Slightly Post Period Chocolate Drink

by Duquesa Juana Isabella de Montoya y Ramirez, OL, OP, QOG, OST, etc. donnaegreen@yahoo.com

For purposes of use within the pre-1600 context of the SCA, the early history of the knowledge of and use of chocolate by Europeans can reasonably, I think, be extrapolated for our use.

European explorers were aware of chocolate as early as 1502 and many of them had consumed it prior to 1600. So, while the most accessible recipes for chocolate drink can be documented to no earlier than 1631, it does not strike me as too far of a stretch to say that the drink produced by the 1631 recipes are similar if not the same to the ones consumed by Europeans prior to 1600.

Cocoa beans are the basis of the drink. According to Sophie and David Coe in "The True History of Chocolate", the Mesoamerican’s from whom the Spaniards acquired chocolate, never weighed their goods. They counted them. This was particularly so in the case of cocoa beans since they were also currency. I presume this practice is the reason that the quantity of beans in the 1632 recipe is given as a specific number while the other ingredients are usually measured by weight.

Cocoa beans are the seeds of the cocoa fruit. The fruit encases a pulpy mass. The beans are removed from the pulp, dried and fermented. Historical commentators said this increased their oily and buttery qualities. The beans are lightly toasted so that the husks can be removed. The beans, or at this point in the process, nibs are then ground between two stones in a metate. The resulting paste is perishable so it is formed into hardened tablets which per the historical sources would last up to two years.

Chocolate did not catch on quickly with Europeans according to various learned commentators. However, before the end of the century, shipping records show the beginning of a trade in chocolate.

* A timeline of early European encounters with chocolate:

1502:

During Columbus's fourth voyage, his crew captured a Mayan trading vessel off the Honduran coast and discovered among its cargo cacao beans, later described by Christopher's son Fernando as "those almonds which in New Spain are used for money". There is no indication that the Spanish explorers knew anything about the use of cacao as the basis for beverages at this early date.

1565:

The Milanese adventurer Girolamo Benzoni, per his Historia del Mondo Nuovo (Venice, 1565), came across chocolate in Nicaragua and wrote that it "seemed more a drink for pigs, than a drink for humanity. I was in this country for more than one year, and never wanted to taste it."

1581:

Diego Durán relayed that when Cortés and his men were first offered chocolate, they viewed the drink with suspicion and refused to try it;

1588:

Oliva Sabuco de Nantes, a female physician, made a passing mention of cacao in her medical advice book which was intended for a Spanish mainland (as opposed to colonial) audience, in Nueva filosofía de la naturaleza del hombre (Madrid, 1588).

1590:

The Jesuit José de Acosta Historia natural y moral de las Indias (Sevilla, 1590) disparaged chocolate, asserting that those who had not grown up with it "could not have a taste for it," and likening the frothy foam that capped the drink to feces.

1591:

The creolized (mixed race colonial) doctor Juan de Cárdenas provided a detailed description of cacao preparation and chocolate and its consumption by Europeans in his work Problemas y secretos maravillosos de las Indias (1591)

1591:

Reviewing a small sample of cargos between 1588 and 1591, the cargo lists of eight ships returning from New Spain; only one ship listed a shipment of chocolate—one box with no more than forty pounds of chocolate in 1591

1595:

In the cargo lists for twenty ships returning from New Spain in 1595, four had chocolate shipments, each of about fifty pounds.

1624:

Jesuits in New Spain were shipping chocolate through Seville to Rome according to the Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla

The first work about chocolate to be published with a Spanish readership in mind was Santiago de Valverde Turices, Un discurso de chocolate (Sevilla, 1624).

1631:

Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma's Curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del chocolate (Madrid, 1631) is the source for the earliest known European recipe for chocolate drink. Antonio commented that "the number of people who nowadays drink Chocolate is so great that it is not only in the Indies where this drink originated and began, but also in Spain, Italy, and Flanders it is already very common";

1636:

León Pinelo estimated that chocolate had been in common use among Spaniards for about forty or fifty years in his Questión moral: Si el chocolate quebranta el ayuno eclesiástico (Madrid, 1636).

1640:

Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma's work was translated into English by Diego de Vades-forte as “A Curious Treatise of the Nature and Quality of Chocolate ... Put into English by Don Diego de Vades-forte (London, 1640)

Further translations of Colmenero de Ledesma's Curioso tratado proliferated in English (1640, 1652, and 1685), French (1643, 1671), Latin (1644), and Italian (1667, 1678, 1694).

