[Sca-cooks] Research on Period Chocolate

Tue Mar 10 07:36:50 PDT 2009

The Spanish is atrocious but I can make it out - do you need it in  
English or a corrected Spanish version?

Let me know - I'm drowning in the whiskey project today but I can  
squeeze it in.

Maria

"Hey, I'm The Doctor! I can save the Universe using a kettle and some  
string! And look at me! I'm wearing a vegetable..." (The Tenth Doctor  
to the Fifth Doctor - "Doctor Who - Children in Need Special")

On Mar 10, 2009, at 7:33 AM, Susan Fox wrote:

> Oh Boy, a new project!  I am sending this to a dear friend who is a  
> skilled translator of Spanish language entertainment from both sides  
> of the ocean, and is also a devoted foodie.  Not SCA, but give us  
> time.  ;-)  Maria, what do you make of this recipe?
>
> Dame Selene Colfox aka Susan Fox
> selene at earthlink.net
>
> David Friedman wrote:
>> Master  Raymond von dem Lowengrab recently posted to a West Kingdom  
>> list, describing some work he was doing on a period description of  
>> making a chocolate drink. I asked if he would like me to post it  
>> here, and he said he would. For anyone who wants to correspond with  
>> him directly, his email address is:
>>
>> Raymond Tripp <lowengrab at gmail.com>
>>
>> Here's the relevant part of his original post:
>>
>> Would any of you Chocolate lovers in the group be interested in my  
>> attempts to translate what is seeming to be a period discription of  
>> ingredients and, from what I can tell [so far], at least a rough  
>> description of the process for making the "Chocolate Drink" ?
>> The source is from "Narraciones historicas"- Seminario de Cultura  
>> Mexicana. Mexico, 1994. by Luis Castillo Ledon.
>> One of the chapters in this work is specificly on "Chocolate", and  
>> according to my co-workers/ translators/cultural advisors who  
>> provided me with this rather obscure reference, this chapter goes  
>> rather in depth about the history of Chocolate and it's place in  
>> Mexican history.
>> For those who are interested in such small things as " Period  
>> Sources", the section I'm working on is taken from Juan de Cardenas  
>> "Problemas y secretos maravillosos de las Indias" written in 1591.
>> At this point I am only focusing on the actual passages pulled from  
>> Cardenas instead of the whole chapter- this is for the sake of time  
>> and my sanity as it's been almost 20 years since I took Spanish and  
>> I barely squeeked by a passing grade. I am relying on the gracious  
>> assistance of my co-workers [who are brothers], mentioned above,  
>> who share a love of history and native foods from their region. Oh  
>> yea, one of them has been a Chocolateer and candy maker before he  
>> joined my current employment, and some of his insights have been  
>> enlightening.
>> So, please bear in mind that the translation is essentally done "By  
>> Committee" though any mistakes made will be my own. [If anyone is  
>> interested in a copy of the whole chapter, let me know and I'll do  
>> my best to get a copy to you- I'd love to see a translation, or  
>> even a review, that didn't require my brain to occasionally short  
>> out....]
>>
>> And here is what he sent me for this list:
>>
>> To get the ball rolling, here is, to the best of my understanding,  
>> the excerpts from the source used by the author. Please note that I  
>> have yet to figure out how to put accent marks over letters, so  
>> they will be ommitted.
>> Pero mas que formula, lo anterior solo es una manera de preparar el  
>> chocolate ya para servirse. No ha sido dable al cronista tener en  
>> sus manos el libro del doctor Barrios, a que se refiere el padre  
>> Ximenez, pero hojeando los Problemas y secretos maravillosos de las  
>> Indias, obra escrita por el doctor Juan de Cardenas en 1591,  
>> encuentra dos largos capitulos sobre el mexicanisimo brebaje, en  
>> los que el autor nos ofrece con complaciente prolijidad  
>> gastronomica, una excuisita receta para preparar chocolate, y una  
>> disertacion sobre las diversas maneras en que se estilaba tomarlo.
>> [Prelude over, here's where we started working]
>> "En esta preciosa y medicinal bebida- anota el docto Cardenas-  
>> entran, sin el cacao, especias que llaman de Castilla;  y otras que  
>> aca llamamos de la tierra; las especias castellanas son, canela,  
