CHOCOLATE. 



CHRYSALIS. 



thick, which contains from 20 to 30 beans, ar- 

 ranged in five regular rows with ^ partitions 

 between, and which are surrounded with a 

 rose-coloured spongy substance, like that of 

 water-melons. There are fruits, however, so 

 large as to contain from 40 to 50 beans. Those 

 grown in the West India islands, Berbice and 

 Demarara, are much smaller, and have only 

 from to 15; their developement being less 

 perfect than in South America. After the ma- 

 turation of the fruit, when their green colour 

 has changed to a dark-yellow, they are plucked, 

 opened, tneir beans cleared of the marrowy 

 substance, and spread out to dry in the air. 

 Like almonds, they are covered with a thin 

 ski* or husk. In the West Indies they are imme- 

 diately {Tacked up for the market when they are 

 dried ; but in the Caraccas they are subjected 

 to a species of slight fermentation, by putting 

 them into tubs or chests, covering them with 

 boards or stones, and turning them over every 

 morning, to equalize the operation. They emit 

 a good deal of moisture, lose the natural bit- 

 terness and acrimony of their taste by this 

 process, as well as some of their weight. In- 

 stead of wooden tubs, pits or trenches dug in 

 the ground are sometimes had recourse to for 

 curing the beads ; an operation called earthing 

 (temr). They are lastly exposed to the sun, 

 and dried. The latter kind are reckoned the 

 best ; being larger, rougher, of a darker brown 

 colour, and, when roasted, throw off their husk 

 readily, and split into several irregular frag- 

 ments ; they have an agreeable, mild, bitterish 

 taste, without acrimony. The Guinea and 

 West India sorts are smaller, flatter, smoother- 

 skinned, lighter-coloured, more sharp and 

 bitter to the taste. They answer best for the 

 extraction of the butter of cacao, but afford a 

 less aromatic and agreeable chocolate. Ac- 

 cording to Lampadius, the kernels of the West 

 India cacao beans contain, in 100 parts, besides 

 water, 53-1 of fat or oil, 16'7 of an albuminous 

 brown matter, which contains all the aroma of 

 the bean, 10-91 of starch, 7| of gum or muci- 

 lage, 0-9 of lignine, and 2-01 of a reddish dye- 

 stuff somewhat akin to the pigment of cochi- 

 neal. The husks form twelve per cent, of the 

 weight of the beans ; they contain no fat, but, 

 besides lignine, or woody fibre, which consti- 

 tutes half their weight, they yield a light-brown 

 mucilaginous extract by boiling in water. The 

 fatty matter is of the consistence of tallow, 

 white, of a mild, agreeable taste, called butter 

 of cacao, and not apt to turn rancid by keeping. 

 It melts only at 122 Fahr., and should, there- 

 fore, make tolerable candles. It is soluble in 

 boiling alcohol, but precipitates in the cold. 

 It is obtained by exposing the beans to strong 

 pressure in canvass bags, after they have been 

 steamed or soaked in boiling water for some 

 time. From five to six ounces of butter may 

 be thus obtained from a pound of cacao. It 

 has a reddish tinge wnen first expressed, but 

 it becomes white by boiling with water. 



"The beans, being freed from all spoiled and 

 mouldy portions, are to be gently roasted over 

 a fire in an iron cylinder, with holes in its 

 ends for allowing the vapors to escape; the 

 apparatus being similar to a coffee-roaster. 

 When the aroma begins to be well developed, 

 326 



the roasting is known to be finished; and the 

 beans must be turned out, cooled, and freed by 

 fanning and sifting from their husks. The 

 kernels are then to be converted into a paste, 

 by trituration in a mortar heated to 130 Fah. 

 The chocolate paste has usually in France a 

 little vanilla incorporated with it, and a con- 

 siderable quantity of sugar, which varies from 

 one-third of its weight to equal parts. For a 

 pound and a half of cacao, one pod of vanilla 

 is sufficient. Chocolate paste improves in its 

 flavour by keeping, and should therefore be 

 made in large quantities at a time. But the 

 roasted beans soon lose their aroma, if exposed 

 to the air. 



"Chocolate is flavoured with cinnamon and 

 cloves, in several countries, instead of the 

 more expensive vanilla. In roasting the beans, 

 the heat should be at first very slow, to give 

 time to the humidity to escape; a quick fire 

 hardens the surface, and injures the process. 

 In putting the paste into the tin plate, or other 

 moulds, it must be well shaken down, to in- 

 sure its filling up all the cavities, and giving 

 the sharp and polished impression so much 

 admired by connoisseurs. Chocolate is some- 

 times adulterated with starch ; in which case 

 it will form a pasty consistenced mass when 

 treated with boiling water. The harder the 

 slab upon which the beans are triturated, the 

 better; and hence porphyry is far preferable 

 to marble. The grinding rollers of the mill 

 should be made of iron, and kept very clean." 

 (Ure's Diet, of Arts, &c.) 



A substance called theobromin has been re- 

 cently obtained from chocolate by a European 

 chemist. It contains thirty-five per cent, of 

 nitrogen, a larger proportion than that con- 

 tained in caffeine. 



CHOKE-DAMP, a common term applied to 

 a kind of foul air, often met with in wells, pits, 

 mines, &c. It consists of carbonic acid gass, 

 with or without a mixture of nitrogen. It is a 

 source of great danger to persons descending 

 into wells and pits. See CARBONIC ACID GASS. 



CHOLIC, or COLIC. See HOUSES, CATTLE, 

 SHEEP, DISEASES OK. 



CHOPPER, HAY. See CHAFF-ENGINES. A 

 new and very efficient straw-cutter under the 

 title of the " Canadian Straw and Hay-chop- 

 per," is figured and described in the Trans. 

 High. Soc. vol. vi. p. 336. One person driving 

 the machine can, it is said, cut with ease 5 cwt. 

 of hay or straw in an hour. 



CHOUGH, or RED LEGGED CROW 

 (Fregilus gracidus}. The plumage of this Bri- 

 tish bird is uniformly black, glossed with blue; 

 beak, legs, and toes, vermilion red ; claws, black. 



CHRONIC COUGH. In horses, this is a 

 frequent consequence of chest diseases. In a 

 few instances this seems to be connected with 

 worms ; and if the coat is unthrifty, the flanks 

 tucked up, and there is mucus around the anus, 

 it will be proper to put the connexion between 

 the worms and the cough to the test ; other- 

 wise a sedative medicine may suffice to allay 

 the irritation. (Water's Far. p. 123.) 



CHRYSALIS. Many worms or larvae, after 

 they have attained their full growth, leave off 

 eating entirely and remain at rest in a death- 

 like sleep. This is called the pupa state, from 



