The Spaniards were the first to introduce the cocoa bean into Europe. It was imported from Mexico where it has been used as a drink for many years.

Chocolate is peculiarly considered a Spanish drink. In Spain it is considered almost a necessity.

Chocolate is essentially a tropical cultivation, requiring a moist atmosphere, and a temperature of 70° to 90° F. The best comes from Mexico, Ceylon and Samoa.

The trees are planted from 12 to 14 feet apart, and must be several years old before they bear good fruit.

The fruit of the tree, in which the seeds lie buried, is a melon-shaped pod about a foot long. The interior of these pods is divided into cells, each containing rows of seeds about the size of an almond. These seeds, which are called cocoa beans, lie surrounded by fibrous pulp. When the pods are ripe they are cut off the tree with knives fastened to poles. The pods are then left on the ground for 24 hours. After this the seeds are taken out and thrown into heaps and allowed to remain for about five days until they have fermented. During this process they become dark in color and lose much of their bitter taste. To further improve the taste the beans are well roasted. In this condition they are shipped to the different manufacturers.

In the factories the beans are cracked into irregular bits, known as cocoa nibs.

Chocolate is the whole bean. In the crushing process it forms a paste which is run into molds and cooled and sold for plain chocolate. It is sometimes flavored and sweetened before being molded. The pulverized cocoa which is sold under the name of breakfast cocoa is made by extracting from the cracked bean a large proportion of its fat and grinding to powder the dry substance.

The fat extracted from the cocoa bean is used in making perfumes, cocoa butter, etc.

Average chemical composition of chocolate:

50 per cent fat.

13 per cent protein.

7 per cent tannin-like principle.

4 per cent starch.

1 per cent theobromine (a substance allied to caffeine).

Cocoa is frequently adulterated with an inferior grade of starch.

Cocoa is insoluble in cold water. But when dissolved in boiling liquid the starch thickens, holding all the other solids together.

Chocolate when cooked with milk is an excellent food and very nutritious.