The Food of the G.o.ds.

by Brandon Head.

I. ITS NATURE.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: "MAKE A CUP OF COCOA IN PERFECTION"]

When one thinks of the marvellously nourishing and stimulating virtue of cocoa, and of the exquisite and irresistible dainties prepared from it, one cannot wonder that the great Linnaeus should have named it _theo broma_, "the food of the G.o.ds." No other natural product, with the exception of milk, can be said to serve equally well as food or drink, or to possess nourishing and stimulating properties in such well-adjusted proportions. Few, however, realize that in its stimulating properties cocoa ranks ahead of coffee, though below tea.

As a matter of fact, the active principles of all three are alkaloids, practically identical and equally effective.[1] Each derives its value from its influence on the nervous system, which it stimulates, while checking the waste of tissue, but the cocoa-bean provides in addition solid food to replace wasted tissue. It is, indeed, so closely allied in composition to pure dried milk, that in this respect there is little to choose between an absolutely pure cocoa essence and the natural fluid.[2] It is this which makes it invaluable as an alternative food for invalids or infants.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Cacao Trees, Trinidad.]

An early English writer on this valuable product spoke truly when he remarked: "All the American travellers have written such panegyricks, that I should degrade this royal liquor if I should offer any; yet several of these curious travellers and physicians do agree in this, that the cocoa has a wonderful faculty of quenching thirst, allaying hectick heats, of nourishing and fattening the body."

A modern writer[3] affords the same testimony in a more practical form when he records that: "Cocoa is of domestic drinks the most alimentary; it is without any exception the cheapest food that we can conceive, as it may be literally termed meat and drink, and were our half-starved artisans and over-worked factory children induced to drink it, instead of the in-nutritious beverage called tea, its nutritive qualities would soon develop themselves in their improved looks and more robust condition."

Such a drink well deserved the treatment it received at the hands of the Mexicans to whom we are indebted for it. At the royal banquets frothing chocolate was served in golden goblets with finely wrought golden or tortoise-sh.e.l.l spoons. The froth in this case was of the consistency of honey, so that when eaten cold it would gradually dissolve in the mouth. Here is a luscious suggestion for twentieth century housewives, handed to them from five hundred years ago!

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: ANCIENT MEXICAN DRINKING CUPS.

(_British Museum._)]

In health or sickness, infancy or age, at home or on our travels, nothing is so generally useful, so sustaining and invigorating. Far better than the majority of vaunted subst.i.tutes for human milk as an infant's food, to supplement what other milk may be available; incomparable as a family drink for breakfast or supper, when both tea and coffee are really out of place unless the latter is nearly all milk; prepared as chocolate to eat on journeys, and in many other ways, cocoa is a constant stand-by. Travelling in Eastern deserts on mule-back, the present writer has never been without a tin of cocoa essence if he could help it, as, whatever straits he might be put to for provisions, so long as he had this and water, refreshment was possible, and whenever milk was available he had command in his lonely tent of a luxury unsurpa.s.sed in Paris or London. For the sustenance of invalids he has found nothing better in the home-land than a nightly cup of cocoa essence boiled with milk.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: MOLINILLO (LITTLE MILL) OR CHOCOLATE WHISK.]

Add to these experiences a love for the flavour which dates from childhood, and his admiration for this "food of the G.o.ds" will be appreciated, even if not sympathized in, by the few who have escaped its spell. Its value in the eyes of practical as well as scientific men is sufficiently demonstrated by its increasing use in naval and military commissariats, in hospitals, and in public inst.i.tutions of all cla.s.ses. In the British Navy, which down to 1830 consumed more cocoa than the rest of the nation together, it is served out daily, and in the army twice or thrice a week. Brillat Savarin, the author of the "Physiologie du Gout," remarks: "The persons who habitually take chocolate are those who enjoy the most equable and constant health, and are least liable to a mult.i.tude of illnesses which spoil the enjoyment of life."

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: A Cacao Harvest, Trinidad.]

It certainly behoves us, therefore, to learn something more of such a valuable article than may be gleaned from the perusal of an advertis.e.m.e.nt, or the instructions on a packet containing it. There is something more than usually fascinating even in its history, in all the tales regarding this treasure-trove of the New World, and in the curious methods by which it has been treated. The story of its discovery takes us into the atmosphere of the Elizabethan period, and into the company of Cortes and Columbus; to learn of its cultivation and preparation we are transported to the glorious realms of the tropics, and to some of the most healthful centres of labour in the old country--in one case to the model village of the English Midlands.

