Foods, their selection and preparation

Combine the cocoa, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Add the water and bring to a hard boil, stirring constantly. Boil gently for about five, minutes, stirring to prevent sticking; or put the mixture into a double boiler and cook for about 15 minutes. Cool, add vanilla, and put into a glass jar for stor¬ ing. Add this sirup as desired, to cold or hot milk, heated in the double boiler, and beat with a rotary beater. The use of chocolate and cocoa in various kinds of desserts is considered in appropriate chapters. CASSINA AND MATE The leaves of the cassina, the North American species of Ilex, may be cured and used to make a beverage similar to tea and coffee. Cassina, like tea and coffee, was dis¬ covered and used for centuries before scien¬ tific research showed that the active prin¬ ciple of the plant is caffeine. The leaves of [346] this plant were cured in a crude way and used by the North American Indians. The South American Indians used another species, called mate, for the same purpose. During the Civil War, when tea and cof¬ fee were not available to the people of the South, crudely cured cassina leaves were used extensively for preparing a stimulating beverage. The plant grows naturally and abundantly on poor sandy soil, over an area of about 40,000 square miles, extending from the James River in Virginia all along the coast of the Southern and Gulf states to the Rio Grande. In 1921, the Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Department of Agriculture carried on laboratory experi¬ ments in the scientific curing of cassina leaves. This work showed that a beverage-producing product could be made for use in the same manner as tea and coffee. A flavoring sirup, for use in carbonated beverages, also was produced. The South American mate, also called Paraguay tea, has been commercialized exten¬ sively in many of the South American coun¬ tries, especially in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argem tina, and Brazil. This tea is made from dried and roasted leaves and shoots of the shrub or tree. The leaves contain caffeine, tannin, and more flavoring oil than either tea or coffee. SELECTED REFERENCES Food and Drug Administration. Federal Security Agency, Washington, D.C., 1945. Cacao Products , pp. 7-12, Definitions and Stand¬ ards for Food. Graves, Lulu G., and Taber, Clarence Wilbur. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. F. A. Davis Co., Philadelphia, 1943. Young, Isabel N. Coffee Facts for Home Economists. American Can Co., New York, 1945. XXVI * Condiments Their Use Condiments are a group of substances used in small amounts to bring out or add to the flavor of foods. Some flavorful foods already discussed have condimental value. Sugars give sweetness, which has a universal flavor appeal. Some of the sirups have special flavors along with their sweetness, which make them doubly valuable. Sweetness, alone, grows tiresome; so condimental flavor¬ ings are added to candies, cakes, and sweet desserts to supplement and give character to their sweetness. Vanilla is frequently used for this purpose. In addition to their use in beverages, tea, coffee, chocolate, and cocoa are used to flavor sweets and desserts. Choco¬ late and cocoa are especially popular for this purpose. Fresh fruits also are used for flavor. Lemon and orange juice and the aromatic oils in the grated citrus peels are often so