ary
amongst other things in the percentage of moisture which they contain,
the machine has not replaced the experienced operator. He takes samples
from the drum from time to time, and when the aroma has the character
desired, the beans are rapidly discharged into a trolley with a
perforated bottom, which is brought over a cold current of air. The
object of this refinement is to stop the roasting instantly and prevent
even a suspicion of burning.

After roasting, the shell is brittle and quite free from the cotyledons
or kernel. The kernel has become glossy and friable and chocolate brown
in colour, and it crushes readily between the fingers into small angular
fragments (the "nibs" of commerce), giving off during the breaking down
a rich warm odour of chocolate.

(_d_) _Removing the Shells._

It has been stated (see _Fatty Foods_, by Revis and Bolton) that it was
formerly the practice not to remove the shell. This is incorrect, the
more usual practice from the earliest times has been to remove the
shells, though not so completely as they are removed by the efficient
machinery of to-day.

[Illustration: CACAO BEAN, SHELL AND GERM.]

In _A Curious Treatise on the Nature and Quality of Chocolate_, by
Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma (1685), we read: "And if you peel the
cacao, and take it out of its little shell, the drink thereof will be
more dainty and delicious." Willoughby, in his _Travels in Spain_,
(1664), writes: "They first toast the berries to get off the husk," and
R. Brookes, in the _Natural History of Chocolate_ (1730), says: "The
Indians ... roast the kernels in earthen pots, then free them from their
skins, and afterwards crush and grind them between two stones."

He further definitely recommends that the beans "be roasted enough to
have their skins come off easily, which should be done one by one,
laying them apart ... for these skins being left among the chocolate,
will not dissolve in any liquor, nor even in the stomach, and fall to
the bottom of the chocolate-cups as if the kernels had not been
cleaned."

That the "Indian" practice of removing the shells was followed from the
commencement of the industry in England, is shown by the old plate which
we have reproduced on p. 120 from _Arts and Sciences_.

The removal of the shell, which in the raw condition is tough and
adheres to the kernel, is greatly facilitated by roasting. If we place a
roasted bean in the palm of the hand and press it with the t