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diff --git a/78613-0.txt b/78613-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac33733 --- /dev/null +++ b/78613-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,559 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78613 *** + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + +Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + +Small caps in the text is denoted by UPPERCASE. + +Superscript text is denoted text between curly braces preceded by a +caret. Example: 15^{th}. + +Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. + + + + +[Illustration: + + 1 Cabosse or fruit of the Cacao tree + 2 Length-wise section of the fruit + 3 Cross section + 4 Bean or seed + 5 Bean without shell + 6 Blossom +] + + + + + HEALTH IS BETTER THAN WEALTH. + + [Illustration] + + _UTILE DULCI_ + + [Illustration: LA + VOGUE + + TRADE MARK.] + + CACAOS + + AND + + CHOCOLATES + + IN THE + + UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. + + By PROF. NEMO, + _Corresponding Editor of_ “LE LIVRE,” _from Paris_. + + HUYLER’S CHOCOLATE WORKS, + S. E. COR. 18^{TH} ST. AND IRVING PLACE, + NEW YORK. + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1885, + BY PROF. NEMO. + + Press of J. J. Little & Co., + Nos. 10 to 20 Astor Place, New York. + + + + +TO THE PUBLIC. + + +Among the American people there is comparatively but a slight knowledge +of the excellent properties of _good chocolate_, and the many benefits +derived from a generous and frequent use of it in its various forms of +food and bon-bons. + +In presenting a full account of its manufacture, we give a history of +the cacao bean, from its growth to its final change into the chocolate, +ready for use as a delicacy or as an article of food for family use. + +We have also added the decided opinions of many eminent authorities of +this country, and especially of those in Europe where chocolate has +been much longer and more abundantly used; and we believe that its use +here will increase to an _enormous_ extent as soon as the people +gain a knowledge of its restorative and health giving qualities. + + + + +NATURAL HISTORY. + + +Theobroma cacao, so classed by Linnæus, the celebrated Swedish +naturalist, is a beautiful tree found only in the tropical countries. + +The Mexican name of the tree is _Cocoquahuilt_, and the name +_Theobroma_, is derived from two Greek words meaning “food of the +gods.” + +In the beautiful valleys of Mexico and Venezuela the cacao tree is +found in its most perfect beauty and in the highest cultivation. Under +that genial climate, vegetation is perennial, and leaves, buds, flowers +and fruits are seen together at all seasons, presenting a charming and +harmonious array of most picturesque and varied colors—the graceful +ornament of the forest of the New World. + +The tree is exceedingly delicate; it must have warmth, shade and +moisture; the heat should never be less than 70° F.; it must not be +transplanted out of its native soil, and, to produce good fruit, +it wants a particular quality of land, temperature and atmospheric +conditions, which are found united only in the intertropical regions of +the American Continent. + +The longest period of production of the theobroma cacao tree is from +eight to thirty years; it bears usually about a hundred _pods_ +(cabosses or mazorcas) of a form and color resembling cucumbers, +containing a number of beans enclosed in a rose-colored spongy pulp, +which is of itself an article of food. + +There are two crops of the pods gathered during the year, in June and +December, although the fruit may be collected throughout the whole +year, as the pods are continually opening. + +The composition of the seed in which amylaceous matter is combined with +oil, contains also a principle similar in nature to theïn and caffeïn. +As soon as the fruit is collected, the beans are separated from the +pulp and dried in the sun. In some countries they are placed in large +tubs and covered for several days for the purpose of undergoing a +slight fermentation. + +The most esteemed of the known kinds of cacao beans are the following: +The _Soconuzco_ and _Tabasco_ Cacaos of Mexico; the _Caracas_ Cacaos +from Venezuela, among which are the celebrated plantations of _Chuao_, +_Maracaibo_, _Tuy_, _Porto-Cabello_, _San-Felipe_, and many others. + +The second class embraces: _Para_ or _Maragnon_, and _Bahia_ from +Brazil, some from Trinidad, Martinique, Cuba, and other West India +Islands, some from Ceylon, Bourbon and Philippine Islands, and some +from Florida and Louisiana in the United States. + + + + +ANALYSIS OF CACAO. + + +Alfred Mitscherlich, a great German chemist, in his notice “_Der +Cacao und die Chocolade_,” published in Berlin in 1859, gives the +following analysis. We also reproduce the same from Payen: + + Mitscherlich. Payen. + Fatty matter (fixed oil), 49 50 + Albuminoid matter, 13 20 + Theobromine, 3 3 + Starch, 14 10 + Cellulose, 5 2 + Mineral substances, 3 4 + Coloring matter, 3 0 + Ashes, 3 0 + Water, 9 11 + --- --- + 100 100 + +Theobromine is the active principle of cacao, and its taste and aroma +are due mainly to an essential oil and to tannin. + +The astringent substance, tannin, is found in a large proportion in the +Para cacao, but very seldom in the Soconuzco Caracas, Cauca or Ceylon +cacaos; it is for that reason that the mixture of the last named cacaos +with the former, is quite indispensable. + + + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +_From the Dispensatory of the United States of America_ (_Philadelphia: +Fifteenth Edition, 1884_). + +Chocolate is differently prepared in different countries. On the +continent of Europe, sugar is generally incorporated with the paste, +and spices—especially cinnamon—are often added. Vanilla is a favorite +addition in South America, France and Spain. Cacao, called _Cocoa_, is +often sold in powder; in this state it is much employed as a drink at +breakfast and tea, and serves as a substitute for coffee in dyspepsia. +It is also a good article of diet for convalescents. + + +_From the National Dispensatory_ (_Philadelphia, 1884_). + +The Cacao is often incorrectly called Cocoa or Chocolate tree; the +proper name is _Cacao_, from the tree _Theobroma Cacao_. + + +OIL OF THEOBROMA, BUTTER OF CACAO. + +In the manufacture of chocolate a portion of the cacao seed are +deprived of their fat by removing the shells, heating the kernels to +about 70° C. (158° F.), and pressing them between hot iron plates. The +yield from different varieties of cacao is from 35 to 45 per cent. + +The dietetic use of chocolate does not require any detailed notice in +this place. Prepared with water or milk, it is employed as a substitute +for coffee in southern Europe, South America, Mexico and West India, +and to a less degree in other civilized countries. It is to be +preferred to the other agents mentioned when a nutritive rather than +an excitant operation is desired; and hence it is familiarly employed +during convalescence from acute disease, and as a substitute for tea +or coffee in the diet of persons whose nervous system is liable to be +deranged by them. + + * * * * * + +The English name cocoa, which is used to designate the product of +the highly-prized cocoa bean (_Theobroma Cacao_), is improperly +applied to that fruit; for, according to _Webster’s_ Dictionary +(Edition of 1884), _cacao_ is the proper term to use; cocoa should +only be employed to designate the fruit or nut of the _Cocoa-nut +tree_. + + +_From A Manual of Practical Hygiene. By Ed. A. Parkes, M.D., F.R.S._ +(_London, 1878_). + +Although the theobromine of cocoa is now known to be identical with +theïn and caffeïn, the quantity of fat is large. It varies even in the +same sort of cocoa, but usually from 45 to 50 per cent. + +The large quantity of fat and albuminoid substance make it a very +nourishing article of diet, and it is therefore useful in weak states +of the system (and for healthy men under circumstances of great +exertion). + +By roasting, the starch is changed into dextrin, the amount of manganic +acid increases, and an empyreumatic aromatic substance is formed. + +According to the celebrated French chemist, PAYEN, the alimentary +properties of chocolate are fully proved. The cacao bean contains twice +as much azotic matter (nitrogen) as the best flour, about twenty-five +times more fatty matter, a notable portion of starch and a very +agreeable aroma, whilst the theobromine which it contains produces +appetite and facilitates digestion. This analysis of ingredients proves +effectually that it is endowed with nutritive power in an eminent +degree. + +CHEVALIER, member of the Academy of Medicine and of the Board +of Health of Paris, in his treatise on Chocolate, declares that cacao +and chocolate are a complete food, and adds that “coffee and tea +are not food, but cacao gives one-third of its weight in starch and +one-half of its weight in cacao butter, and, converted into chocolate +by the addition of sugar, it realizes the idea of a complete aliment, +wholesome and eminently hygienic. + +“The shells of the cacao bean contain the same principles as the +kernels, and the extract, obtained by infusion of the shells in +sweetened milk, forms a mixture at once agreeable to the taste and an +advantageous substitute for tea and coffee at the breakfast, lunch, +dinner and supper table.” + +In