ON THE COMPOSITION AND USE OP CHOCOLATE. , 18J 



In all cafes when the chocolate leaves a pafty tafte in the 

 mouth ; when in preparing it, the liquor exhales on the firft 

 boiling a fmell of glue ; and when after its entire cooling it is 

 converted into a fpecies of jelly, we may be certain that the 

 chocolate contains farinaceous matter, in quantity proportioned 

 to the degree of the effecls here pointed out: if it depofits at 

 the bottom of the cup, fraall hard bodies, and an earthy or 

 gravelly fediment, it is a proof that it has not been well picked 

 and that raw fugar, more or lefs coarfe, has been ufed inftead 

 of refined fugar. The fmell of cheefe difcovers the prefence 

 of animal fats, and rancidity, or that of emultive feeds ; and 

 the bitter, faline or mufty flavour announces that the cocoa 

 employed was too green, too much roafted or decayed. 



It cannot be too often repeated that chocolate is not an in- Probity and care 

 different preparation ; it does not require fcience, but probity preparation*. 

 and care; the makers of chocolate ought to leave the con- 

 fumers the right to add what they pleafe, when they are de- 

 firous either to increafe its efficacy or its pieafantnefs, accord- 

 ing to their own choice. They are often led by improper con- 

 fidence, or an economy ill underftood, to take it of an inferior 

 quality ; for chocolate in fad poflfefles a real value, notwith- 

 standing which, many are unwilling to pay more than half its 

 fair price, while others pay much too dear for it. 



The limits of a notice will not permit us to point out the 

 characters which diftiuguifh the cocoas of commerce from each 

 other, nor to afcertain here at what price the chocolate can be 

 obtained by thofe who fabricate it : thefe details fiiall be the 

 fubjecYof a feparate memoir. 



It refults from what I have faid, that chocolate is not at pre- General refult. 

 fent what it was when the Spaniards conquered Mexico, at 

 the beginning of the iixteenth century ; that no peculiar me- 

 thod U required for its preparation ; that though the proportions 

 of the elements which compofe it may be varied, the procefs 

 for applying and difpofing them to form a good compound, 

 muft be conftantand invariable; that its quality depends upon 

 the choice of the ingredients and the care employed in combi- 

 ning them ; that negligence, avarice, and quackery change its 

 nature fo much as to convert it into a heavy, indigeftible and 

 heating fluid ; that in order to procure it with all the qualities 

 which characlerife good chocolate, it is neceflary to buy of 

 dealers of good character, and at a fair price ; and laftly, that 



every 



