 Chocolate,
a drink so sacred that only persons of the most
exalted rank could partake of it - such is the magnificent
origin of the common cocoa and chocolate.
The cocoa tree was
cultivated for centuries before the New World was
discovered, by the Maya Indians, the Incas of Peru
and the Aztecs of Mexico, and chocolate, the drink
prepared from its seeds was the national drink of
the Aztecs. The Emperor Montezuma liked it flavored
with vanilla but the majority of people added spices
of many kinds.
When Cortez conquered
Mexico in 1519 chocolate soon became a favorite
drink with the Spaniards, and as a result it was
introduced into Spain and eventually, in the 17th
century, to the rest of Europe.
It was, however,
an extremely expensive drink, costing from ten to
fifteen shillings a pound, an exceptionally high
price in those days.
The reason for
its costliness is not far to seek. The cocoa tree
is very particular as to where it will grow and
even today, with all the scientific resources that
a man has to hand, it still grows only in a narrow
belt within ten degrees of the equator. Another
reason is that each tree bears only a few pods;
in fact the average annual yield is only two pounds
of dried beans, equivalent to a pound of cocoa powder.
So it was that
when the first chocolate drinking house was opened
in London, in 1657, it was frequented in the main
by people of wealth and fashion.
The drinking chocolate
popular in the days of Queen Anne was very different
from the refined and palatable beverage we know
today. It was thick and rich, and either spiced
or very sweet, and made from the whole bean with
its full butter content.
By the early nineteenth
century cocoa butter was balanced by farinaceous
additives such as arrowroot, and made in handy blocks
from which the required portion could be scraped
into the cup or saucepan.
It was not until
Van Houten of Holland, introduced in 1828 a method
of pressing the cocoa butter out of the cocoa bean
that anything resembling present day cocoa could
be prepared. In fact it was not until Cadbury's
brought out their Cocoa Essence in 1866 that a pure
cocoa was available.
As to the introduction
of eating chocolate, it is only assumed that as
chocolate was sold in blocks no doubt cooks - and
others - formed the habit of nibbling a bit while
they were scraping it into cups !
For some years,
however, after Van houten had introduced his mew
method of preparing chocolate, most manufacturers
still continued to make it in the old way that is
by adding a quantity of arrowroot or some such substance
to counterbalance the fattiness of the cocoa butter.
In 1824 a young
Quaker, John Cadbury, opened a shop in Bull Street,
Birmingham, for the sale of tea and coffee. He nevertheless
experimented in the cellar of his shop with cocoa
beans and was soon selling his own cocoa and chocolate.
This venture was
so successful that in 1831 he rented a small factory
to enlarge his manufacturing capacity and, in 1847,
he took his brother into partnership and thus was
founded the world-famous firm of Cadbury Brothers.
Formerly the chocolate
centers were covered by the "bowlandfork"
method. The centre was taken on a light, pronged
fork, dipped into a bowl of liquid two-chocolate
and withdrawn.
A few of the most
expensive chocolates are still covered this way,
but practically all-popular assortments are covered
by machines called enrobers.
The enrobing machine consists of
a conveyor mesh on which the chocolate centers travel
through a cascade of liquid chocolate after which
any identification marking or decorations are added,
when they are then ready for packing.
Ripe Coco Beans
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