a recent work by the chemist BOUSSINGAULT (April, 1883), we +read: “Chocolate possesses an essential quality—that of comprising in +a small bulk a large portion of nutritive matter. + +“In Africa, rice, gum and shea butter help the Arab to cross the +desert; in the New World, cacao and chocolate make the heights of the +Andes and the vast American forests accessible to man.” + +This is at once a perfect food and a most energetic tonic. There is +in fact in cacao, legumine, albumine and vegetable meat, associated +with fat, starch and sugar, which maintain respiratory combustion; +phosphates, the material of the bony system; and lastly, a precious +substance, Theobromine. + +HUFFELAND, physician to the King of Prussia, said: “I recommend _good +chocolate_ to nervous, excitable persons; also to the weak, debilitated +and infirm; to children, to women; I have obtained excellent results +from it in many cases of chronic diseases of the digestive organs.” + +The celebrated HUMBOLDT, in his narrative of travels, affirms +that chocolate possesses an essential quality, viz., that of containing +in a small compass a large proportion of the elements necessary to good +and healthy feeding. + +FERNANDO CORTEZ, conqueror of Mexico, probably exaggerated its +value when he said: “He who has drunk a cup of Mexican chocolate, can +march all day without further nourishment,” but it is quite certain +that for long expeditions, as also when hunting, fishing or traveling, +especially when it is desirable to reduce the bulk and the weight of +the rations, chocolate offers incontestable advantages. + +BARON LIEBIG, the great chemist and physician, said of chocolate: “It +is a perfect food, as wholesome as delicious, a beneficent restorer +of exhausted power, but its quality must be _good_, and its culinary +preparation must be _careful_; chocolate is a substance extremely +nourishing and easily digested, it is fitted to repair wasted strength, +to preserve health and prolong life. This salutary food agrees with dry +temperaments and convalescents; with mothers who nurse their children, +and with those whose occupations oblige them to undergo an extensive +strain of mind; with public speakers and with all those who give to +work a portion of the time needed for sleep. It soothes both stomach +and brain, and for this reason, as well as for others, it is the best +friend of literary men.” + +VOLTAIRE, in his Encyclopædia, calls chocolate “milk for the +aged.” + +BROUSSAIS, a celebrated physician, said: “Chocolate of _good quality_, +well made, and properly cooked, is one of the best aliments that I have +yet found for my patients and for myself. This delicious food calms +the fever, nourishes adequately the patient and tends to restore him +to health. I would even add that I attribute many cures of chronic +dyspepsia to the regular use of chocolate.” + +BRILLAT-SAVARIN, the master of gastronomy, said: “Time and experiment +have demonstrated that _good chocolate_, _well-prepared_, is an +aliment as salutary as it is agreeable; that it is nourishing, of easy +digestion and is free from the objections found against coffee; that +it is very suitable to persons mentally overworked, to journalists +and travelers; it agrees with the most feeble and the most delicate +stomachs. A few persons complain of their inability to digest +chocolate; good and well-prepared chocolate should agree with any +stomach however weak might be its digestive power.” + +During the wars of the French Empire the great Napoleon and many of the +officers of his staff passed entire days on horseback without other +nourishment than a tablet of good chocolate. + + + + +MANUFACTURE. + + +The manufacture of chocolate demands the most scrupulous care in the +selection of the different kinds of cacao beans, and the mode of mixing +them. A sustained and undivided attention must guide the manufacturer +in order to insure continuous perfection in quality. + +Upon the arrival of cacaos in the factory all the bags are opened, and +their contents spread out in a well-aired apartment, in order to dry +the beans and to free them from all humidity previous to the roasting +process. + +When thoroughly dried they are placed in a hopper of a separator, +having six compartments formed of metallic grating, whose meshes +being of unequal size mechanically separate the large grains from the +smaller, the flat from the round, and thoroughly free them from all +particles of dust and foreign substances, so that after this first +cleaning and picking the beans are ready for torrefaction (or delicate +roasting), in grains of equal size. + +The cacao beans are then roasted in a spherical apparatus having a +rotary