The Manufacture of Chocolate and other Cacao Preparations
9781465628398
188 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
The object of this work is to furnish a source of information and advice for those who are interested in the branch of industry to which it relates. The author of this treatise has therefore endeavoured not only to describe the manufacturing processes; but he has also devoted special attention to the raw materials employed, and endeavoured to make them generally familiar by reference to the literature on the subject, as well as by providing a precise account of the chemical constituents of these substances and discussing the consequently necessary procedure to be observed in the course of manufacture. The art of chocolate making is no longer what it was a few decades ago; it has for the most part passed from small operators into the hands of large manufacturers. A short historical resumé will serve as a sketch of this development and a cursory description of some forms of apparatus which have now merely historical interest will serve to show how improvement in the industry has been effected. Chocolate is a favourite and most important article of food, and in that sense it is subject to legal regulations for which allowances must be made, as well as for the most suitable analytical methods by means of which a manufacturer can ascertain the presence of unlawful mixtures in competing products, so that knowing the regulations in force, he may avoid any infringement of the same. Within the ten years that have elapsed since the first edition of this work appeared, the manufacture of chocolate has undergone considerable expansion. Not only has the modus operandi been simplified and improved by the introduction of a number of new mechanical appliances, but the technique of the subject has been so extended, both from chemical and mechanical points of view, as partly to furnish a new standard in estimating and determining cacao constituents and preparations. The author has endeavoured to take due account of all these advances, and made a point of collecting the material scattered through the various professional journals, sifting or supplementing where necessary, in order that all engaged in the industry, the manufacturer as well as the food analyst and the engineer, may be in a position to derive a vivid impression of existing conditions in the chocolate manufacture, from the present volume. In consideration of the importance which several branches of the industry have recently acquired, such as the preparation of cocoa powder, soluble cocoa, cacao butter, pralinés and chocolate creams, space has been given to descriptions of the respective details. On the other hand no attempt has been made to introduce calculations as to the cost of manufacture, since statements to that effect would possibly be rather detrimental than otherwise. Costs of production as regards cacao preparations is subject to great variation, according to the scale on which they are carried out, so that estimates made on the basis of large operations might eventually lead to the conclusion that a small factory might be profitable, and with no better result than that of creating undue competition in prices and occasioning eventual failure. Moreover, the fluctuations in the market price of cacao and sugar are so frequent, and there is such possibility of new sources of expense, that calculations can only apply to the time when they are made; they soon become out of date, and then afford no trustworthy indication of probable profit and loss.
