COMPOSITION AND FOOD VALUE 175 



Grenada, and St. Lucia, who gave the cacao and paid 

 English manufacturers to make it into chocolate. He 

 had been treasuring the box as a souvenir, but being 

 the only article of food available, he filled his pockets 

 with the chocolate, which sustained him through many 

 trying hours.* 



We have already seen the high food value of the 

 cacao bean : what of the sugar which chocolate con- 

 tains ? Sugar is consumed in large quantities in England, 

 the consumption per head amounting to 80-90 lbs. per 

 year. It is well known as a giver of heat and energy, 

 and Sir Ernest Shackleton reports that it proved a 

 great life preserver and sustainer in Arctic regions. 

 Our practical acquaintance with sugar commences at 

 birth milk containing about 5 per cent, of milk 

 sugar and when one considers the amazing activity 

 of young children one understands their continuous 

 demand for sugar. Dr. Hutchison, in his well-known 

 Food and the Principles of Dietetics, says : The 

 craving for sweets which children show is, no doubt, the 

 natural expression of a physiological need, but they 

 should betaken with, and not between, meals. Chocol- 

 ate is one of the most wholesome and nutritious forms 

 of such sweets." 



Both the constituents of chocolate being nourish- 

 ing, it follows that chocolate itself has a high food 

 value. This is proved by the figures given below. 



As with cocoa, we have first to know the composition 

 before we can calculate the food value. The relative 

 proportions of nib, butter and sugar, vary considerably 

 in ordinary chocolate, so that it is difficult to give an 

 average composition : there are sticks of eating chocol- 

 ate which contain as little as 24 per cent, of cacao 

 butter, whilst chocolate used for covering contains 

 about 36 per cent, of butter. 



As modern high-class eating chocolate contains 



* See West India Committee Journal ', p. 55, 191 7. 



