificed a dog having a spot on its skin the colour of cacao. They burned incense to their idols, after which they gave to each of the officials a branch of the cacao plant." ”

“ The sugar mill and sifting apparatus (26) placed near the crushing and cleansing machines are also fed by a hopper from above. Cocoa and sugar are now supplied to the mixing machine (16) , to be worked together before passing to the rolls (17) by which the final grinding is effected. After passing once or more through the mill, the finished chocolate mass is taken to the hot-room (18) , where it remains in boxes until further treated, after which it is taken to the moulding-room. In the mixer (19) the mass acquires the consistency and temperature requisite for moulding. ”

“ However valuable this last quality rendered the newly-discovered drink, its method of preparation and the unwonted spices employed prevented its ready adoption abroad, although the Spaniards and Portuguese took to it more kindly than some of the northern races. Joseph Acosta, writing of Mexico and Peru, says:
"The cocoa is a fruite little less than almonds, yet
more fatte, the which being roasted hath no ill taste. It is so much esteemed among the Indians (yea, among the Spaniards) , that it is one of the richest and the greatest traffickes of New Spain. ”

“ In the yard around the crushing-mills the shouting drivers bring their mule-teams to the mouth of the hopper, and the canes are bundled into the crushing rollers with lightning speed. The mills run on into the night, and the hours of sleep are only those demanded by stern necessity, until the crop is safely reaped and the last load of canes reduced to shredded megass and dripping syrup. ”

“ Chocolatte is (also) made up in boxes, and sent not only to Mexico, but much of it yearly transported into Spain. The introduction of cocoa into Europe, indeed, as well as its cultivation for the European market, is due rather to the Jesuit missionaries than to the explorers of the Western Hemisphere. It was the monks, too, who about 1661 made it known in France. It is curious, therefore, to notice the contest that at one time raged among ecclesiastics as to whether it was lawful to make use of chocolate in Lent ”

“ In appearance the cacao-tree is not greatly unlike one of our own orchard trees, and trained by the pruning knife it grows similar in shape to a well-kept apple tree, no very low boughs being left, so that a man on horseback can generally pass freely down the long glades. ”

“ The far end of the dining-hall leads into the huge kitchen, to which the girls can bring their own dinners to be cooked, or where they can buy a large variety of things at coffee-house prices. Here again the health of the workers is carefully studied. Fruit is made a speciality, an experienced buyer being employed to insure its better supply. ”

“ As for the great quantity of sugar which is commonly put in, it may destroy the native and genuine temper of the chocolate, sugar being such a corrosive salt, and such an hypocritical enemy of the body. ”

“ The cacao-tree grows wild in the forests of Central America, and varieties have been found also in Jamaica and other West Indian islands, and in South America. It does not thrive more than fifteen degrees north or south of the equator, and even within these limits it is not very successfully grown more than 600 feet above the sea-level ”

“ This cacao has a bold bean and a fine flavour, and is rich in theobromine; it is much valued on the market, and its strength and character render it indispensable to the manufacturer.
The neighbouring countries of Columbia and Venezuela, facing the Caribbean Sea, have for centuries grown cacao of excellent quality. The criollo (creole) bean is generally used as seed, and for it high prices are obtained. Owing, however, to the unsettled state of the republics and their unstable governments, its cultivation has gone back rather than forward during the past decade. ”

“ The cacao of Pará in Brazil differs from all other growths; the bean is much smaller and rounder, and is elongated, but when well cured it is mild, and has a very pleasant flavour, highly valued by manufacturers. Bahia produces large quantities of cacao, formerly of an inferior quality, owing to careless cultivation and indiscriminate mixing of all that was brought from the interior, some of it wild and uncured. ”