1645:

Tomás Hurtado wrote that chocolate had had a presence on the Iberian Peninsula for about fifty years in his Chocolate y tabaco: Ayuno eclesíastico y natural (Madrid, 1645).

* Chocolate in Humoral Theory

Physicians of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance put great stock in humoral theory as a method of creating and maintaining health. So, as the Age of Exploration brought new foodstuffs to the European market, these items needed to be folded into the prevailing medical theories.

In his Problemas y secretos maravillosos de las Indias (1591) doctor Juan de Cárdenas dealt with this problem of how chocolate fits in humoral theory. He explained that cacao was composed of three parts with different and contradictory properties, but that humorally speaking, its cold qualities predominated. In turn, he described the variety of cacao beverages and prescribed them according to individuals' temperament, location, age, and other factors affecting humoral balance. After describing the confusing multitude of opinions concerning chocolate, Cárdenas promised that "Only the divine Hippocrates can deliver us from this confusion with that much cited sentence that says: 'Not all for everything, but each thing for what it is,' which is a way of saying that we do not want to give one single thing to all subjects, to all complexions, to all illnesses."

"In this precious, medicinal drink,” Dr. Cárdenas writes, “we find, besides the cocoa, so-called Castilian spices, as well as others we call ‘earthy’ in this area. The Castilian spices are cinnamon, pepper, anise, and sesame seeds. Among the Indian ones, we find gueynacaztle (which the Spaniards call ‘ear flower’), a substance “added to the chocolate in a wise, preset manner” due to its nice smell, as “(the smell) contributes grace, fragrance and smoothness to the drink.” As it is usually the case with aromatic medicines, this drink “is cordial, reinforces and comforts the vital virtue, helping to engender life spirits,” while “giving it a very gracious flavor at the same time.” There’s also mecasuchil flower (Mexican pepperleaf), which also perfumes the drink, with warming properties to consume the “phlegmatic humors” and that also comforts the liver, which makes it the best spice in the composition; tlixchil, “vanilla, in our language,” whose good smell competes “with that of amber and musk,” is cordial and beneficial to the heart, as well as having “the virtue of warming up the stomach, cooking the gross humors ordinarily found there,” therefore being “indispensable,” and finally achiote, comparable to cardamom, which is added to the drink “to give it a red, gracious color as well as sustenance and to fatten up the drinker.”

"We must praise” he adds “the aromatic species from the Western Indies that while being warming, comforting and aromatic don’t give us the excessive warmth those coming from the Eastern Indies give.” Said spices “never cause anybody any harm, as they’re each mostly added in small amounts. Some people, feeling coldness in the stomach or the belly, add to the chocolate toasted chilies and some dried cilantro seeds, called Earth Pepper."

Treatise on the Nature and Properties of Chocolate (1631) by Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma, maintains that chocolate is cold and dry and these characteristics are augmented by the spices and other ingredients added to the drink mixture.

* How was the early chocolate drink mixed?

Chocolate could be served hot or cold. Sometimes mixed with maize and sometimes not. It could be sweetened with honey or sugar and spiced with a variety of ingredients; often chili peppers, vanilla and flowers.

A 1571 dictionary of the languages of Mexico (Vocabulario en lengua castellana y Mexicana by Alonso de Molina) described various types of mixtures for chocolate drink:

Niçapizòya: a cacao drink of these made with water

Niçapizòya quiña: cacao in this way with chili peppers"

Niçapizòyachina: cacao in this way with certain things that have fragrance

Tocaniçapizòyachina: cacao made this way to drink raised high (with foam)

In the 1570’s Philip II commissioned Francisco Hernández to investigate the materia medica of New Spain. He conducted extensive interviews with indigenous authorities and described the preparation of various cacao beverages in his Obras completas.

In his Problemas y secretos maravillosos de las Indias (1591) Cárdenas said that even though Spaniards used Old World spices in their chocolate drink, "the fragrant spices of the Occidental Indies" were superior, since they "do not give us the excessive heat of those brought from the Oriental Indies."

Cárdenas recommends that all substances be new, save for the cocoa, which, “the more mature it is, the oilier and more buttery it will be,” and goes on to explain that the amounts to be used are, for every one hundred cocoas, half an ounce of each spice, both indigenous and Spanish, which will be toasted separate from the cocoa, as the cocoa needs more fire, and that said amounts may be increased or decreased at will, according to taste.

