SUGGESTIONS 
RELATIVE TO 
THE COOKING OF CHOCOLATE AND COCOA 
BY MRS. ELLEN H. RICHARDS 
Of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
HE flavor of the cocoa bean seems to be almost universally liked, 
T and the use of the various preparations made from it is con- 
stantly increasing. From the sweet chocolate with which the 
traveler now provides himself in all journeys in which the supply of 
food is doubtful either in quantity or quality, to delicate coloring and 
flavoring of cakes and ices, nearly all kinds of culinary preparations 
have benefited by the abundance of this favorite substance. 
In these forms, chocolate is used in a semi-raw state, the bean 
having been simply roasted at a gentle heat, ground and mixed with 
sugar, which holds the fat. By varying the quantity of the chocolate 
to be mixed with the ingredients of the cake or ice, an unlimited 
variety of flavors can be obtained. 
In preparing it as a beverage for the table a mistake has been fre- 
quently made in considering chocolate merely as a flavor, an adjunct 
to the rest of the meal, instead of giving it its due prominence as a real 
food, containing all of the necessary nutritive principles. A cup of 
chocolate made with sugar and milk is in itself a fair breakfast. 
There is much to be said in favor of preparations of the whole bean 
which secure all of the valuable nutrition contained in this ‘‘ food for 
the gods,’’ and rightly understood, it is possible to make them more 
important articles of diet than they now are. But since the large per- 
centage of fat seems to require correspondingly large quantities of 
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