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.