The Food of the Gods | Page 4

Act[8] was passed, 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 analysis 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 shell 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 shells 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-butter and maize.
[Illustration--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 shell 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
quantity of matter removed by the hot water is so small, that close upon
90 per cent, of the nourishing and feeding constituents are left behind
in the undissolved sediment, the substances extracted being principally
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-butter. 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 butter removed; consequently the proportion of
albuminous 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 constituents of the
decorticated bean.[9]
Chemical analysis of cacao-nibs and cocoa essence shows them to
contain on an average:
Cacao-nibs. Cocoa Essence.
Cocoa-butter 50 parts. 30 parts. Albuminoid substances 16 " 22 "
Carbohydrates (sugar, starch, and digestible cellulose) 21 " 30 "
Theobromine 1.5 " 2 " Salts 3.5 " 5 " Other constituents 8 " 11 " ------
------ 100 100
The _cocoa-butter_ when clarified is of a pale yellow colour, and as it
melts at about 90° F. it is of great value for pharmaceutical purposes,
especially as it only becomes rancid when subjected to excessive heat
and light, as to the direct rays of the sun.
[Illustration--Drawing: ANALYTICAL APPARATUS.]
The albuminoid or nitrogenous constituents will be seen to form about
a sixth of the