Coffee and chicory : $b Their culture, chemical composition, preparation for market, and consumption, with simple tests for detecting adulteration, and practical hints for the producer and consumerSimmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Science
Coffee and chicory : $b Their culture, chemical composition, preparation for market, and consumption, with simple tests for detecting adulteration, and practical hints for the producer and consumer
Simmonds, P. L. (Peter Lund)
Chicory; Coffee; Food adulteration and inspection
JAMAICA.--The coffee-plant is said to have been first introduced into
Jamaica by Sir Nicholas Lawes, in 1728, when it was cultivated on an
estate called Temple Hall, on the plains of Liguanea, not far from
Kingston. In 1752, 6,000,000 lbs. of coffee were exported, and in the
three years ending 1807, the average annual shipment was 28,500,000 lbs.
It was not until the island trade was injured by the dismemberment of
Honduras that the heavy duties on sugar, and the competition of the
French colonies, induced the industrious planters to turn their
attention to coffee. They then petitioned for a protecting bounty, and
for a considerable time this was the only British colony where its
cultivation was much attended to. In 1791 there were 607
coffee-plantations in the island, with 21,000 negroes employed on them.
In 1844, there were 671 plantations, and it was calculated that
20,000,000_l._ sterling was invested in them. Some of the finest and
most productive plantations were at an elevation of 4700 feet, in the
vicinity of the Blue Mountain Peak. Whilst in 1809, 83,250,000 lbs. of
coffee were shipped from Jamaica, the average export for ten years past
has not exceeded 6,000,000 lbs.
In the West Indies and Central America a nursery of young plants is
usually raised from seed. At the age of six months these are
transplanted into the field in squares of 8 to 9 feet apart. Beyond
keeping the field clear of weeds, giving the plants a slight moulding,
and freeing them of suckers or sprouts, they do not require any other
attention for the first three years. At the expiry of this time they
commence to bear fruit, and the coffee is cured either by drying the
entire fruit in the sun, or by passing the fruit through what is called
a pulping mill, which separates the outer pulp or covering from the
beans. The beans are then subjected to a washing in a tank full of
water, in order to remove the glutinous substance which adheres to them;
this causes them to cure or dry more rapidly. They are then left in what
is called the parchment husk, and exposed to the action of the sun on
platforms laid with tiles, until they are perfectly dried, and from this
they are, during crop time, spread on the wooden floors of a building
called a logie, to the depth, in a heavy crop, of 12 to 18 inches.
Whilst thus spread, great attention is necessary to prevent the coffee
getting heated and its colour destroyed, by constantly turning it up,
and by the use of some dry lime or ashes sprinkled over it. After this
the beans are subjected to the operation of what is called a stamping
mill, which separates the parchment husk from the beans. This stamping
mill is merely two large solid wheels fixed on each end of a beam on an
axle, and worked by mules moving round in a circle--the wooden wheels
working in a circular trough filled with the coffee beans. After this
the whole are submitted to the action of a winnowing machine, which
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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