motion, heated by a slow and regular fire, whose temperature +does not exceed 130° F. + +In roasting some qualities we use, with excellent results, an imported +steam roaster, ours being the only one used in the United States at the +present time. + +Each kind of cacao bean is roasted in accordance with its natural +qualities, the maturity of the fruit, and the size of the kernel. + +When the cacao beans are sufficiently cooled they are carried to the +hopper of a machine called, in French, _Tarare_ (which is a cracking +and fanning machine combined); they fall into the cracker, where they +are cracked and separated in different sizes by sieves and boards, +which conduct them to the different cases, where they are found +perfectly cleaned. + +During the operation the wings of the ventilator, revolving with great +rapidity, carry off into a special room the shells and dust which have +been separated from the grain during the crushing process. + +Theory, as well as experience, shows that the proper roasting of cacao +is indispensable to the manufacture of good chocolate. Cacao acquires +different qualities according to the degree of heat to which it is +submitted. + +The Italians carry this roasting to excess: their chocolate is more +bitter; it dries and irritates the stomach. The Spanish scarcely +brown their cacaos; hence the aroma is slightly developed, and their +chocolate is more fatty with less flavor, and heavier for digestion. +The process used by the French is the best, being between these two +extremes, and hence their chocolate is reputed excellent, as gratifying +equally the senses of taste and smell. After very careful examination +of the various systems of manufacture, the French has been adopted by +the house of Huyler’s. + +The cacao beans thus roasted, cleaned and separated into broken grains, +are then mixed together in the proportions desired, and herein lies the +secret of the manufacture. It is next carried to the drying room, and +from there to the _mélanger_ where it is subjected, along with sugar, +to a first trituration. It then passes on the refiners, which have +from three to five polished granite cylinders, where the chocolate is +subjected to a crushing sufficiently complete to produce a fineness +of quality, and so perfect a union of particles that will present a +chocolate paste of the most delicious taste, and which will melt or +dissolve in the mouth. + +After this long-continued grinding to reduce it to the necessary +fineness, the paste is placed in the drying room, heated by steam from +80° to 100° F. + +Then the paste having been mixed again in a special _mélanger_ +is subjected to pressure in a screw press, in order to drive out the +air so as to insure the preservation of the chocolate. It is next +weighed out in half and quarter pounds, placed in molds on a table, +and submitted to a vigorous shaking, the effect of which is to make the +paste take the exact shape of the molds, which reproduce on the tablets +the name of _Huyler’s_. These molds are at once sent down into the +spacious cellar, specially constructed for the chocolate. + +This cellar is flagged with immense stones, and surrounded with thick +flat stone tablets, sealed endwise into the wall, and extending as +shelves, on which the warm molds are deposited. + +When the chocolate is ready to be taken from the molds it is sent up to +the folding room, where the employees first wrap it in pure tinfoil, to +keep out moisture and heat (the two great enemies of chocolate); it is +then wrapped, sealed, stamped, packed and put aside, waiting to be sent +to the salesrooms of the house. + +As to the processes of manufacture they are under the supervision +of Mr. John S. Huyler, and watched also with attentive and delicate +care by a superintendent, whose great experience (here and in France) +in every branch of chocolate-making and profound knowledge of cacao +beans, assure to those products a uniformity of manufacture, as well as +qualities that invariably answer the description in the price-lists, +and respond in the most desirable manner to the tastes of the consumers. + + + + +CHOCOLATES. + + +If chocolate has not attained the universal popularity of coffee, +it is nevertheless its superior as a food product, at once hygienic +and agreeable. The place it should occupy in our regimen gives it an +importance, which is daily increasing; in place of poets it has its +historians, who are physicians, chemists, and famous gastronomists, and +whose eminent opinions, based on positive facts of science, have more +weight and authority than the fancies of the imagination or the whims +of fashion. + +The use of chocolate was introduced into Spain from Mexico at