_Of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology_.
The flavor of the cocoa-bean seems to be almost universally liked,
and the use of the various preparations made from it is constantly
increasing. From the sweet chocolate with which the traveller 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
frequently 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
percentage of fat seems to require correspondingly large quantities of
sugar to render the beverage palatable, and this very rich, sweet drink
soon cloys if made strong enough to be nutritious, it is, fortunately,
possible to extract the larger part of the fat without injury to the
flavor so characteristic of chocolate. In this form, called cocoa, less
sugar and more milk are needed, and the resulting beverage suits even
delicate stomachs, and is yet of high food value.
It is the object of all cooking to render raw material more palatable
and more nutritious, and therefore more digestible. The cooking
of cocoa and chocolate is no exception to this rule. Certain
extractive principles are soluble only in water which has reached the
boiling-point; and the starch, which the seed contains, is swollen only
at this temperature.
Chocolate or cocoa is not properly cooked by having boiling water
poured over it. It is true that as the whole powder is in suspension
and is swallowed, its food material can be assimilated as it is when
the prepared chocolate is eaten raw; but in order to bring out the
full, fine flavor and to secure the most complete digestibility, the
preparation, whatever it be, should be subjected to the boiling-point
for a few minutes. In this all connoisseurs are agreed.