The Manufacture of Chocolate and other Cacao PreparationsZipperer, Paul
Science
The Manufacture of Chocolate and other Cacao Preparations
Zipperer, Paul
Cacao; Chocolate; Cocoa
~By boiling with dilute acids as well as by the action of ferments
like the saliva, diastase~ etc., ~starch is converted into starch
sugar~ (~glucose~, ~dextrose~). The empirical formula for
starch is C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}, that for starch sugar is C_{6}H_{12}O_{6},
so that in the conversion one molecule of water is introduced,
wherefore its chemical nature is greatly changed, and especially in
its becoming freely soluble in water. That alteration allows of starch
being quantitatively determined, as the dextrose thus produced has the
property of reducing an alkaline solution of copper sulphate (known as
Fehling’s solution, after the discoverer); that is to say, the copper
sulphate is converted into insoluble red cuprous oxide. As dextrose
always precipitates a definite amount of cuprous oxide, the quantity of
starch present can in that way be determined.
The chemical determination of starch is only in a limited degree
effectual in the recognition of an admixture of foreign starch in cacao
preparations. If more than 10-15 percent of starch (calculated on the
crude bean) has been found, then it must be assumed that there has
been an admixture of foreign starch, but chemistry affords no means by
which foreign starch can be distinguished from the genuine starch of
the cacao bean. For that purpose the foreign starch must be minutely
observed under the microscope, which not only serves to detect its
presence, but gives an approximate estimation of the amount present,
and its origin. Great caution should be exercised, or the result may be
easily exaggerated.
7. ~Cellulose or crude fibre.~
We have already made the acquaintance of this material as the chief
constituent of the cell walls and vascular tissues. Recent chemical
investigations have shown that it consists of the anhydrides of hexose
and pentose (sugar compounds) incrustated with many impurities, such as
cacao-red, gum, mucilage etc. From a chemical point of view, cellulose
has the same formula as starch, viz. C_{6}H_{10}O_{5}, or one of its
multiples represented in formula. One of its chemical properties is
solubility in ammonio-cupric sulphate, and affinity for alkalis such
as potash, soda, ammonia, causes it to swell when they act on the cell
fibres.
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