In 1618, the physician and author Bartolomé Marradón, wrote in his Diálogo del uso del tabaco ... y de chocolate y otras bebidas, “The usage of chocolate is so familiar and so frequent among all of the Indians, that there is not a square or market where there isn't a black woman or an Indian woman with her aunt, her Apstlet (which is a clay vessel), and her molinillo (which is a stick like the needles they use to spin yarn in Spain), and their containers to collect the run-off and cool the foam [off the chocolate]. These women first put a section of the paste or a square of chocolate in water and dissolve it, and after removing a portion of this foam ... they portion it into vessels called Tecomates ... Then the women distribute it to Indians, or to Spaniards who surround them. The Indians are great impostors, giving to their plants Indian names, which renders them in high repute. We can say that of the Chocolate sold in the marketplace and stands.

In his Treatise on the Nature and Properties of Chocolate (1631), Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma described his initiation into chocolate consumption when, "arriving hot [in the Indies], visiting sick people and requesting a little bit of water to refresh" him, he was instead "persuaded to drink a jícara [gourd cup] of chocolate ... which placated [his] thirst." He also recommended spices from the New World to mix with the chocolate drink, but acknowledged that Old World substitutes might be more practical. He suggested that the rose of Alexandria could replace mecasuchil (mecaxóchitl), because both substances possessed "purgative" qualities, and black pepper as an alternative to Mexican chilies.

In 1636, León Pinelo wrote, "the Indians who invented [chocolate], it is without doubt, that in much water they added enough honey in order to sweeten it and a bit of cacao, with nothing else ... the Spanish augmented the sweetness with sugar." He also mentioned, however, that Spaniards from the Indies used honey as well as sugar.

* The Chocolate Trade

Chocolate as a trade good had little presence in Spain until the very end of the sixteenth century. Only small quantities of chocolate arrived in Spain as evidenced by the shipping records mentioned in the timeline above.

A conquistador-turned-Spanish lord who received tribute from Indians ordered his subjects to prepare a thousand pounds of "ground cacao ready to drink" for his voyage to Spain in 1531. This was a substantial quantity of a precious commodity from the Indians’ point of view, yet the market for it among the Spanish appears from documentary evidence to have not yet developed.

As prince the future Philip II was given a gift of chocolate in 1544 by a group of Indians. Whether the Indians brought this voluntarily or not is unknown but somewhat doubtful.

Francisco Hernández wrote in the 1570‘s, "In all of the neighborhoods there is a plaza where every fifth day or with greater frequency are celebrated markets not only in Mexico City but in all of the cities and villages in New Spain in which congregate a numerous multitude of men and women ... The varieties of fresh and dried fruits, indigenous and from our land [e.g., Spain], sold there cannot be enumerated, and that which is held in higher appreciation than all of the others is the cacaotl [cacao]."

Both contemporary commentators and tax registries for imports from New Spain show that chocolate was not a regular trade item until the 1590s.

There is evidence that chocolate grew in popularity among the wealthy merchants of Seville from 1591 to 1602. Some of the early adopters of this hot trend from New Spain were Antonio Armijo, described as "one of the most powerful Sevillan merchants at the end of the sixteenth century"; Pedro Mendoza, who amassed more than 4 million maravedis in 1596, and "thus was one of the wealthiest Indies traders"; and Cristóbal de Ribera. The small quantities (one box apiece, which ranged between 20 and 100 pounds), particularly in comparison with the massive amounts of bullion and dye goods they were importing, suggest the chocolate was for their own consumption.

In the fleet tax records of 1585, only chocolate, and not cacao, was imported. In 1602, the fleet tax records show six boxes of chocolate and two boxes of cacao.

The first work about chocolate to be published with a Spanish readership in mind was Santiago de Valverde Turices, Un discurso de chocolate printed in 1624.

By the 1620s, thousands of pounds of cacao and chocolate were imported into Spain annually. Venezuela exported more than 31,000 pounds between 1620 and 1650.

As the trade in chocolate increased, so did the trade between New and Old Spain in the other ingredients commonly included in the chocolate drink mixture. In 1632 an edict was issued (reissued in 1634) to implement a new kingdom-wide tax or monopoly on chocolate specified that duties were to be paid on mecazuchil (1/2 real/lb.) and vanillas (12 reales/lb.), as well as cacao and manufactured chocolate. Manufactured chocolate was to be taxed at 1 real/lb., cacao at 1/2 real/lb. A 1644 lawsuit against a vendor accused of selling chocolate illegally in Madrid mentions that the chocolate's ingredients included "mecasuchil" (mecaxóchitl), "orejuelas" (xochinacaztli), achiote, and "harina de maiz" (cornmeal).

