Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

HISTORY OF COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 23 chocolate could not be sold at a price low enough to suit the incomes of the mass of the people, and it is not surprising to find that the total quantity of raw cacao imported into Great Britain by the end of this Century, did not exceed 100 tons per annum. So far in this history, whenever chocolate has been mentioned, the reference has been to chocolate for drinking purposes. Chocolate for eating and cocoa powder were both as yet unknown to the public. The absence of the former may possibly be accounted for in this way : chocolate cannot be moulded unless it contains about 25 per cent of cacao-butter. If this is obtained by mixing cacao beans and sugar, we require to have present about 50 per cent of cacao bean, which makes a chocolate too bitter for eating to satisfy the public taste. It became possible to produce an eating chocolate sweet enough to be palatable, only when a supply of cacao-butter was available. This did not occur until the next Century, and was intimately connected with the production of cocoa powder. 5. FROM 1800 TO THE PRESENT DAY Popularity Achieved and Perfection Approached Since 1800 the rise to popularity of cacao prepara-tions has been steady and continuous. Of innovations and changes, those which have had the most marked effect in increasing the consumption of cacao are as follow— 1. The introduction by Van Houten in 1828 of cocoa-powder as we now know it. 2. Ihe reduction of the duty to a low figure which was maintained constant for a number of years. 3. The great improvements which have taken place in the methods of transport.