the +beginning of the sixteenth century by the companions of Fernando +Cortez. Thence it crossed the Pyrenees in 1660, in the train of Maria +Theresa, spouse of Louis XIV. It was at first deemed a great luxury +to be enjoyed only at the tables of the kings, princes and wealthy +financiers of that period; but it gained popularity by degrees, and +to-day it has become an almost universal aliment known and praised by +every nation of Europe and America. + +Chocolate can be used in various forms and generally agrees with all +palates. It figures at the feast as well as in the daily routine of +domestic life, in sickness as well as in health. It is taken with every +repast, at breakfast as well as supper, prepared either with water or +milk; at dinner in the form of _entremets_; at the soiree in ices, +bonbons and cakes; between meals, and especially while traveling, it is +eaten in the form of tablets, croquettes, sticks, wafers and cigarettes. + +In England and the United States powdered cocoas are more extensively +used than chocolate in tablets. The best quality of the latter, in +which sugar has been incorporated through successive operations, should +be preferred and adopted in future for the use of families. + + + + +CULINARY PREPARATION OF CHOCOLATE. + + +Great care is necessary in the preparation of good chocolate, which, +from the delicate nature of its composition is very susceptible to +acquire bad flavor. + +In cooking it, it is proper to employ, as far as possible, a +_chocolatiere_, or pan of silver, porcelain, or well plated copper; and +for stirring, a hardwood spatula or silver spoon should be invariably +used. + + +DIRECTIONS. + +Break into small pieces the number of tablets corresponding to the +number of cups needed; put them into the pan and pour over them boiling +water in sufficient quantity to entirely cover the broken pieces of +chocolate; let the pan stand off the fire without stirring for a few +minutes, long enough to soften the chocolate; then gently crush the +contents until all is perfectly dissolved; after which place the pan +on a slow fire and add the necessary quantity of water and milk. Ten +minutes’ boiling will suffice to cook the chocolate; let it then simmer +near the fire for about five minutes or more without boiling. + + NOTE.—Each half-pound cake is divided into six tablets, each + tablet being the right quantity for one large cup. + +BRILLAT-SAVARIN, who was a true connoisseur in gastronomy, has given us +a receipt which he obtained from the Superior of the Convent of Belley: +When you wish to “take a good cup of chocolate,” he said, “make it +overnight in an earthen pot and leave it there, well covered; a night’s +repose concentrates it and gives it a velvety softness which renders it +perfect. In the morning heat it without boiling. Cold or iced chocolate +is also very agreeable.” + +Chocolate may be lightened by the addition of water, or made more +nourishing by adding milk; but we recommend that it always be dissolved +with boiling water, and that, to dissolve it, not less than one-third +of the liquid needed for the complete preparation of the beverage be +used. + +The mode of preparing powdered cacao, or chocolate without sugar, is +the same; only the necessary quantity of sugar and flavoring must be +added thereto according to taste. + + NOTE.—Chocolates which thicken quickly and become like a sort of + paste in cooking are far from the best; they are lumpy, grainy and + are often combined with foreign substances. Good chocolate, on the + contrary, being composed only of cacao and sugar, should always + remain in a creamy state. + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +The house of Huyler’s (whose _vogue_ daily increases, thanks to +the superior and varied quality of its confections and bonbons) has +at length attained the _desideratum_ for its chocolates, which +are appreciated and proclaimed the best. To reach this result nothing +has been neglected; no sacrifice or outlay in procuring the latest +and best machinery has been considered too great, and to-day Huyler’s +Chocolate Manufactory is as complete and well-organized as the greatest +establishments of the kind in Europe, and produces a thoroughly good +chocolate, which is unsurpassed in purity and delicacy of composition, +fineness of flavor and general excellence. + +[Illustration] + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE + + Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, + and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. + + Inconsistent hyphenations have been left as is. + + Page 13. “Baron Leibig” replaced by “Baron Liebig”. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78613 *** |