. Birds and nature . rothyand atl, water). Through Cortez andothers who lauded very highly the valueof cocoa as a nourishing food for thosegoing on long journeys, it soon becamewidely known. In 1520 considerablequantities of it, pressed into cakes, wereshipped to Spain. Remarkable as it mayseem, it is stated that the Brazilianslearned the use of cocoa from the Span-iards. The noted Italian traveler Car-letti (1597-1606) introduced the use andpreparation of cocoa into his native city,Florence. Not all Europeans gave favor-able reports concerning the use of stated that it was more
. Birds and nature . rothyand atl, water). Through Cortez andothers who lauded very highly the valueof cocoa as a nourishing food for thosegoing on long journeys, it soon becamewidely known. In 1520 considerablequantities of it, pressed into cakes, wereshipped to Spain. Remarkable as it mayseem, it is stated that the Brazilianslearned the use of cocoa from the Span-iards. The noted Italian traveler Car-letti (1597-1606) introduced the use andpreparation of cocoa into his native city,Florence. Not all Europeans gave favor-able reports concerning the use of stated that it was more suited tohogs than human beings. Acosta statedthat the drink had a nauseous aspectand caused heart troubles. Cocoa wasintroduced into France about 1615, Eng-land about 1667, Germany about later chocolate houses wereestablished in various cities of Homburg, a chemist, of Paris,extracted the fat from cocoa as early as1695, and Quelus (1719) recommended 44 LIBRARYDIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA. its use as a salve and as an article ofdiet. The fruit of the wild growing plantsis small and the seeds exceedingly bitter,hence the cultivated cocoa is seeds are prepared in two ways, fer-mented and unfermented. In the formerthe seeds are placed in heaps in holes inthe earth, in boxes or barrels, coveredwith leaves. In the course of four orfive days they begin to sweat or under-go a mild form of fermentation. Duringthis time the seeds must be stirred aboutoccasionally. At the close of the sweat-ing process most of the bitterness is goneand they have lost about one-half inweight. Afterwards the seeds are rap-idly dried in the sun or in ovens. Thefully dried seeds have a rich brown following are the more importantmarket varieties of fermented cocoa: 1. Mexican or Soconusco Cocoa.—Seeds rather small, delicate flavor and ofa golden yellow color. Since Mexicodoes not produce sufficient cocoa forhome consumption this variety is rarelyexported.
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