made brittle, it is to be ground in a mill or pounded in a mortar as fine as may be, and then, to obtain the full strength, placed in an earthenware vessel, covered with cold water, allowed to stand for some hours, and brought to the boiling heat just before use. While this is the most economical treatment, most people prepare an infusion made by pouring boiling water upon the fine coffee. The vessel should then be closed and allowed to stand at a boiling heat for five to ten minutes; it should never boil violently, as the delicate aroma of the coffee is then lost. According to one authority: "Coffee, to be good, must be made strong. From one to two ounces to a pint of water is recommended; three times the volume of milk may then be added. This is better than to add water. In countries where the best coffee is made, there is a concurrence of opinion that roasted coffee should not come in contact with any metal; but that it should be powdered in a wooden mortar, kept in glass or porcelain, and infused in porcelain or earthenware jugs, or other closed vessels." An expensive method of preparation is by the percolation of boiling water through the coffee, drop by drop. The simplest apparatus for this is a flannel bag, which carries the coffee, suspended in the coffee pot. The following directions for making coffee in three different ways are given by the courtesy of Mr. Frank A. Allen, of the Oriental Tea Company, of Boston. DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING COFFEE I. Fill the coffee pot with cold water. required amount of coffee and turn it in. Take the Let it float on the water without stirring. Place on the stove to heat, and remove from stove the moment it begins to boil. Decant slowly and carefully into the coffee pot or urn for the table, without disturbing the grounds which will be settled at the bottom of the pot. 2. Measure out the required amount of coffee and put into a bowl, and add barely enough boiling water to dampen it. Let it stand seven minutes soaking. Put the soaked coffee in the coffee pot, pour on the needed amount of boiling water, and stand the coffee pot on the stove where it will keep very hot, but not boil, for ten minutes. Pour into the table urn, as in Rule 1, and serve. A fine-mesh cheese cloth bag to hang in the pot and hold the coffee insures clear coffee by this method. But be sure and soak seven minutes before putting in the bag. 3. If a French coffee pot or urn with a leacher to strain the coffee through is used, be sure to put the dry coffee needed into a bowl, with barely enough hot water to moisten, and soak seven or more minutes. Then put into the leacher, pour the needed amount of boiling water on it, and let it strain through. COFFEE SUBSTITUTES We find in Farmers' Bulletin No. 122, 1900, that coffee substitutes of domestic manufacture have long been known. An infusion of parched corn, or corn coffee, has met with some favor in the household as a drink for invalids, etc. Parched wheat, peas, beans, bread crusts, and corncobs, as well as sweet potatoes cut into small pieces and dried and parched, have also been used. The coffee substitutes found on the market today frequently claim a high food value as well as a special hygienic quality. "The food value of any such beverage is evidently due (1) to the material extracted from the coffee (or other substance) by the water used, and (2) to the sugar and milk or cream added to the infusion." The food value of coffee substitutes has been studied by the Maine Experiment Station. Flour, meal, and other ground grains contain little soluble material, but when roasted a portion of the carbohydrates is caramelized and rendered soluble. The infusions studied were made according to directions, varying from 20 to 180 cups a pound of material. It was found that the average infusion had the following composition: water, 98.2 per cent; protein, 0.2; carbohydrates, 1.4; fuel value, 30 calories a pound. Skim milk, which is considered a rather "thin " beverage, contains: protein, 3.5 per cent; fat, 0.3; carbohydrates, 5.15; or almost twenty times as much food material as the averages made from cereal coffee. If made according to directions one would have to drink 4.5 gallons of an infusion of one of them which made a special claim to high nutritive value, in order to get as much food material as is contained in a quart of skim milk. The infusion of true coffee also contains very little nutritive material. It is not ordinarily consumed on account of its food value, however, but on account of its agreeable flavor and stimulating properties. In Europe hundreds of proprietary articles are sold as coffee substitutes, such as "Datel Kaffee," wheat, chicory, figs, and coffee; "Hygienic Nahrkaffee," cereals and acorns; peanuts, lupines, and date stones enter into other brands. In America there are number of favorite substitutes prepared from roasted cereals, ground peas, chicory, and other harmless material. In the decade just passed the mixture of cereal coffee with the genuine coffees has become very general. A few of the preparations labeled as cereal coffees in reality contain a large percentage of coffee, at least in one case as much as 30 per cent. It has been said that "in coffee substitutes, coffee itself should be considered the adulterant." The present custom in advertising coffee well illustrates modern methods, which should be understood by the buyer. A gentleman came to engage the author as expert in a legal case against a firm which sold a coffee warranted to contain no Java or Mocha coffee, and to be free from the deleterious effects of these coffees. The attending physician had forbidden coffee to the plaintiff's wife, and had prescribed this brand. The patient grew steadily worse until it was discovered that the article used was nearly half coffee, not Mocha or Java, but presumably one or more of the dozens of brands now on the market from tropical countries with which trade has been established in recent years. COCOA The cocoa of commerce is chiefly prepared from the seeds of the plant Theobroma cacao, which grows in the West Indies, in many South American countries, and in some parts of Asia and Africa.1 The earliest references to the chocolate plant are in the accounts of the explorers who followed Columbus. It appears to have been known to the inhabitants of Central America from time immemorial. It was introduced into Europe by the Spaniards in 1520, probably before either tea or coffee was generally known. After its introduction it was at first only a luxury, but now it is a necessity. England and the United States each uses annually about three-quarters of a pound a head. The term theobroma implies food for the gods, and is the name given to the plant by Linnæus, who is said to have been very fond of the beverage prepared from cocoa. The Mexicans called it cacaoa quahuitl, and the beverage chocolatl; and we probably derive from these native names our words cocoa and chocolate. The cocoa bean contains 50 per cent of fat, 13 per cent of nitrogenous substance, half of which is soluble, about 7 per cent of a tannin-like principle, 4 per cent of starch, and about 1 per cent of theobromine, an alkaloid resembling theine. Thus it combines in a remarkable way the important substances which constitute a perfect food, and it is not strange that it holds so high a place in popular favor. For the highest grades of chocolate the beans are selected with great care and then thoroughly cleaned 1 A clear idea of the natural history of the plant and of the modern method of cultivation in South America may be obtained from The Chocolate Plant and Its Products, published by the Walter Baker Company. |