SC - Chocolate Drink - 1615

[David Dendy]

Anahita asked various questions. I have comments and replies to a couple of
them.
>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?

The logwood you can get from dye suppliers (we carry it) is the heartwood of
the tree; your recipe calls for "Cods" (pods, or fruits) of the same tree.
Using the logwood dye would be like using cherrywood in a recipe for cherry
pie. If you can't get the logwood pods (and I confess I have never heard of
them in commerce), you would be wiser and safer to use the recommended
substitute of aniseed. (I note that in the preparation directions the author
talks only of aniseed, and doesn't mention the logwood, from which I infer
that this wasn't readily available in the Europe of his day, either.)

>(b.) How much is "3 cods"? is this a volume or weight measure?
>
See above: "cod" = pod.

>(c.) How much does a shilling or 2 reals weight?
>
A real is a coin in the Spanish system, one eighth of the Spanish silver
dollar (thus "piece of eight" reals). The Canadian or American 25 cent piece
("quarter''), although no longer made of silver, is still roughly the same
size and weight as a 2 real piece or an English shilling. You can make
precision calculations, but I doubt that the original recipe is a precision
proposition.

>(d.) Is "a hazelnut of achiote" likely to mean by weight or by volume?

Most like an approximate volume. Achiote is quite small seeds, but the often
come rather lumped and stuck together, so I suspect the recipe means an lump
about the size of a hazelnut.


Yours sincerely,
Francesco Sirene
David Dendy / ddendy at silk.net
partner in Francesco Sirene, Spicer / sirene at silk.net
Visit our Website at http://www.silk.net/sirene/