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THE FOOD OF THE GODS
[Greek: _Theô Brôma_]
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. THOMÉ 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 Linnæus 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 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, the cacao.[4] A still
more unfortunate corruption is that of "coco-nut" to "cocoa-nut,"
which is altogether inexcusable. In this case it is therefore quite
correct to drop the concluding "a," as the coco-nut has nothing
whatever to do with cocoa or the cacao, being the fruit of a palm[5]
in every way distinct from it, as will be seen from the accompanying
illustration.
[Illustration--Drawing: COCO-DE-MER.]
The name "coco" is also applied to another quite distinct fruit, the
_coco-de-mer_, or "sea-coco," somewhat resembling a coco-nut in its
pod, but weighing about 28 lbs., and likewise growing on a lofty tree;
its habitat is the Seychelles Islands. Sometimes also, confusion
arises between the cacao and the coca or cuca,[6] a small shrub like
a blackthorn, also widely cultivated in Central America, from the
leaves of which the powerful narcotic cocaine is extracted.
[Illustration--Drawing: LEAVES AND FLOWER OF THE CUCA SHRUB.]
In the second place, the name "cocoa," which is strictly applicable
only to the pure ground nib or its concentrated essence, is sometimes
unjustifiably applied to preparations of cocoa with starch, alkali,
sugar, etc., which it would be more correct to describe as "chocolate
powder," chocolate being admittedly a confection of cocoa with other
substances and flavourings.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Gathering Cacao: Santa Cruz,
Trinidad.]
"Chocolate" is, therefore, a much wider term than "cocoa,"
embracing both the food and the drink prepared from the cacao, and is
the Mexican name, _chocolatl_, slightly modified, having nothing to do
with the word cacao, in Mexican _cacauatl_.[7] In the New World it was
compounded of cacao, maize, and flavourings to which the Spaniards, on
discovering it, added sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and other ingredients,
such as musk and ambergris, cloves and nutmegs, almonds and
pistachios, anise, and even red peppers or chillies. "Sometimes," says
a treatise on "The Natural History of Chocolate," "China [quinine] and
assa [foetida?]; and sometimes steel and rhubarb, may be added for
young and green ladies."
In our own times it is unfortunately common to add potato-starch,
arrowroot, etc., to the cocoa, and yet to sell it by the name of the
pure article. Such preparations thicken in the cup, and are preferred
by some under the mistaken impression that this is a sign of its
containing more nutriment instead of less. Although not so wholesome,
there could be no objection to these additions so long as the
preparations were not labelled "cocoa," and were sold at a lower
price.
[Illustration--Drawing: PURE DECORTICATED COCOA, HIGHLY MAGNIFIED.]
Such adulteration is rendered possible by the presence in the bean of
a large proportion of fatty matter or cocoa-butter, which renders it
too rich for most digestions. To overcome this difficulty one or other
of two methods is available: (1) Lowering the percentage of fat by the
addition of starch, sugar, etc.; or (2) removing a large proportion of
the fat by some extractive process; this latter method being in every
respect preferable to that first mentioned.
[Illustration--Drawing: COCOA ADULTERATED WITH ARROWROOT OR POTATO STARCH.]
In order to avoid the expense and trouble consequent on the latter
process, some manufacturers add alkali, by which means the free fatty
acids are saponified, and the fat is held in a state of emulsion, thus
giving the cocoa a false appearance of solubility.
Another effect of the alkali is to impart to the beverage a much
darker colour, from its action on the natural red colouring matter of
the cocoa, this darkening being often taken, unfortunately, as
indicative of increased strength. On this account the presence of
added alkali should be regarded as an adulteration, unless notified on
the package in which the cocoa is contained.
A more subtle treatment with alkali for the same purpose is the
addition to the pulverized bean of carbonate of ammonia, or caustic
ammonia. This is afterwards volatilized by the application of heat.
Scents and flavourings are then added to disguise their smell and
taste.
Besides these combinations of cocoa with starch, sugar, etc., and
cocoa treated with alkali, there are now found on the market mixtures
of cocoa with such substances as kola, malt, hops, etc., sold under
strange-sounding names, reminding one of the many mixtures that are
made up as medicines rather than food. While the substances thus
incorporated are of value in their place, they possess no virtues
which are absent from the pure cocoa, and cannot be in any way
considered an improvement of cocoa as food. The sooner this practice
of drug taking under cover of diet comes to an end the better it will
be for the national health.
Formerly Venetian red, umber, peroxide of iron, and even brick-dust,
were employed to produce a cheaper article, but modern science and
legislation combined have rendered such practices almost impossible.
