The Food of the Gods | Page 2

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 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-shell 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!
[Illustration--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 substitutes 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
unsurpassed 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.
[Illustration--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 gods" 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 institutions of all classes. 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
Goût," remarks: "The persons who habitually take chocolate are those
who enjoy the most equable and constant health, and are least liable to
a multitude of illnesses which spoil the enjoyment of life."
[Illustration--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
advertisement, 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.
[Illustration--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,