Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

Chocolate is sold in the form of sweet and black chocolate ; a small cake, weighing about an ounce, is allowed for a cup, or half a pint, of thick chocolate ; shave or grate the chocolate, melt it over the fire with half a cupful of water, stirring it constantly ; then add half a pint of milk, and continue to stir the chocolate until it boils, when it will be ready to use. More water may be added if the chocolate is too thick. COCOA. Cocoa is made both from the beans and the shells of cocoa. It requires boiling, — the shells long boiling, — to completely extract its flavor and nutriment. Special directions usually accompany packages of cocoa. When they do not, use about two ounces of the bean or cocoa nibs, or more of the shells, to a quart of water ; boil the cocoa at least a half-hour, and serve boiling milk with it. HOT COFFEE AND SODA. For temperance advocates, hot black coffee mixed with soda-water is a good substitute for the spirituous winter drinks. Make black coffee as follows : — A quarter of a pound of good coffee and a quarter of an ounce of ground chicory infused in a quart of boiling water, but not boiled, will make medium strong coffee. Boiling coffee makes it very black and bitter. Use hot black coffee and soda-water in equal proportions, with a palatable addition of cream sirup, or condensed milk and sugar. PINEAPPLE LEMONADE. Carefully boil a pound of sugar in a pint of water until it forms a thin sirup, removing all scum as it rises ; meantime squeeze the juice from three large lemons, and remove their seeds from it ; pare a ripe pineapple, take out the eyes, and ' grate it into a large bowl ; add the lemon-juice to it, and the sirup as soon as it is clear, and let the mixture cool and stand for a couple of hours ; then add to it a quart of icewater, strain .it, and use it. CURRANT- WA TER. Pick over a pint of raspberries, and strip a quart of currants from the stems ; bruise the fruit in a preserving-kettle with a wooden spoon, pour over it two quarts of cold water, add half a pound of sugar, and set the kettle over a moderate fire where its contents will heat gradually ; after the currant-water begins to boil, remove the kettle from the fire, pour its entire contents into a flannel jelly-bag, and let the currant-water drain through the bag. When it is quite clear, cool it and ice it ; add sugar to taste, and use it cold as a summer or temperance drink. CBERRY WATER. Keep the sirup in which cherries were boiled, in tightly corked bottles ; and when a cool, refreshing beverage is wanted, mix a wineglassful of the sirup with a glass of cold water, sweetening it to taste. CHERRY SIRUP. Crush ripe cherries in a mortar, breaking the stones, and then squeeze them in a cloth to extract all their juice ; with each quart of juice mix a pound of sugar, and boil them together for ten minutes, removing all scum as it rises ; then cool and bottle the sirup. Use it for flavoring puddingsauces, and in summer mix it with iced water as a cooling and refreshing drink. BLACKBERRY SIRUP.