As early as the reign of George III. an 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 whole nib, or more than a fifth of the cocoa
essence, and to their presence is due the fact that absolutely pure
cocoa is such a remarkable flesh-former.
[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Cacao Crop, Trinidad.]
The _carbohydrates_, producing warmth and fat, are also important food
substances, the proportion of which, while forming about a fifth of
the whole bean, rises to close upon a third of the essence.
Cocoa also contains a _volatile oil_, from which it derives its
peculiar and delicious aroma.
Thus _nearly nine-tenths of the cacao-bean may be assimilated by the
digestive organs_, while three-fourths of tea and coffee are thrown
away as waste. For the same bulk, therefore, cocoa is said to yield
thirteen times the nutriment of tea, and four and a half times that of
coffee. Its value as a substitute for mother's milk has already been
alluded to, but may well be emphasized by a quotation from a paper
read before the Surgical Society of Ireland in 1877 by one of its
Fellows, Mr. Faussett:
"Without presuming to pass any judgment on the many artificial
substitutes which, on alleged chemical and scientific
principles, have from time to time been pressed forward under
the notice of the profession and the public to take the place
of mother's milk, I beg to call attention to a very cheap and
simple article which is easily procurable--viz., cocoa, and
which, _when pure and deprived of an excess of fatty matter_,
may safely be relied on, as cocoa in the natural state abounds
in a number of valuable nutritious principles, in fact, in
every material necessary for the growth, development, and
sustenance of the body."
After giving some remarkable cases of children being restored from
"the last stage of exhaustion" by its use, and "continued through the
whole period of infancy," with the effect of their becoming fine,
healthy children, he concluded by saying:
"I beg therefore respectfully to commend cocoa, as an article
of infant's food, to the notice of my professional brethren,
especially those who, holding office under the Poor Laws, have
such large and extensive opportunities of testing its value."
As a beverage for mothers or nurses cocoa is recommended by Dr. Milner
Fothergill, in his work on "The Food we Eat," in preference to
porter, stout or ale, an opinion now becoming generally adopted. It
may, therefore, be regarded as the indispensable, all-round nursery
food, if not the constant stand-by of the family.
That it is as nutritious for old as well as young we have an
interesting proof in the fact that the first Englishman born in
Jamaica, Colonel Montague James, who lived to the age of 104, took
scarcely any food but cocoa and chocolate for the last thirty years of
his life. For athletes and all who desire the development of the
muscular tissues, its use is most beneficial. Professor Cavill, in his
celebrated swim from Southampton to Portsmouth, and his nearly
successful attempt to swim across the English Channel, considered it
to be the most concentrated and sustaining food he could use for that
trying test of endurance.
In his "Treatise on Food and Dietetics," Dr. Pavy remarks that:
"Containing, as pure cocoa does, twice as much nitrogenous
matter, and twenty-five times as much fatty matter as wheaten
flour, with a notable quantity of starch, and an agreeable
aroma to tempt the palate, it cannot be otherwise than a
valuable alimentary material. It has been compared in this
respect to milk. It conveniently furnishes a large amount of
agreeable nourishment in a small bulk, and, taken with bread,
will suffice, in the absence of any other food, to furnish a
good repast."
Indeed, the value of cocoa as food for ordinary mortals as well as for
mythical beings cannot be better summed up than in the words of
Professor Lankester, Superintendent of the Food Collections at South
Kensington, who declares:
"It can hardly be regarded as a substitute for tea and coffee;
it is, in fact, a substitute for all other kinds of food, and
when taken with some form of bread, little or nothing else need
be added at a meal. The same may be said of chocolate."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] According to Drs. Playfair and Lankester:
Tea contains 3 per cent. theine.
Coffee " 1¾ " caffeine.
Cocoa " 2 " theobromine.
Probably the proportion of caffeine in coffee would be more correctly
stated as 1¼ per cent. Theine and caffeine are identical, but
theobromine (C_{7}H_{8}N_{4}O_{2}) differs from both in the greater
proportion of nitrogen which it contains.
[2] Dr. Johnson's analysis:
Dried milk 35 \
Cocoa essence 34¾ \ Flesh formers in
Cocoa-nibs 23 / each hundred parts.
Best French chocolates 11 /
[3] Mr. O.L. Symonds, "Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom."
[4] The _Cacao theobroma_. There are several other varieties of cacao,
but none of them produce the famous food.
[5] The _Cocos nucifera_, or "nut-bearing coco."
[6] _Erythroxylon coca._
[7] Or, as otherwise written, _cacava quahuitl_.
[8] 10 George III., c. 10.
[9] To make cocoa in perfection, for three breakfast-cups: in a quart
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