I06 NICARAGUA. 



Actually, 2^^/f) of this oily substance is extracted from 

 the seeds and sold for certain purposes. It is considered that 

 chocolate containing as little as possible of this oil is more 

 wholesome and agrees better with debilitated delicate con- 

 stitutions, The different sorts of cacaos are commercially 

 known as Caracas, Maracaibo, Guayaquil, Trinidad, Maragnan, 

 Para, Cayenne and Cacao of the Islands, according to the 

 country where they come from. Under the last named category 

 are known the Cacaos, grown in the Antillae. In i88g, at the 

 Paris International Exhibition, I saw some samples of a very 

 good cacao from Java ; but it was scarcely known in the trade. 



Besides these sorts, there is in Mexico a superior quality 

 of cacao known as Soconusco, from the province where it 

 grows, but it is very scarce and is not raised in sufficient 

 quantity to supply the Mexican markets. When I visited 

 that country, the usual price of this Cacao was four shillings 

 per pound. 



To make a good chocolate, cacao and sugar are all that 

 are wanted Sometimes a small quantity of cinnamon bark, 

 reduced to powder, or vanilla is added to give it flavour, but 

 many add flour and other farinaceous powders. These 

 additions augment the quantity, but spoil the quality. 



In Nicaragua the chocolate is done on your own premises. 

 There are women specialists, who never do anything else. 

 For about one shilling, or one shilling and sixpence, and 

 food, one of these women will make from five to ten pounds 

 of chocolate in one day. 



You give them two pounds of sugar to every pound of 

 cacao. First of all. they slightly burn the almonds on a slow 

 fire, then they take off the skin and bruise them, on the same 

 stone which they use for the bruising of maize, when making 

 tortillas. This stone is called metate. It is made of a 

 porous granitic stone, about half a yard long and from twelve 

 to sixteen inches wide, bent upwards at the extremities and 

 supported on four low legs carved in the stone. With this 

 goes the mano (hand) of the same width as the metate, or 

 slightly longer, made of the same stone and rounded. With 

 it, they bruise the seeds on the metate, until it is quite liquid, 

 then little by little, they mix the sugar, bruising all the 

 time until the whole is well mixed together and has acquired 

 the consistence of paste. Then they add the cinnamon or 

 vanilla, and with their hands roll the paste in pieces of a 

 certain length, cut it in small round pieces and let them dry. 

 It is hard work, but the result is very satisfactory. Each 



