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Coca and chocolate Theri chemistry and manufacture
by R. Whymper
HISTORY AND GROWTH OF THE CACAO INDUSTRY
The commercial history of cocoa and chocolate commences with the introduction of the cacao bean into Europe in the year 1528, when Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, returned to the court of Spain bringing with him a largo collection of minerals, animals and plants to show the resources of the newly acquired country.
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Previously to this, however, the beans of the cacao tree were much used by the Aztecs, the aborigines of Central America, who not only prepared from them the beverage known as " chocolatl," but also made use of them as a means of currency, described by Peter Martyr as " blessed money, which exempts its possessors from avarice, since it cannot be long hoarded, nor hidden underground."
The royal revenues of Mexico were raised by imposing a tax on all the agricultural produce and manufactures of the kingdom.
Among the items of the tribute furnished by different cities, Mendozza quotes : " 20 chests of chocolate, 40 pieces of armour, a chest of maize, 8,000 lumps of unrefined copal, 100 copper axes, 80 loads of red chocolate, 800 * xicaras' (vessels out of which they drank chocolate), -1,000 loads of lime, -10 bags of cochineal, 20 bags of gold-dust, 200 loads of chocolate, 8,000 ' handsful ' of rich scarlet feathers, etc."
Torquemada has extracted the particulars of the yearly expenditure of the Mexican palace from the royal account book, which included 2,744,000 fanegas of cacao, an amount approximately equal to 100,000 tons, besides 8,000 turkeys, a quantity of maize about equal to 200,000 tons, and an incredible amount of game, vegetables and condiments of every kind.
The value of tlie cacao beans as coins depended upon (heir size, and they may have been primarily looked upon as valuable from the mythical history of their origin.
The history of cacao, as given in Mexican mythology, is not without interest, for it would uppear, from one of the-most sacred traditions of the Indians of Mexico, that we are indebted to Divine providence for its introduction to earth.
Quetzalcoatl, god of the air, was commissioned to convey to man the seeds of the " quaeahault " or cacao tree which was one of the few growing in Kden for the delectation and food of the gods and the iirst sons of the Sun.
In the golden days of Anahuac or Mexico, when the " garden prophet " resided on earth, the land teemed with fruits and Mowers without the pains of culture ; a single ear of Indian corn was as much as a man could carry, and the cotton, as it grew, was dyed to the hues required by man.
The air was filled with intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of birds, and things were always as they ought to be.
Quetzalcoatl incurred the wrath of one of the principal gods and was compelled to abandon the country, but he was so much beloved by the people of Mexico, to whom ho had taught the use of metals, agriculture and the arts of government, that his return was looked for with confidence and pleasure, and a temple and altar were erected to his worship.
He was said to have been tall of stature, with a white skin, long dark hair and a flowing beard; and this description, corresponding in the main with that of Cortes at the head of the Spanish invasion, prepared largely for the easy acceptance of the Spaniards into the hearts of the people.
The " garden prophet " was worshipped under the name of Votan, which signified " nn adder clothed with precious or divine feathers," a highly complimentary title.
Besides offering burnt incense, his worshippers were wont to lacerate their tongues, as further proof of their devotion, a proceeding which, in these days, would hardly be considered complimentary, as it might imply that they were not desirous of tasting the " Food of the Gods."
The Emperor Montezuma took no other beverage than chocolate, flavoured with vanilla or spices, and so prepared as to be reduced to " a froth of the consistency of honey."
Golden goblets, with spoons of the same metal or of tortoiseshell finely wrought, were used by Montezuma when drinking his chocolate, and the cup, after being drained, was thrown into the lake surrounding the palace.
At the conquest of Mexico, a vast quantity of treasure was taken from the lake, and, judging from the number of goblets found and from the amount of chocolate prepared daily for the emperor's consumption (" fifty jars or pitchers "), it may be assumed that Montezuma was very partial to the beverage.
The beans were roasted in earthenware vessels, ground between stones and mixed with cold water, to which was sometimes added a dash of capsicum, probably as a flavouring material, though possibly as a means of increasing the devotion of the sore-tongued worshippers of Votan.
The richer people flavoured their chocolate with vanilla or spices and sweetened it with sugar or honey.
