The Importance of Grading

N.G. Cocoa

A DIRECTOR of the well-known firm of Messrs. Cadbury Fry Pascall Pty.

Ltd., Hobart, writes helpfully to the edi tor on the subject of the New Guinea cocoa industry (referred to on page 38 of this issue): “You will realise that it is a vital mat ter with us to preserve uniformity in flavour and character of established chocolate lines, and we would not take liberties with any of these recipes unless the outcome of long experimental work has assured us that one variety of cocoa bean can be exchanged for another with out detriment to the finished article.

“The thing that has worried us for a long time in passing opinions on samples of beans from the Mandated Territory has been the lack of care in preparing the general run of these samples of cocoa.

They exhibit far too wide variations in size of beans, indicating that in sufficient care is taken in grading the cocoa. It is obvious that a manufacturer is running a grave risk of spoiling the final product if, in the roast ing operation, tiny and shrivelled beans are submitted to the same heat treatment as large, well formed beans, since by the time the operation is concluded, the for mer descriptions are charred or burnt, while the others are only adequately cooked through.

“If one could obtain as consistent a degree of uniformity in Mandated Terri tory cocoa as is exhibited in such growths as fine fermented Accra, fine Bahia and the Estates Trinidad and Grenada, a much more sympathetic attitude would immediately be shown by Australian chocolate manufacturers towards the re latively locally-produced cocoa.”