from all dust and foreign matter. The next step in the process of preparing the chocolate for market is the roasting, and here the utmost caution is used to secure a uniform effect; for if the seeds are under-roasted the full flavor is not obtained, while in over-roasted seeds the flavor is likely to become bitter. By the roasting, the shells become detachable, and are removed and sold as cocoa shells, while the beans, merely cracked, are sold as cocoa nibs. As some time is required to soften the cracked cocoa, the prepared forms are preferred, with or without fat. For these preparations the beans are ground to an extreme fineness, so as to form a perfectly homogeneous mass. If the chocolate is to be a plain chocolate, it is flavored delicately and poured immediately into molds. If a sweet chocolate is to be made, the ground chocolate is mixed with a definite proportion of perfectly pure, finely pulverized sugar, flavored with the purest vanilla, and poured into molds. When the chocolate is cooled and formed into cakes, it is wrapped and packed for the market.

Many persons find in chocolate too much fat for easy digestion. In certain preparations a definite proportion of the oil is extracted, and we have breakfast cocoa, a valuable food even for delicate stomachs.

In inferior (not necessarily cheaper) grades of chocolate chemical means are used for its preparation from the seed instead of the natural physical means which preserve all the characteristic virtues. For instance, they may be treated with caustic or carbonated alkalies to increase the solubility of the fat, and deepen the color which gives an impression of greater solubility.

In most cases these chemical additions are found in the ash after wholly burning the preparation.

Sometimes an attempt is made to supply the loss of flavor by the use of fragrant gums.

Adulterations are frequently found in the sugar which is combined with chocolate, and in the vanilla. Or, on account of the high price of vanilla, an artificial extract is substituted. Sometimes ferruginous earths have been found, and occasionally foreign fats are used.

"In preparing chocolate as a beverage for the table a mistake has frequently been made in considering it merely as an adjunct to the rest of the meal, instead of giving it its due prominence as a real food, containing all the necessary nutritive principles. A cup of chocolate made with sugar and milk is in itself a fair breakfast." "1

"Chocolate or cocoa is not properly cooked by having hot water poured over it. It is true that as the whole powder is in suspension and is swallowed, its food material can be assimilated as it is when the prepared chocolate is eaten raw; but in order to bring out the full fine flavor and to secure the most complete digestibility, the preparation, whatever it be, should be subjected to the boiling point for a few minutes."1

Among the nations of tropical America it was the custom to beat a mixture, of which chocolate was the chief ingredient, into a froth by means of stirrers or mallet-like implements, thus making a delicious beverage.

1 Suggestions relative to the cooking of chocolate and cocoa in The Chocolate Plant and Its Products.

Thomas Gage, in his "New Survey of the West Indies," says: "The name chocolatte is an Indian name, and is compounded, as some say, from atte, or as others, atle, which in the Mexican language signifieth water, and from the sound which the water (wherein is put the chocolate) makes, as choco, choco, choco, when it is stirred in a cup by an instrument called a 'molinet,' or 'molinillo,' until it rise and bubble into a froath."

A similar thick, foamy drink may be made by the addition of one tablespoonful of cornstarch, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and two ounces of chocolate to a quart of milk. The cornstarch should be mixed with about a gill of cold milk, the chocolate melted with the sugar over hot water, and all added to the remainder of the milk just as it comes to the boiling point. If a thinner beverage is desired, the cornstarch may be omitted.

In making tea we make an infusion. In making coffee we make either an infusion or a decoction. Now in making cocoa from the nibs or the cracked cocoa, we make a decoction; that is, the cocoa must actually boil. If it stands upon the stove or range, and steeps without boiling, we have an infusion, and we obtain as a result an intensely bitter drink. But if it boils-and it is an important, curious fact the difference a few degrees of heat will make - we have a smooth, oily, nutty beverage, which is most agreeable to drink, and very nutritious also, which the bitter beverage is not. There is the same difference between an infusion and a decoction of coffee, but the bitter of coffee is not so unpleasant nor so marked. Tea, on the contrary, and

also all herb teas, like mint, catnip, etc, are harsh and bitter when boiled, losing all their fragrance and delicate flavor. Tea is more of a mere beverage than coffee, which approaches a liquid food, though not so nearly as cocoa does.

CHAPTER IV

MILK, BUTTER, CHEESE, EGGS

MILK

NEXT to water the milk supply of the family must

be looked to.

The milk of animals has always been used as human food. In early ages it was the milk of goats, asses, etc., which was common; now, however, cow's milk is used all over the world.

The composition of milk may be roughly stated as follows: water, 86 per cent; lactose, or milk sugar, 5.5 per cent; milk fat, 4 per cent; casein, or curd, 4 per cent; saline matter, 0.5 per cent. The fat is held in suspension in the liquid in the form of globules, of which it is estimated that there are about three and a half millions in every cubic millimeter.

The variations in the food value of milk are great, so that it is quite probable that one man pays much more than his neighbor for the same amount of nutrients.

Milk is often called the perfect food, since it contains all the elements necessary for nutrition, and in the right proportions. One of the greatest advances in modern. medicine, as well as in wholesome living, is the recognition of milk as an article of diet, especially for invalids, young people, and fever patients. Most persons can