Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

122 THE COCOA AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY In choice of bean and care in preparation, the pro-prietary brands are generally superior to the cocoa sold loose. The professional cocoa-taster is influenced by the colour and aroma of the powder, but the deter-mining factor naturally is how it makes up with water. He notes the flavour, aroma, body and strength. In judging the flavour of the liquor, he usually tastes it without sugar or milk. He also carefully observes the amount of sediment left in the cup. It may be well to describe how cocoa should be pre-pared in the household to obtain the beverage at its best. The operation which is most neglected is the use of the whisk. For each cup of cocoa required put one piled teaspoonful of cocoa into a jug, add an equal number of teaspoonsful of sugar, and mix dry. Raise a mixture of equal parts of water and milk to the boil in an aluminium or enamelled saucepan, pour the boiling milk over the cocoa and stir briskly. Put the whole back into the saucepan and boil for one minute. Transfer back to the jug, whisk vigorously, and serve whilst steaming hot. Cacao Butter. (Oleum Theobromatis. French— Beurre de cacao, German—Kakaobutter, Spanish—-Manteca de coco, Italian—Burro di cacao.) Cacao butter as it flows from the press is brown. When it has been passed through cloth in a filter press, it becomes a crystal-clear amber coloured oil, which sets to a brittle, pale yellow solid with a characteristic fragrance. Though brittle at ordinary temperatures it melts readily in the mouth (at 90° F.). As far as elementary composition is concemed, cocoa is the ground cacao bean from which some of the cacao butter has been pressed, and chocolate is ground cacao bean and sugar with or without the addition of cacao butter. Owing to the growing demand for