Customer Reviews

Cocoa And Chocolate - Their History From Plantation To Consumer

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It is an interesting book, however it is almost 90 years od. It is interesting in a historical sense, but many of the unanswered questions in the book (like why chocolate does some of the things it does chemically or physically [like how tempering works]) have been answered since then.
All in all, as I stated earlier, it is interesting.

The book was originally written in the 1920's so a lot has changed in the chocolate industry since then and it is a little out of date in some areas. But in the cultivation of T.Cacao it has a lot of useful information.

This is a reprint of a 1920 book originally published by Chapman and Hall. Arthur Knapp was a research chemist to Cadbury's and was obviously a leading expert in his day. In fact there are two other books on cocoa/chocolate written by him as well. This is a well written book, but I caution reading it until you have read the most recent learned books on the subject such as Stephen Beckett's "The Science of Chocolate", Sophie and Michael Coe's "The True History of Chocolate", and Allen Young's "The Chocolate Tree". This is because although a lot of what Knapp says about how chocolate is produced, from bean to bar, including the techniques of manufacture, remain in essence correct, there have been advances in our knowledge since 1920 and the reader might get a bit confused if he or she takes everything as true for today. The book still has much to interest the reader however and if you are well read on chocolate then you will find this book fascinating as an historical snapshot of what was known about cocoa and chocolate, and how the industry operated, nearly a century ago. We are now in an era where the growth in the production of fine chocolate is taking off. It is generally accepted that Criollo beans (which make up under 5% of the world's total) produce the finest chocolate, whereas most of the chocolate bought on the high street, and produced by the big names such as Cadbury, Hershey and Nestle come from Forastero beans, a hardier, heavier yielding, but less fine-tasting bean. However, not all agree on this point. Interesting therefore to hear Knapp, who worked for Cadbury, admitting back in 1920 that "The criollo yields the finest and rarest kind of cacao". A last few words: readers may find the author's views of happy natives working in the plantations a bit patronising, perhaps even offensive, and need to bear in mind when the book was written. Finally, if you want to research more into the origins of chocolate, Knapp has an excellent bibliography at the end of the book that lists all significant books on cocoa and chocolate, in chronological order, from 1600 to 1920.

Very pleased with both the content, and especially, the condition of the book. It was brand new. Will definitely use the same supplier in the future.