Chocolate and Cocoa - Epicurean Pleasures

Covering and Dipping Chocolate Cremes, Etc. - Cadbury Bros. Factory

Covering and Dipping Chocolate Cremes, Etc. - Cadbury Bros. Factory © 1915 Coca and Chocolate

 

Cacao refers to the cacao tree, the cacao pod, or the cacao bean or seed. By the single word, cacao, and by implication, the raw product, cacao beans, in bulk.

Cocoa refers to the powder manufactured from the roasted bean by pressing out part of the butter. The word is too well established to be changed, even if one wished it.

As we later found out, it has come legally to have exceptional significance. If this method of distinguishing between cacao and cocoa were the accepted practice, the perturbation which occurred in the public mind during the First World War (in 1916), as to whether manufacturers were exporting " cocoa " to neutral countries, would not have arisen.

It should have been spelled "cacao," for the statements referred to the raw beans and not to the manufactured beverage. Had this been done, it would have been unnecessary for the manufacturers to point out that cocoa powder was not being so exported, and that they naturally did not sell the raw cacao bean.

Chocolate is given a somewhat broader meaning. It signifies any preparation of roasted cacao beans without the abstraction of butter. It practically always contains sugar and added cacao butter and is generally prepared in molded form. It is used either for eating or drinking.

Chocolate Desserts

Chocolate Desserts

Take chocolate. I can tell you of chocolate dishes until you are tired hearing— dishes for the family table, little dinners and at home. And in her most superior and pitying manner, we present to you these delicious Chocolate Desert recipes.

 

ALMOND FONDANT BALLS

Chocolate Fondant

The great art of making these exquisite candies is in boiling the sugar, and it is an art easily acquired with patience. When you have your sugar boiled just right set it to cool, and when you can bear your finger in it, begin to beat it with a spoon; in ten minutes it will be a white paste resembling lard, which you will find you can work like bread dough. This, then, is your foundation, called by French confectioners fondant; with your fondant, you can work marvels.

 

Cocoa Fudge

Chocolate Fudge

One kindly contributes a recipe for chocolate fudge. A certain amount of sweets are absolutely necessary for the growth of children, and there can be no purer sweets than homemade candies.

 

Ginger, Cherry, Apricot and Nut Chocolates

Chocolates, Chocolate Coated

When cold, the unused chocolate may be cut from the dish and set aside for use at a future time. If the chocolate is at the proper temperature when the centers are dipped in it, it will give a rich, glossy coating free from spots, and the candies will not have a spreading base.

 

La Belle Chocolatière

The Story of the Chocolate Girl

The famous picture of "La Belle Chocolatière," known all over the world as the trademark that distinguishes the Cocoa and Chocolate preparations made by Walter Baker & Co. Ltd., was the masterpiece of Jean-Etienne Liotard, a noted Swiss painter who was born in 1702 and died in 1790.

 

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