1892 Drinks of the world

DRINKS.

321

the West

Guiana, and most

India

of

Venezuela,

Commercially the different sorts rank In

Islands.

Trinidad, Caraccas, Grenada, Guay-

value as follow :

West

Ceylon, and

Surinam,

British

Bahia,

aquil,

Indies. It grows, as we see In the Illustration, somewhat like a melon, which contains some fifty or more seeds, in rows embedded In a spongy substance, from which the seeds are cleansed and then dried in the sun, when It becomes britde and of a dark colour inter- nally, eating like an oily nut, but with a decidedly bitter and somewhat astringent taste. To render It fit for food, It Is gently roasted to develop the aroma, allowed to cool, deprived of Its husk, and then crushed into small fragments called cocoa nibs, which is the purest form In which it Is used, but also the one which entails the greatest trouble In making a drink therefrom. The granulated, rock, flake, and soluble cocoas are made by the beans being ground into a paste In a rolling mill ; starch, flour, sugar, and other Ingredients being used, according to the taste of different manufacturers. It was used by the Mexicans and Peruvians before their conquest by the Spaniards, and formed an article of barter among them. Columbus brought a know- ledge of It to Europe ; but those were not the days of non-alcoholic drinks, and It was some time before it came Into vogue. Naturally, first of all In Spain, and to this day Spain Is the greatest European consumer of cocoa In some shape or other. It was Introduced Into England about the same time as tea and coffee, but the chocolate houses, pure and simple, as such, X