SC - Chocolate Drink - 1615

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

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...

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 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).

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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.

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Thanks for any assistance,

Anahita al-shazhiyya