Source

Cocoa and chocolate are commercially prepared from the seeds of the cocao tree, Theobroma cocao. The seeds (or beans) are contained in a pulpy fruit 7-12 inches long, 3-5 inches in diameter, in shape intermediate between a melon and a cucumber. The fruit is gathered and allowed to remain in a heap to ferment a few days, when the pulp becomes loosened. The seeds lose some of their bitterness during this process, upon which the flavor of the bean largely depends. They are then dried in the sun, cleaned and sorted, and carefully roasted. After this the thin outer husks are removed and sold under the name of cocoa shells. The broken roasted beans constitute cocoa nibs.

Chocolate is prepared by grinding the nibs between hot rollers to a great degree of fineness. The presence of 50 per cent. fat causes the mass to form a paste. This is molded and cooled with or without the addition of sugar and flavoring.

Cocoa consists of chocolate deprived of a part of the fat. Sugar or starch or both, are sometimes added.

Resemblance To Tea And Coffee

Chocolate and cocoa contain a volatile oil, set free by the fermentation process and further modified by roasting, to which the characteristic flavor is due. They also contain tannic acid, but in smaller amount than in tea or coffee. The stimulating principle of chocolate and cocoa is an alkaloid closely allied to caffein, called theobromin. It is less apt to induce nervous symptoms than either tea or coffee, but in many persons their stimulating power is distinctly felt.

Nutritive Value

Unlike tea and coffee, chocolate and cocoa have a high food value, as shown by the following analysis:

By reason of the high percentage of fat, chocolate is likely to cause indigestion when used to excess, or when taken in addition to an otherwise heavy meal. Cocoa, being less rich in fat, is free from this objection.

The use of cocoa often makes milk acceptable when it would otherwise be refused. Hence this beverage is good in convalescence, if there are no digestive disturbances. When made weak, it can also be given to children in moderation.

Principles Of Cooking

Chocolate and cocoa both contain considerable starch, and hence should be boiled to be digestible. The cooked starch also serves to thicken the beverage somewhat, and to make it smoother and more homogeneous. On account of the volatile oil to which the flavor is due, the cooking should be continued only long enough to alter the starch, otherwise the oil is lost.