The liquid was whipped into a froth, and one early historian is careful to point out the importance " of opening the mouth wide, in order to facilitate deglutition, that the foam may dissolve gradually and descend imperceptibly, as it were, into the stomach," and closes with an eulogy on the beverage so prepared.
The exact date of the introduction of cacao into Mexico from Eden is obviously rather difficult to determine, but De Candolle,* who lias made a close study of the history of all plants of economic importance, has stated with some assertion that the tree had been in cultivation in America for three or four thousand rears.
The planting of the seed seems to have called for special ceremony among the original cultivators, the shedding of the blood of man, beast or fowl being, apparently, one of the necessary operations.
Bancroft, writing of the Maya races of the Pacific, sa}'s : " Before planting the seed, they hold a festival in honour of their gods, Ekchuah, Chac and Hobnil, who were their patron deities.
To solemnise it they all went to the plantation of one of their number, where they sacrificed a dog having a spot on his skin the colour of cacao.
They burned incense to their idols, after which they gave to each of the officials a branch of the cacao plant."
According to Ximinez, the blood of slain fowls was sprinkled over the land to be sown, a performance certainly more profitable to the soil than burnt offerings.
History does not relate of the cacao tree being of any commercial importance however, until the conquest, of Mexico, when the Spaniards found the people of the country fully appreciative of ils value.
For some years the Spaniards kept the secret of chocolate preparation in their own hands, so closely indeed that we read that, during the war between Holland and Spain, the Dutch sailors, on rinding cacao beans in some Spanish ships which they had captured, threw them overboard with the scornful description " Crottes de brebis."
The Spaniards did not long remain in undivided possession of their secret, for, in 1606, we find Unit one Antonio Carletti, who had himself learnt to appreciate the hue qualities of the beverage in Spain, was instrumental in bringing them to the notice of the Italians.
From this time onwards, the popularity of cacao prepara-tions spread freely to all parts of Europe, though, in 1624 Franciscus Rauch, in a book which had a wide circulation, stated that the consumption of chocolate was largely respDn-sible for the committal of many excesses, especially in the case of monks, for whom he urged that its use should be forbidden.
This, however, was an isolated case of attack against the use of chocolate, and the latter part of the seventeenth eenturv was particularly prolific with its crop of articles and treatises lauding chocolato as a pleasing and nourishing beverage.
The idea that chocolate inflamed the passions was prevalent for a long time, and even as recently as 1712 the Spectator states, " I shall also advise my fair readers to bo in a particular manner careful how they meddle with romances, chocolate, novels and the like inflamers, which I look upon as very dangerous to be made use of during this great carnival " (the month of May).
We have already referred to the probable accuracy of the statement in the Intro Auction,
chocolate made its first appearance in France in the reign of Louis XIII.
, probably through the agency of Carletti who was teaching all Europe the process of roasting the beans, in spite of the fact that the Spaniards were still jealously attempting to guard the method of preparation.
Il is recorded in a number of places that chocolate was introduced into Europe from Mexico in 1520 and sold in London coffee houses in 1650.
It is around the latter date that we find a flood of published references, though, as in modem times, there can be found one original writer from whom many others have drawn their information.
In 1648, there was published " ' A New Survey of the West Indies,' by the true and painful endevours of Thomas Gage, now Preacher of the Word of God at Acris in the County of Kent."
In this work were described the origin of the name ''chocolate, the method of preparation, the process of drinking the beverage, and the original story which has already been given.
The last-named is described in these words : " But how might this Cacao with the other Indian ingredients be had in England ? even by trading in Spain for it, as we doe for other commodities ; or not fileighting it so much as we and the Hollanders have often done upon the Indian seas ; of whom I have heard the Spaniards say that when we have taken a good prize, a ship laden with Cacao, in anger and wrath we have hurled over-board this good commoditie, not regarding the worth or goodness of it, by calling i1 in bad Spanish Cagarula de Carnero or sheep's dung in good English."
Gage's work has been freely quoted by most of the early writers, though a book published by one Johannes de Cardenas in Mexico, in 1009, and called " Del chocolate," seems to have been overlooked.
Cardenas stales that the drinking of chocolate had become quite common not only in the Indies but among the Italians, Belgians and [Spaniards, especially at the court, and that he had not seen anything written upon the subject except by a certain Doctor Marchena.
