1872 Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks (Mixellany)

Cocoa and Chocolate. 143 of America by Columbus, who brought home some samples ; and it has been the favourite beverage of the Spaniards ever since. Cocoa-nibs were used by the Indians as money : 150 nuts were equal to a Spanish real. It is very popular in France and Italy: the French are considered the best makers of chocolate. Genuine chocolate should dissolve in the mouth, without a gritty feeling, leaving a sen- sation of freshness on the palate. The Spanish Mode of Quaking Chocolate is to break a portion from the cake and to let it soak eight hours in milk or water ; then slowly warming the decoction, to mill it all the time with a notched stick (worked with a piece of string round the handle), passed through a hole in the lid of the pot. The best chocolate is that which dissolves entirely in water, leaving no grounds or sediment at the bottom of the vessel. Chocolate should not be made till required for use; water is better than milk for making chocolate, which should on no account be allowed to boil, as the oil would then pass to the surface; neither coffee nor tea approaches cocoa or chocolate for nutritive properties. The latter contains every ingredient necessary to the sustenance of the body; its active principle is Theobromine, an alkaloid which is akin in cha-