COCOA. 



(Theobroma cacao, ~L,. 



The wretch shall feel 

 The giddy motion of the whirling mill, 

 In fumes of burning chocolate shall glow, 

 And tremble at the sea that froths below! 



—Pope, "Rape of the Lock," ii, 135. 



The cocoa-yielding plant is a tree vary- 

 ing from fifteen to forty feet in height. 

 The main stem or trunk is much twisted 

 and knotty, from which the branches 

 stand out almost horizontally. The bark 

 is thick, rough and of a cinnamon brown 

 color. The leaves are alternate, large, 

 smooth, entire, and of a deep green color. 

 Flowers occur singly, more usually in 

 clusters, from those parts of the branches 

 and trunk formerly corresponding to the 

 axils of leaves. Calyx deeply five-cleft, 

 pale red. Petals pink. Fruit solitary 

 or several together, pendulous, large, 

 pear-shaped ; each pericarp enclosing 

 numerous brown seeds about the size of 

 a hickory nut or almond, from which 

 the chocolate and cocoa are made. 



The chocolate tree is a native of Mex- 

 ico, Central America, Brazil and other 

 South American countries. It is now 

 extensively cultivated in most tropical 

 countries of both hemispheres. The 

 West Indian islands have numerous 

 large plantations. It is also found in 

 botanic gardens and greenhouses. There 

 are several cultivation varieties. 



The cocoa or cacao yielding plant must 

 not be confounded with the coco-nut 

 palm or the coca-yielding plant which 

 has already been described. 



The natives of Mexico used cocoa be- 

 fore the discovery of America by Colum- 

 bus. The Toltecs cultivated the plant 

 centuries before they were finally con- 

 quered by the more powerful and more 

 progressive Aztecs in 1325. Cortez and 

 Fernandez in their letters to Charles V. 

 of Spain referred to the cultivation of 

 cocoa by the Mexicans who used the 

 seeds not only as a food but also as a 



medium of barter and exchange. It was 

 apparently the only medium accepted in 

 the payment of provincial taxes. Hum- 

 boldt states that cocoa was similarly em- 

 ployed in Costa Rica and other Central 

 American countries. 



In remote times cocoa was somewhat 

 differently prepared from what it- is at 

 the present time. The roasted and 

 hulled seeds were coarsely pulverized in 

 a stone mortar, strongly spiced by means 

 of vanilla and other spices, boiled in 

 water and when cold stirred to a frothy 

 semi-liquid in cold water and eaten cold. 

 The word chocolate is said to be derived 

 from the Aztec chocolatl {choca, frothy 

 and atl, water). Through Cortez and 

 others who lauded very highly the value 

 of cocoa as a nourishing food for those 

 going on long journeys, it soon became 

 widely known. In 1520 considerable 

 quantities of it, pressed into cakes, were 

 shipped to Spain. Remarkable as it may 

 seem, it is stated that the Brazilians 

 learned the use of cocoa from the Span- 

 iards. The noted Italian traveler Car- 

 letti (1597-1606) introduced the use and 

 preparation of cocoa into his native city, 

 Florence. Not all Europeans gave favor- 

 able reports concerning the use of cocoa. 

 Clusius stated that it was more suited to 

 hogs than human beings. Acosta stated 

 that the drink had "a nauseous aspect 

 and caused heart troubles." Cocoa was 

 introduced into France about 161 5, Eng- 

 land about 1667, Germany about 1679. 

 Somewhat later chocolate houses were 

 established in various cities of Europe. 

 William Homburg, a chemist, of Paris, 

 extracted the fat from cocoa as early as 

 1695, and Quelus (1719) recommended 



44 



