Cocoa and Chocolate | Page 3

who think it curious, I would say that I do not use this spelling from
pedantry. It is an imitation of the word which the Mexicans used for
this commodity as early as 1500, and when spoken by Europeans is apt
to sound like the howl of a dog. The Mexicans called the tree from
which cacao is obtained cacauatl. When the great Swedish scientist
Linnaeus, the father of botany, was naming and classifying (about 1735)
the trees and plants known in his time, he christened it Theobroma
Cacao, by which name it is called by botanists to this day. Theo-broma
is Greek for "Food of the Gods." Why Linnaeus paid this extraordinary
compliment to cacao is obscure, but it has been suggested that he was
inordinately fond of the beverage prepared from it--the cup which both
cheers and satisfies. It will be seen from the above that the
species-name is cacao, and one can understand that Englishmen,
finding it difficult to get their insular lips round this outlandish word,
lazily called it cocoa.

[Illustration: CACAO PODS (Amelonado type) in various states of
growth and ripeness.]
In this book I shall use the words cacao, cocoa, and chocolate as
follows:
Cacao, when I refer to the cacao tree, the cacao pod, or the cacao bean
or seed. By the single word, cacao, I imply the raw product, cacao
beans, in bulk.
Cocoa, when I refer to the powder manufactured from the roasted bean
by pressing out part of the butter. The word is too well established to be
changed, even if one wished it. As we shall see later (in the chapter on
adulteration) it has come legally to have a very definite significance. If
this method of distinguishing between cacao and cocoa were the
accepted practice, the perturbation which occurred in the public mind
during the war (in 1916), as to whether manufacturers were exporting
"cocoa" to neutral countries, would not have arisen. It should have been
spelled "cacao," for the statements referred to the raw beans and not to
the manufactured beverage. Had this been done, it would have been
unnecessary for the manufacturers to point out that cocoa powder was
not being so exported, and that they naturally did not sell the raw cacao
bean.
Chocolate.--This word is given a somewhat wider meaning. It signifies
any preparation of roasted cacao beans without abstraction of butter. It
practically always contains sugar and added cacao butter, and is
generally prepared in moulded form. It is used either for eating or
drinking.

Cacao Beans and Coconuts.
In old manuscripts the word cacao is spelled in all manner of ways, but
cocoa survived them all. This curious inversion, cocoa, is to be
regretted, for it has led to a confusion which could not otherwise have
arisen. But for this spelling no one would have dreamed of confusing

the totally unrelated bodies, cacao and the milky coconut. (You note
that I spell it "coconut," not "cocoanut," for the name is derived from
the Spanish "coco," "grinning face," or bugbear for frightening children,
and was given to the nut because the three scars at the broad end of the
nut resemble a grotesque face). To make confusion worse confounded
the old writers referred to cacao seeds as cocoa nuts (as for example, in
The Humble Memorial of Joseph Fry, quoted in the chapter on history),
but, as in appearance cacao seeds resemble beans, they are now usually
spoken of as beans. The distinction between cacao and the coconut may
be summarised thus:
Cacao. Coconut.
Botanical Name Theobroma Cacao Cocos nucifera Palm Tree Palm
Fruit Cacao pod, containing Coconut, which with outer many seeds
(cacao beans) fibre is as large as a man's head
Products Cocoa Broken coconut (copra) Chocolate Coconut matting
Fatty Constituent Cacao butter Coconut oil


CHAPTER I
COCOA AND CHOCOLATE--A SKETCH OF THEIR HISTORY
Did time and space allow, there is much to be told on the romantic side
of chocolate, of its divine origin, of the bloody wars and brave exploits
of the Spaniards who conquered Mexico and were the first to introduce
cacao into Europe, tales almost too thrilling to be believed, of the
intrigues of the Spanish Court, and of celebrities who met and sipped
their chocolate in the parlours of the coffee and chocolate houses so
fashionable in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Cocoa and Chocolate (Whymper).
On opening a cacao pod, it is seen to be full of beans surrounded by a
fruity pulp, and whilst the pulp is very pleasant to taste, the beans
themselves are uninviting, so that doubtless the beans were always
thrown away until ... someone tried roasting them. One pictures this
"someone," a pre-historic Aztec with swart skin, sniffing the aromatic
fume coming from the roasting beans, and thinking that beans