SC - Decaf Chocolate - OOP

[Susan Fox-Davis]

I just bought a small packet of cacao nibs, about one ounce or so, at Whole Foods
Market in Los Angeles [high-end yuppie organic grocery, formerly Mrs. Gooch's].
Baking chocolate =might= do, but consider it pre-powdered and pre-roasted.  Annato
seeds are readily available here as well.  I'm not sure what logwood is nor how it
affects the flavor so I guess we go with the anise seeds.  I will perform the
experiment, albeit on a small scale, and get back to you.

But for the spice seeds and chili pepper, this seems to closely resemble the
ingredients list of Mexican chocolate tablets, which contain chocolate nibs, sugar,
cinnimon and sometimes vanilla.  I have a vile habit of eating them straight, but I
also make a pleasant sweet bread with them based on a cocoa bread recipe from a
breadmaker book.

If you need groceries from LA, I'd be happy to ship them to you.

Yours in chocoholism,
Selene
selene at earthlink.net

lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:

> I'm trying to work out the following slightly out of period recipe
> for a Chocolate beverage for personal use. As it is rather late,
> being a bit OOP, it has quantities of ingredients, but even so, i
> have questions...
>
> ---------------------
>
>  From "Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke." London, 1652, by Capt. John Wadsworth.
> Apparently a translation of a book by Melchor de Lara, "Physitian
> General for the Kingdome of Spaine", 1631.
>
> ORIGINAL LIST OF INGREDIENTS
>
> "The Receipt of him who wrote at Marchena, is this:
>
> Of Cacaos, 700
> of white Sugar, one pound and a halfe
> Cinnamon, 2. ounces
> of long red pepper, 14
> of Cloves, halfe an ounce:
>
> Three Cods of the Logwood or Campeche tree;
> or in steade of that, the weight of 2 Reals, or a shilling of Anniseeds;
> as much of Agiote, as will give it the colour, which is about the
> quantity of a Hasellnut.
>
> Some put in Almons,
> kernells of Nuts, and
> Orenge-flower-water.
>
> MY QUESTIONS
>
> 1.)
> Cacao pods or nibs are not easy to get and prepare, so i would like
> to substitute something more readily available while i'm
> experimenting with the recipe, such as:
>
> Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
>
> How much would i need to equal 700 cacao nibs?
> Maybe some day i'll buy 700 cacao nibs and pound them up myself.
> After all, there's a delicious chocolate bar that has crunchy
> fragments of cacao in it, so it's a possibility. But while i'm in the
> development stage, i'd rather use something easier to get and use.
>
> 2.)
> 1-1/2 lb sugar
> 2 oz cinnamon
> 14 long red peppers [dried - see preparation, below]
> 1/2 oz cloves
>
> These quantities are clear in the recipe, assuming the measures
> haven't changed much in 350 years. Is there a significant difference
> in what constitutes a pound and an ounce by weight between then and
> now?
>
> 3.)
> 3 Cods of the Logwood or Campeche tree
> or
> the weight of 2 Reals, or a shilling of Aniseeds; and Achiote/Annato,
> as much as will give it the color, about the quantity of a Hazelnut
>
> I can get logwood from natural dye suppliers.
> (a.) Is it safe to consume in small quantities?
> (b.) How much is "3 cods"? is this a volume or weight measure?
>
> (c.) How much does a shilling or 2 reals weight?
>
> (d.) Is "a hazelnut of achiote" likely to mean by weight or by volume?
> (e.) Has the size of a hazelnut changed significantly since 1650?
>
> 4.)
> Some put in Almonds,
> kernels of Nuts [Walnuts?]
> Orange-flower-water
>
> a.) I assume from the wording that the above are optional. Am i
> interpreting correctly?
>
> b.) At this time period is the word "nuts" here likely to mean
> "walnuts", or nuts in general. I am under the impression that it
> refers to walnuts, as it does in French. But i read an interpretation
> that called for hazelnuts.
>
> I can work out quantities by myself, once i resolve (a) and (b).
>
> ---------------------
>
> ORIGINAL PREPARATION
> [paragraph breaks mine for ease of reading]
>
> The Cacao, and the other Ingredients must be beaten in a Morter of
