Soyer's standard cookery

For after-dinner coffee use twice the quantity of coffee, or half the amount of liquid mentioned in previous recipes. Filtered coffee is often preferred where milk or cream is not used, as is always the case with black coffee. Serve in the usual small after-dinner coffee cups. Coffee retards gastric digestion; but where the stomach has been overtaxed by a hearty meal, cafe noir may prove beneficial, so great are its stimulating effects, but over-indulgence must be strictly guarded against. Kola. The preparations on the market made from the kola-nut have much the same effect upon the system as coffee and chocolate, inasmuch as they contain caffeine and theobromine; they are also valuable for their diastase and a milk-digesting ferment. Cocoa and Chocolate. The cacao-tree is a native of Mexico. Although successfully cultivated between the twentieth parallels of latitude, the industry is chiefly confined to Mexico, South America, and the West Indies. Cocoa and chocolate are both prepared from seeds of the cocoa bean. The bean pod is from seven to ten inches long, and three to four and one-half inches in diameter. Each pod contains from twenty to forty seeds, imbedded in mucilaginous matter. Cocoa beans are dried previous to importation. Like coffee, they need roasting to develop flavor. After roasting, the outer covering of bean is removed; this covering makes what is known as cocoa shells, which have little nutritive value. The beans are broken and sold as cocoa nibs. The various preparations of cocoa on the market are made from the ground cocoa nibs, from which, by means of hydraulic pressure, a large amount of fat is expressed, leaving a solid cake. This in turn is pulverized and mixed with sugar, and sometimes, with a small amount of corn-starch or arrowroot, with perhaps the addition of cinnamon or vanilla. Broma contains both arrowroot and cinnamon. Chocolate is made from cocoa nibs, but contains a much larger proportion of fat than cocoa preparations. The fat obtained from cocoa bean is cocoa butter, which gives cocoa its principal nutrient. Cocoa and chocolate differ from tea and coffee inasmuch as they contain nutriment as well as stimulant. The active principle is almost identical with theine and caffeine in its composition and effects. Many people who abstain from the use of tea and coffee find cocoa indispensable. Not only is it valuable for its own nutriment, but for the large amount of milk added to it. Cocoa may be well placed in the dietary of a child after his third year, while chocolate should be avoided as a beverage, but may be given as a confection. Invalids and those of weak digestion can take cocoa, where chocolate would prove too rich. For Cocoa Shells. Take two cups of cocoa shells, twelve cups of boiling water. Boil shells and water three hours; as water boils away it will be necessary to add more. Strain, and serve with milk and sugar. By adding two-thirds cup of cocoa nibs, a much more satisfactory drink is obtained. For Cracked Cocoa. Take three tablespoon fuls of prepared cocoa, four tablespoonfuls of sugar, four cups of boiling water, four cups of milk.