It is therefore an exceedingly pleasant round that lies before us in investigating this subject, as well as one which will afford much useful knowledge for every-day life.

Before proceeding to a closer acquaintance with the origin of cocoa, it may be well to clear the ground of possible misconceptions which occasionally cause confusion.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: THE COCO-NUT PALM.]

First, there is the word "cocoa" itself, an unfortunate inversion of the name of the tree from which it is derived, the cacao.[4] A still more unfortunate corruption is that of "coco-nut" to "cocoa-nut,"

which is altogether inexcusable. In this case it is therefore quite correct to drop the concluding "a," as the coco-nut has nothing whatever to do with cocoa or the cacao, being the fruit of a palm[5]

in every way distinct from it, as will be seen from the accompanying ill.u.s.tration.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: COCO-DE-MER.]

The name "coco" is also applied to another quite distinct fruit, the _coco-de-mer_, or "sea-coco," somewhat resembling a coco-nut in its pod, but weighing about 28 lbs., and likewise growing on a lofty tree; its habitat is the Seych.e.l.les Islands. Sometimes also, confusion arises between the cacao and the coca or cuca,[6] a small shrub like a blackthorn, also widely cultivated in Central America, from the leaves of which the powerful narcotic cocaine is extracted.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: LEAVES AND FLOWER OF THE CUCA SHRUB.]

In the second place, the name "cocoa," which is strictly applicable only to the pure ground nib or its concentrated essence, is sometimes unjustifiably applied to preparations of cocoa with starch, alkali, sugar, etc., which it would be more correct to describe as "chocolate powder," chocolate being admittedly a confection of cocoa with other substances and flavourings.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Plate: Gathering Cacao: Santa Cruz, Trinidad.]

"Chocolate" is, therefore, a much wider term than "cocoa,"

embracing both the food and the drink prepared from the cacao, and is the Mexican name, _chocolatl_, slightly modified, having nothing to do with the word cacao, in Mexican _cacauatl_.[7] In the New World it was compounded of cacao, maize, and flavourings to which the Spaniards, on discovering it, added sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and other ingredients, such as musk and ambergris, cloves and nutmegs, almonds and pistachios, anise, and even red peppers or chillies. "Sometimes," says a treatise on "The Natural History of Chocolate," "China [quinine] and a.s.sa [foetida?]; and sometimes steel and rhubarb, may be added for young and green ladies."

In our own times it is unfortunately common to add potato-starch, arrowroot, etc., to the cocoa, and yet to sell it by the name of the pure article. Such preparations thicken in the cup, and are preferred by some under the mistaken impression that this is a sign of its containing more nutriment instead of less. Although not so wholesome, there could be no objection to these additions so long as the preparations were not labelled "cocoa," and were sold at a lower price.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: PURE DECORTICATED COCOA, HIGHLY MAGNIFIED.]

Such adulteration is rendered possible by the presence in the bean of a large proportion of fatty matter or cocoa-b.u.t.ter, which renders it too rich for most digestions. To overcome this difficulty one or other of two methods is available: (1) Lowering the percentage of fat by the addition of starch, sugar, etc.; or (2) removing a large proportion of the fat by some extractive process; this latter method being in every respect preferable to that first mentioned.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Drawing: COCOA ADULTERATED WITH ARROWROOT OR POTATO STARCH.]

In order to avoid the expense and trouble consequent on the latter process, some manufacturers add alkali, by which means the free fatty acids are saponified, and the fat is held in a state of emulsion, thus giving the cocoa a false appearance of solubility.

Another effect of the alkali is to impart to the beverage a much darker colour, from its action on the natural red colouring matter of the cocoa, this darkening being often taken, unfortunately, as indicative of increased strength. On this account the presence of added alkali should be regarded as an adulteration, unless notified on the package in which the cocoa is contained.

A more subtle treatment with alkali for the same purpose is the addition to the pulverized bean of carbonate of ammonia, or caustic ammonia. This is afterwards volatilized by the application of heat.

Scents and flavourings are then added to disguise their smell and taste.

