The Chemistry of CookeryWilliams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Science
The Chemistry of Cookery
Williams, W. Mattieu (William Mattieu)
Cooking
I should, however, add that some authorities have attributed
exhilarating properties to the _theobromine_ or nitrogenous alkaloid
of cocoa. Its composition nearly resembles that of theine, as the
following (from Johnston) shows:
Theine Theobromine
Carbon 49·80 46·43
Hydrogen 5·08 4·20
Nitrogen 28·83 35·85
Oxygen 16·29 13·52
------ ------
100·00 100·00
It exists in the cocoa bean in about the same proportion as the theine
in tea, but in making a cup of cocoa we use a much greater weight
of cocoa than of tea in a cup of tea. If, therefore, the properties
of theobromine were similar to those of theine, we should feel the
stimulating effects much more decidedly.
The alkaloid of tea and coffee in its pure state has been administered
to animals, and found to produce paralysis, but I am not aware that
theobromine has acted similarly.
Another essential difference between cocoa and tea or coffee is that
cocoa is, strictly speaking, a food. We do not merely make an infusion
of the cacao bean, but eat it bodily in the form of a soup. It is
highly nutritious, one of the most nutritious foods in common use. When
travelling on foot in mountainous and other regions, where there was a
risk of spending the night _al fresco_ and supperless, I have usually
carried a cake of chocolate in my knapsack, as the most portable and
unchangeable form of concentrated nutriment, and have found it most
valuable. On one occasion I went astray on the Kjolenfjeld, in Norway,
and struggled for about twenty-four hours without food or shelter. I
had no chocolate then, and sorely repented my improvidence. Many other
pedestrians have tried chocolate in like manner, and all I know have
commended its great ‘staying’ properties, simply regarded as food. I
therefore conclude that Linnæus was not without strong justification in
giving it the name of _theobroma_ (food for the gods), but to confirm
this practically the pure nut, the whole nut, and nothing but the nut
(excepting the milk and sugar added by the consumer) should be used.
Some miserable counterfeits are offered—farinaceous paste, flavoured
with cocoa and sugar. The best sample I have been able to procure is
the ship cocoa prepared for the Navy. This is nothing but the whole nut
unsweetened, ground, and crushed to an impalpable paste. It requires
a little boiling, and when milk alone is used, with due proportion of
sugar, it is a _theobroma_. Condensed milk diluted, and without further
sweetening, may be used.
The following are the results of the analyses of two samples of cocoa
by Payen:
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