>> pimienta, anis, ajonjoli"; las indianas gueynacaztle [que los  
>> espanoles llaman orejuela], sustancia "que se echa en el chocolate  
>> muy sabia y acordadamente", por su buen olor, "pues con el da  
>> gracia flagrancia y suavidad a esta bebida", y como toda medicina  
>> aromatica, es cordial, "refuerza y conforta la virtud vital,  
>> ayudando a engendrar espiritus de vida", y "da asi mesmo un muy  
>> gracioso sabor", flor de mecasuchil, que tambien perfuma, y que  
>> calienta y consume las "humidades flematicas", y conforta el  
>> higado, por lo que es la mejor especia que entra en la composicion;  
>> tlixchil, "en nuestro romance vainillas", cuyo buen olor compite  
>> "con el almizcle y ambar" es cordial y amigo del corazon, y tiene  
>> "virtud de dar calor al estomago, cocer los humores gruesos, que en  
>> el estan de ordinario", por lo que "no se debe excusar";  
>> finalmente, achiote, comparable al cardamomo, el cual se echa en  
>> esta bebida, asi para darle un rojo y gracioso color, como para dar  
>> sustento y engordar al que le bebe".
>> "Se debe alabar-agrega- las especias olorosas de esta India  
>> occidental, que siendo calientes, confotativas y aromatacas, no nos  
>> dan aquel excesivo calor que las que nos traen de la India  
>> oriental". dichas espeias "jamas hacen dano a nadie, echandose  
>> mayormente poco de cada cosa. suelen algunas personas, por sentirse  
>> frias de estomago o de vientre, echar al chocolate unos chiles  
>> tostados y unos granos mayores de culantro seco, llamados pimienta  
>> de la tierra"
>> recomienda Cardenas que todas las sustancias sean nuevas, excepto  
>> el cacao que "Mientras mas anejo, mas aceitoso y mantecoso sera", y  
>> a continuacion explica que las cantdades de ellas que deben usarse  
>> son, para cada cien cacaos, media onza de cada especia, asi  
>> indigenas como espanolas, los cuales se tostaran separadas del  
>> cacao, por necesitar este mayor fuego, y que tales dosis pueden  
>> aumentarse o disminuirse a voluntad, segun el gusto.
>> Needless to say, this man is the master of the run-on sentance.
>> I have held the translation to this point as the next paragraph  
>> begins to describe the work/ observations of Antonio Colomenero de  
>> Ledesma's Curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del chocolate  
>> published in Madrid in 1631- outside of our cut off point if 1600  
>> is to be accepted.
>> The clue, for me, that I might be on to something with this lay in  
>> the first sentance: En esta.. "In this beautiful medicinal Drink- 
>> wrote the Doctor Carenas- go without the cocao, the species they  
>> call castillians; in others they call from the land.
>> Juan and Efram, my translators, made the folowing notes; "Go  
>> without the cocao"- he's describing the preparation by separating  
>> the batches of ingrediants from castillian and "others they call  
>> from the land" being native spices.
>> According to Juan, the former chocolateer, this translation does  
>> eventually describe, at least roughly, how to make the drink. But,  
>> the problem he's having is that the source tends to describe and  
>> expound upon the nature of various ingrediants '...consumes  
>> flematic humours..." is one of my favorites so far, and with the  
>> archaic prose, he sometimes pulls his hair.
>> like I've said before, as far as Spanish goes, I'm rather un- 
>> fluent, so I'll trust these guys to givew me their best then throw  
>> it to the wolves to chew on.
>> For the anthropology minded, Juan and Efram come from a small town/ 
>> village in central mexico that has pre-colonial roots, with cooking  
>> traditions that have been passed down, mainly through the women,  
>> for genrations. Juan remembers seeing his grandfather make, by hand  
>> grinding, the cakes of corn, spices, and chocolate, over the heated  
>> grindstone, back in the 50's. When my interest in the historical  
>> aspects of chocolate became known to him, he has begun talking with  
>> some of the "elders" in his family about their knoweldge on  
>> preparing chocolate in it's various forms, and when he read  
>> Mistress Juanna's recipe for chocolate, noted to me "I realized  
>> that I've been drinknig this all my life !", abliet, without the  
>> orange flowers.
>>
>