 | The sayings of Dr. Bushwhacker, and other learned men |  |
IV.
Chocolate and Cocoa.
“How is it, Doctor.” said we over our matutinal,
but unusual cup of chocolate, “how is it that
drinking chocolate produces a headache with many persons
who can eat chocolate bon-bons by the quantity with
impunity!” “My learned friend,” said Dr. Bushwhacker,
rousing up and shaking his mane, “I will tell you all
about it. Chocolate, or as the great Linnæus used to call
it, `Theo broma'—food for the gods—is a most peculiar
preparation. It is made of the berries of the cacao, sir,
a small tree indigenous to South America. We misname
the berries cocoa, because the jicaras, or native cups in
which the cocoa was drunk by the Mexicans, were made
of the small end of the cocoa-nut. The tree, sir, bears
a beautiful rose-colored blossom, and that produces a long
pod, resembling our cucumber; in that pod we find the
cacao imbedded—a multitude of oval pits, about the size
of shelled almonds, and surrounded with a white acid
pulp. Now, sir, this pulp produces a very refreshing
drink in the tropics, called vino cacao, or cacao-wine,
which is more esteemed there than the beverage we make
from the berries.”
“But, Doctor, how about the headache?'
“Sir,” said the Doctor, “I am getting to that. If you
take a pair of compasses, and put the right leg in the
middle of the Madeira River, one of the tributaries of the
majestic Amazon, and extend the other to Caracas, then
sweep it round in a circle, you will embrace within that
the native land of the cacao. It grows, sir, from Venezuela
to the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, an extent of country
more beautiful, vaster, and of less importance than
any other territory on the habitable globe. Well, sir,
this plant, which, from its oleaginous properties, seems
suitable to supply the want of animal food, is expressly
adapted for that country. `He who has drank one cup,'
says Fernando Corfez, `can travel a whole day without
any other food.' Now, sir, we must not believe this altogether;
but the value of this liquid nutriment for those
who have to cross the Llanos of the north, or the Pampas
of the south, is not to be lightly estimated.”
“But the headache, Doctor?”
“Chocolate,” continued Dr. Bushwhacker, “is made
of the cacao berries, slightly roasted and triturated in
water; a certain degree of heat is necessary in its preparation.
The best we have comes from Caracas, it is of a
light brown color, and quite expensive, sometimes two or
three dollars a pound. The ordinary chocolate we import
from France, Spain, Germany, and the West Indies, is
a mixture of cacao with sago, rice, sugar, and other articles,
flavored with cinnamon or vanilla, the latter being
deleterious on account of its effects upon the nervous system.
know, but I presume Para furnishes our manufacturers
with their principal supplies. The quantity of cacao that
comes here in its native state is very great, compared
with the manufactured article, the chocolate; we import
one hundred and seventy thousand dollars' worth of the
one, against a little over two thousand dollars' worth of
the other.”
“But the headache, Doctor? What is the reason that
liquid choco—”
“Sir,” replied Dr. Bushwhacker, drawing himself up
with cast-iron dignity, “if I interrupted you as often as
you interrupt me, that question would be answered some
time after the allies take Sebastopol. Chocolate was
introduced into Spain by Fernando Cortez; to this day
it is in Spain what coffee is to France, or tea to England,
the pet beverage of all classes of people who can afford
it. It was introduced into England simultaneously with
coffee, just before the restoration of King Charles the
Second. Then it was prepared for the table by merely
mixing it with hot water, no milk, sir. Pope alludes to
it in the Rape of the Lock. `Whatever spirit, careless
of his charge, his post neglects,'
And tremble at the sea that froths below.'
do the South Americans. By the way, thirty years ago,
on Colombia, which is highly interesting; so, too, you will
find Zea's Colombia of the same period; Pazo's Letters
to Henry Clay, written in 1819; Depon's Voyages in the
early part of this century; and the still more interesting
voyages of Don George Juan, and Don Antonio de Ulloa,
in 1735. Then there is Hippisly's Narrative, Brown's
Itinerary, and many other books, my learned friend, that
will tell you about the cacao. In that country, where
meat is not abundant, a cup of chocolate supplies the
necessary nutriment, and a breakfast of cacao and fruit,
sir, is satisfying and delicious. Arbuthnot says it is rich,
alimentary, and anodyne.”
“But the headache, Doctor?”
“In Spain,” continued the Doctor, it is served up in
beautiful cups of fillagree work, made in the shape of
tulips or lilies, with leaves that fold over the top by
touching a spring. These leaves are to protect it from
the flies. The ladies are so fond of it that they have it
sent after them to church; this the bishops interdicted
for a while, but that only made it more desirable.”
“But what are its peculiar properties, Doctor?”
“Tea, my learned friend,” replied the Doctor, curtly,
“inspires scandal and sentiment; coffee excites the imagination;
but chocolate, sir, is aphrodisiac!”
| The sayings of Dr. Bushwhacker, and other learned men | |