The same author describes the method of making the sweetmeat or drink with crushed cacao beans flavoured with various substances, such as pepper, vanilla, aniseed and sugar, of which last he personally liked a little but not too much.
According to Cardenas, the sweetmeat was made up into little balls by the Mexican women and exposed for sale in the taverns.
In 1652, we find a book entitled " chocolate, the Nut of the Cocoa Tree manufactured in a peculiar manner," but, apart from a few recipes, the work is without interest.
Jt is, however, recorded that just, previously, in 1050, coffee and chocolate began to be frequently taken at Oxford.
The Public Advertiser (Tuesday, June 16th) stated, in 1057, that cocoa was first introduced into England in Queen's Head Alley, Bishopsgate, though, with the exception of a repetition of this statement extracted from " Mercurius Foliticus," in June, 165'J, no confirmation can be found.
In the reign of Charles JI.
, a booklet entitled " India Nectar or a Discourse concerning chocolate," announced that chocolate eonld he bought in Fast Smilhtield for ds. 8d. per pound, a price which, even taking into consideration the altered value of currency, seems remarkably low.
The author of this work.
dr. Henry Stubbe, scholar and physician to the King, has drawn largely from Gage's work, already mentioned, and adds little 1o our knowledge except to say that: 'The northerly tract thereof (of America) principally seems to use the drink chocolate in New Spain, Mexico and the neighbouring Provinces .
and, indeed, it hath prodigiously spread itself not only over the West Indies, but over Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, High and IyO\v Germany, yea Turkey and Persia : and hath been recommended by sundry learned physicians to the world."
Thomas Rugges, in " Mereurius Politicus Kedivivus," 1659—72, mentioned " Theere ware also att this time a Turkish drink to bee sould in every street, called Coffee and another kind of drink called chocolate which was very hartv drunk."
Kvpii at this time, the best chocolate must still have been a luxury.
In 1(165, Le Comte de Cominges, the French Ambassador in London, writes in his correspondence, " I wait only till Persod, the King's Messenger, coms back to send to you two cakes of chocolate, the best in the world, wit h which I have been presented by the Spanish Ambassador."
That chocolate, has not been entirely free from scandal may be deduced from the lines, penned by Andrew Marvell in 1667, after the sudden death of Lady Denham who was supposed to have been poisoned in a cup of chocolate :
Uses wore, however, quickly found for preparations of.
cacao by the needy government of William and Mary, which, in order " to raise the rest of the supply for their ! Majesties resolved to introduce a bill to forbid the sale of beer, ale, cider, inumin, coffee, tea and chocolate without a licence."
In 1690, on June 2nd, the resolution was carried.
There is an amusing and interesting recipe given by Colmenero, in 1631, which includes the addition of chiles or Mexican pepper, aniseed, powdered roses, logwood, sugar, almonds, nuts and a variety of other flavouring matters to cocoa for those " qui jouissent d'une bonne saute."
In spite of the complexity of the decoction, which must have been -very expensive to prepare and, incidentally, very nasty and of doubtful virtue, cocoa preparations worked their way speedily into popular favour, for we read in a letter dated February 11th, 1671, that " Madame de Sevigne est desolee de penser que sa tille partie pom Lyon n*y trouvera pas de chocolatiere."
In 1659, one Chaillon David obtained the monopoly in France for making and selling chocolate, a privilege which was renewed in 1666 for twenty-six years.
His factory is said to have been in Paris near the Croix du Tiroir at the corner of Kue de 1'Arbre-Sec and the Hue Saint Honore.
Under Louis XIV. the use of chocolate became very general in the country, and the advent of the first crop of cacao grown in the French colony of Martinique, in 1671*, marked the first step of organised cultivation.
In 1692, tlip monopoly of manufacture and selling chocolate, which had boon previously in the hands of David, was transferred to Dainanie, who was entitled to hold it for six years.
There is, however, on record the advertisement of one Renaud who also sold chocolate in this year and who, after describing in flowery language the delicacy..
Read the rest: http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&vid=0L8FELu5Odtvu1QFgq&id=KIm8SKBK-bgC&as_brr=1&dq=history+of+chocolate&lpg=PA1&pg=PA11
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