> Stone, or ground upon a broad stone, which the Indians call Metate,
> and is onely made for that use: But the first thing that is to be
> done, is to dry the Ingredients, all except the Achiote, with care
> that they may be beaten to powder, keeping them still in stirring,
> that they be not burnt, or become black; and if they be over-dried,
> they will be bitter, and lose their vertue. The Cinamon, and the long
> red Pepper are to be first beaten, with the Annisseed; and then beate
> the Cacao, which you must beate by a little and little, till it be
> all powdred; and sometimes turne it round in the beating, that it may
> mixe the better: And every one of these Ingredients, must be beaten
> by it selfe, and then put all the Ingredients into the Vessell, where
> the Cacao is; which you must stirre together with a spoone; and then
> take out that Paste, and put it into the Morter, under which you must
> lay a little fire, after the Confection is made. But you must be very
> carefull, not to put more fire, than will warme it, that the unctuous
> part doe not dry away. And you must also take care, to put in the
> Achiote in the beating; that it may the better take the colour. You
> must Searse all the Ingredients, but onely the Cacao; and if you take
> the shell from the Cacao, it is the better; and when you shall find
> it to be well beaten, & incorporated (which you shall know by the
> shortness of it)
>
> then with a spoone take up some of the Paste, which will be almost
> liquid; and so either make it into Tablets; or put it into Boxes; and
> when it is cold it will be hard. To make the Tablets, you must put a
> spoonfull of the Paste upon a piece of paper, the Indians put it upon
> the leaf of a Plantentree, where being put into the shade, it growes
> hard; and then bowing the paper, the Tablet falls off, by reason of
> the fatnesse of the paste. But if you put it into any thing of earth,
> or wood, it sticks fast, and will not come off, but with scraping, or
> breaking.
>
> In the Indies they take it two severall waies: The one, being the
> common way, is to take it hot, with Atolle, which was the Drinke of
> Ancient Indians (the Indians call Atolle pappe, made of the flower of
> Maiz, and so they mingle it with the Chocolate, and that the Atolle
> may be more wholsome, they take off the Husks of the Maiz, which is
> windy, and melancholy; and so there remaines onely the best and most
> substantiall part.) Now, to returne to the matter, I say, that the
> other Moderne drinke, which the Spaniards use so much, is of two
> sortes. The one is, that the Chocolate, being dissolved with cold
> water, & the scumme taken off, and put into another Vessell, the
> remainder is put upon the fire, with Sugar; and when it is warme,
> then powre it upon the Scumme you tooke off before, and so drinke it.
> The other is to warme the water; and then, when you have put it into
> a pot, or dish, as much Chocolate as you thinke fit, put in a little
> of the warme water, and then grinde it well with the molinet; and
> when it is well ground, put the rest of the warme water to it; and so
> drinke it with Sugar.
>
> MY SIMPLIFIED INTERPRETATION
> The recipe calls for drying the ingredients. This appears to be what
> i call dry roasting which i do in a wok or skillet with no oil on a
> medium-low fire, stirring constantly until things seem right (color,
> smell, texture).
>
> Grind everything but the chocolate to a powder; sieve to assure it is
> well powdered and to remove fibers. Crush cacao nibs, then grind them
> near a fire, which will make a paste (If i use unsweetened baking
> chocolate, can i just melt it?). Stir powdered ingredients into cocoa
> paste and mix well.
>
> Make tablets by taking a spoonful of paste and putting it on paper or
> plantain leaves (i used to have access to banana leaves in LA, as
> these are often planted as ornamentals, but i don't see them here in
> Berkeley :-) and letting it harden.
>
> To drink: (1) mix a tablet into atole (mmm, i like atole - used to
> make it when i lived in LA); or (2) mix with water, warm, and beat,
> and add sugar to taste.
>
> ---------------------