Besides these combinations of cocoa with starch, sugar, etc., and cocoa treated with alkali, there are now found on the market mixtures of cocoa with such substances as kola, malt, hops, etc., sold under strange-sounding names, reminding one of the many mixtures that are made up as medicines rather than food. While the substances thus incorporated are of value in their place, they possess no virtues which are absent from the pure cocoa, and cannot be in any way considered an improvement of cocoa as food. The sooner this practice of drug taking under cover of diet comes to an end the better it will be for the national health.

Formerly Venetian red, umber, peroxide of iron, and even brick-dust, were employed to produce a cheaper article, but modern science and legislation combined have rendered such practices almost impossible.

As early as the reign of George III. an Act[8] was pa.s.sed, providing that, "if any article made to resemble cocoa shall be found in the possession of any dealer, under the name of 'American cocoa' or 'English cocoa,' or any other name of cocoa, it shall be forfeited, and the dealer shall forfeit 100." Yet this Act was allowed to become so much a dead letter that in 1851 the _Lancet_ published the a.n.a.lysis of fifty-six preparations sold as "cocoa," of which only eight were free from adulteration. In some of the "soluble cocoas," the adulteration was as high as 65 per cent., potato starch in one case forming 50 per cent. of the sample. The majority of the samples were found to be coloured with mineral or earthy pigments, and specimens treated with red lead are on exhibition at South Kensington.

The inclusion of the husk or sh.e.l.l in some of the cheaper forms of chocolate is another reprehensible practice (strongly condemned), as they do not possess the qualities for which the kernel or nib is so highly prized. To prevent this practice it was enacted in 1770 that the sh.e.l.ls or husks should be seized or destroyed, and the officer seizing them rewarded up to 20s. per hundredweight. From these a light, but not unpalatable, table decoction is still prepared in Ireland and elsewhere, under the designation of "miserables."

Among other beverages which have from time to time been produced from the cacao was a fermented drink much in vogue at the Mexican Court, to which it appears from the accounts of the conquest that Montezuma was addicted, as "after the hot dishes (300 in number) had been removed, every now and then was handed to him a golden pitcher filled with a kind of liquor made from cacao, which is very exciting." One variety, called _zaca_, drunk by the Itzas, consisted of cocoa mixed with a fermented liquor prepared from maize; but a more harmless invention was a drink composed of cocoa-b.u.t.ter and maize.

[Ill.u.s.tration--Black and White Photgraph: How the Cacao Grows.

(Showing Leaf, Flower, and Fruit.)]

There remain three forms in which pure cocoa may be prepared as a beverage:

1. _Cocoa-nibs._--The natural broken segments of the roasted cocoa-bean, after the sh.e.l.l has been removed, prepared for table as an infusion by prolonged simmering.

It is strange that this ridiculous and wasteful means is still in use at all, as next to none of the valuable portions of the nib are extracted. The quant.i.ty of matter removed by the hot water is so small, that close upon 90 per cent, of the nourishing and feeding const.i.tuents are left behind in the undissolved sediment, the substances extracted being princ.i.p.ally salts and colouring matters.

One can but suppose that the long habit of drinking an infusion from coffee-beans and tea-leaves has fixed in the mind the erroneous idea that the substance of the cocoa-bean is also valueless. The fact remains, however, that it is still customary at some hydropathic establishments, and perhaps in a few other instances, for doctors to order "nibs" for their patient, which may sometimes be accounted for by injury having resulted from drinking one of the many "faked" cocoas offered for sale; the order for "nibs" being a despairing effort to obtain the genuine article.

2. _Consolidated Nibs_--_i.e._, cocoa-nibs ground between heated stones, whence it flows in a paste of the consistency of cream, which, when cool, hardens into a cake containing all the cocoa-b.u.t.ter. Cocoa in this form (mixed with sugar before cooling) is served in the British Navy--a somewhat wasteful and inconvenient practice, as when stirred, the excess of fat at once floats to the top of the cup, and is generally removed with a spoon, to make the drink more appetising.

3. _Cocoa Essence._--This is the same article as No. 2, with about 60 per cent, of the natural b.u.t.ter removed; consequently the proportion of alb.u.minous and stimulating elements is greatly increased. It is prepared instantly by pouring boiling water upon it, thus forming a light beverage with all the strength and flesh-forming const.i.tuents of the decorticated bean.[9]

Chemical a.n.a.lysis of cacao-nibs and cocoa essence shows them to contain on an average:

Cacao-nibs. Cocoa Essence.

Cocoa-b.u.t.ter 50 parts. 30 parts.