ON THE COMPOSITION AND USE OF CHOCOLATE. 17? 



On the other hand, on confidering the nature of the fub- It »« « pharma- 

 ftances which form chocolate, and the mode in which their t - 

 combination is produced, we are forced to acknowledge all 

 the characleriftics of a preparation truly pharmaceutical, and 

 to allow that it requires a degree of care and attention, of 

 which ordinary labourers are incapable without fuperintend- 

 ance and direction. 



The felection of cocoa is not fufficient to give that quality to an <* requires t» 

 chocolate which it ought to have: this fruit muft be lifted, then mj ^ f ,. * 

 roafted by a gentle heat to deprive it of its humidity and to 

 develope the odour and flavour which belongs to it; it muft 

 be peeled grain by grain to feparate the bark, the germ or ra- 

 dicle and thofe nuts which appear to be fpoiled ; the cocoa, 

 thus picked, muft be ground for a long time with a certain 

 quantity of the fugar on a ftone, gradually heated on a fand* 

 bath ; the remainder of the fugar is not to be added until the 

 fecond bruiting, and the aromatic ingredients, which are 

 pounded with the fugar, are not to be put in till near the clofe 

 of t[ie operation. It is then divided into a mafs of a fuitable 

 weight, and faftiioned in tin moulds, whence it is taken when 

 cold to be wrapped up, care being taken to keep it in a dry 

 cold place : the winter is the mod favourable feafon for this 

 operation. 



Since the various fpecies of cocoa which are found in com- Preparation of 

 merce could not, were each treated feparately, produce cho- chocolate for 

 colate of a good quality ; it is ufual to mix them in proportions p Ur p f es . 

 which are determined by theprice intended to be charged, and 

 by thetafte or fancy of the confumer; when it is flavoured by 

 cinnamon alone, it is called chocolat defantS : it bears the name 

 of chocolate of half, one, two, or three vanilloes, when there 

 are a half, one, two, or three pods of that fruit in a pound of 

 it, becaufe the weight of the pods are unequal. 



Chocolate thus compofed is infinitely preferable to the crude Superior to that 

 pafte of cocoa which is ftill prepared in the Antilles, and which ^^ fromtl,c 

 the Spaniards continue to fend to us, under the pretence that 

 it is more commodious in that ftate, becaufe the fugar and aro- 

 matic ingredient may be added in the reqtiifite proportion when 

 ufed, but the chocolate thus made does not pofTefs a perfect 

 homogenity. The butter of cocoa conftantly rifes to the fur- 

 face ; for when the fugar is bruited with cocoa in the ftone> 

 during the mixture, a more intimate combination of all the 

 Vol. V, — July. m N principles 



