Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1888 — How Chocolate is Made. [ARTICLE]

How Chocolate is Made.

Good Housekeeping. The chocolate that is so much esteemed for beverage, confections and pastry, is made from the beans of the cocio tree, that grows in the West Indies. The beans having been separated from the pods, they are ground to a paste, with sugar, between heated grindstones. When this is partly dried the air is pressed out and they are worked over to make an even texture and fine grain. While the paste is in the molds a blast of cold air is turned on and the glossy cakes are ready fpr the market. The French confectioners have no end of combinations that they make with chocolate and essences and other flavors. The English sailors and soldiers now get chocolate in the form of a drink two or three times a week. In England, however, much of the chocolate is adulterated, such substances as flour, starch, potato, lard, eh ilk, bran and old sea biscuit being detected.