The Food of the Gods

The Food of the Gods

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Title: The Food of the Gods A Popular Account of Cocoa
Author: Brandon Head

Release Date: June 10, 2005 [eBook #16035]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE FOOD OF THE GODS
[Greek: _The? Br?ma_]
A Popular Account of Cocoa
by
BRANDON HEAD
London: R. Brimley Johnson 4, Adam Street, Adelphi, W.C.
1903

[Illustration--Colour Plate: EAST INDIAN COOLIES ON A TRINIDAD CACAO ESTATE]

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. ITS NATURE 1
II. ITS GROWTH AND CULTIVATION 25
III. ITS MANUFACTURE 45
IV. ITS HISTORY 71
V. ITS SOURCES AND VARIETIES 91
Appendices:
ANCIENT MANUFACTURE OF COCOA 103
BOURNVILLE WORKS SUGGESTION SCHEME 106
THE EARLY COCOA HOUSES 109

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS.
PAGE EAST INDIAN COOLIES OF A TRINIDAD CACAO ESTATE (COLOURED) frontispiece
CEYLON, A HILL CACAO ESTATE to face 1
"MAKE A CUP OF COCOA IN PERFECTION" (see p. 19) 1
CACAO TREES, TRINIDAD to face 3
ANCIENT MEXICAN DRINKING CUPS 4
"MOLINILLO," OR CHOCOLATE WHISK 5
CACAO HARVEST, TRINIDAD to face 7
THE COCO-NUT PALM 8
COCO-DE-MER 9
LEAVES AND FLOWER OF THE CUCA SHRUB 10
GATHERING CACAO: SANTA CRUZ, TRINIDAD to face 11
PURE DECORTICATED COCOA, MAGNIFIED 12
ADULTERATED COCOA, MAGNIFIED 13
HOW THE CACAO GROWS to face 17
CACAO CROP, TRINIDAD " 21
ANALYTICAL APPARATUS 20
CACAO PODS (COLOURED) to face 25
CACAO HARVESTING 25
CEYLON, NURSERY OF CACAO SEEDLINGS to face 27
SAMOA: CACAO IN ITS FOURTH YEAR " 29
YOUNG CACAO CULTIVATION WITH CATCH CROP " 30
PODS OF CACAO THEOBROMA 31
VARIETIES OF THE CACAO to face 32
THE HOME OF THE CACAO " 35
ORTINOLA, MARACAS, TRINIDAD " 36
GOULET AND WOODEN SPOON 37
CUTLASSES 37
CACAO DRYING IN THE SUN to face 39
LABOURERS' COTTAGE, CACAO ESTATE " 40
BASKETS OF CACAO ON PLANTAIN LEAVES 41
CACAO TREE AND SEEDLING (COLOURED) to face 43
BOURNVILLE: "THE FACTORY IN A GARDEN" " 45
" "ON ARRIVAL AT THE FACTORY" 45
" OFFICE BUILDINGS to face 47
" CRICKET PAVILION " 49
" GIRLS' DINING-HALL " 51
" BOOT-SHELF ON STOOL 53
" THE DINNER HOUR to face 54
" LABURNAM ROAD " 58
" PACKING-ROOM " 60
" SUGGESTION BOX 62
" LINDEN ROAD to face 63
" FISHING POOL " 64
" ALMSHOUSES " 67
SECTION OF A COCOA FACTORY (COLOURED) " 69
AMERICAN INDIAN WITH CHOCOLATE POT 71
NATIVE AMERICANS PREPARING COCOA to face 72
A CACAO PLANTATION 75
GRENADA: CACAO DRYING ON TRAYS to face 77
MEXICAN DRINKING-VESSELS AND WHISK 78
CACAO TREE, TRINIDAD to face 80
MEXICAN COCOA WHISK 83
WHITE'S COCOA HOUSE to face 87
CHART OF COCOA-PRODUCING COUNTRIES (COLOURED) to face 91
SACKS OF CACAO BEANS " 91
MARACAS VALLEY, TRINIDAD " 92
MAP OF TRINIDAD (COLOURED) " 95
" GRENADA, BRITISH WEST INDIES 96
CACAO ESTATE, GRENADA to face 96
MAP OF PRINCIPE 97
" S. THOM�� 98
CEYLON: CARTING CACAO TO RAIL to face 99
MAP OF CEYLON 99
" SAMOA 100
SAMOA, CLEARING FOR CACAO to face 100
MEXICAN GRINDING-STONE 104
[Illustration--Black & White Plate: Ceylon: A Hill Cacao Estate.]

"THE FOOD OF THE GODS."

I. ITS NATURE.
[Illustration--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 Linn?us should have named it theo broma, "the food of the gods." 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.
[Illustration--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