In 1634, a lawsuit was brought against a ship's captain by a Jesuit in Seville for the loss of two large containers of chocolate that had been shipped from the brethren in Veracruz. Some of the shipment was destined for the "procurador general" based in Seville, and some was to be shipped on to "brother Antonio who resides in Rome."

* The 1652 translation of Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma’s 1631 treatise on chocolate

Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma wrote Curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del chocolatein Spanish in 1631.

A version of this work was translated by Don Diego de Vadesforte and published in London in 1640. The title given for this translation is “A Curious Treatise of the Nature and Quality of Chocolate.”

It was published again in England in 1652 under the title of “Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke“. The publication was approved by Melchor de Lara, the Physitian Generall for the Kingdome of Spaine. This translation is claimed by Capt. James Wadsworth.

This work can be found at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21271/21271-h/21271-h.htm .

The 1652 edition includes recipes, instructions for “compounding” the ingredients and mixing instructions for the drink. It also provides commentary on the ingredients and their properties. The redaction (modernized instructions) follow the listing of these variations

Recipes in 1652 edition:

Version 1: Ingredients:

The Receipt of him who wrote at Marchena, is this: Of Cacaos, 700; of white Sugar, one pound and a halfe; Cinnamon, 2. ounces; of long red pepper, 14. of Cloves, halfe an ounce: Three Cods of the Logwood or Campeche tree; or in steade of that, the weight of 2. Reals, or a shilling of Anniseeds; as much of Agiote, as will give the colour, which is about the quantity of a Hasell-nut. Some put in Almons, kernells of Nuts, and Orenge-flower-water.

Commentary on ingredients:

… Sugar be put into it, when it is drunke, so that it be according to the quantity I shall hereafter set downe.

… For the Cloves, which are put into this drinke, by the Author aforesaid, the best Writers of this Composition use them not…

… The Huskes or Cods of Logwood, or Campeche, are very good, and smell like Fennell; and every one puts in of these, because they are not very hot; though it excuse not the putting in of Annis-seed, as sayes the Author of this Receipt; for there is no Chocolate without it, because it is good for many cold diseases, being hot in the third degree; and to temper the coldnesse of the Cacao; and that it may appeare, it helpes the indisposition of Cold parts …

… The quantity of a Nut of the Achiote is too little to colour the quantity made according to his Receipt; and therefore, he that makes it, may put in it, as much as he thinkes fit.

… Those, who adde Almons, and Nuts, doe not ill; because they give it more body and substance then Maiz or Paniso, which others use; and for my part, I should always put it into Chocolate, for Almonds (besides what I have said of them before) are moderately hot, and have a thinne juice; but you must not use new Almons …

… And the small Nuts are not ill for our purpose; for they have almost the temper, which the Almons have; onely because they are dryer, they come nearer the temper of Choler; and doe therefore strengthen the Belly, and the Stomacke, being dryed: for so they must be used for the Confection; and they preserve the head from those vapours, which rise from the Belly …

… Those who mixe Maiz or Paniso in the Chocolate doe very ill; because those graines doe beget a very melancholly humor …

… The Cinamon is hot and dry in the third degree; it provokes Urine, and helps the Kidneys and Reynes of those who are troubled with cold diseases; and it is good for the eyes; and in effect, it is cordiall …

… The Achiote hath a piercing attenuating quality, as appeareth by the common practice of the Physitians in the Indies, experienced daily in the effects of it, who doe give it to their Patients, to cut, and attenuate the grosse humours, which doe cause shortnesse of breath, and stopping of urine; and so it may be used for any kind of Opilations; for we give it for the stoppings, which are in the breast, or in the Region of the belly, or any other part of the Body.

… And concerning the long red Peper, there are foure sorts of it. One is called Chilchotes: the other very little, which they call Chilterpin; and these two kinds, are very quicke and biting. The other two are called Tonalchiles, and these are moderately hot; for they are eaten with bread, as they eate other fruits, & they are of a yellow colour; and they grow onely about the Townes, which are in, and adjoyning to the Lake of Mexico. The other Pepper is called Chilpaclagua, which hath a broad huske, and this is not so biting as the first; nor so gentle as the last, and is that, which is usually put into the Chocolate.

… There are also other ingredients, which are used in this Confection. One called Mechasuchil; and another which they call Vinecaxtli, which in the Spanish they call Orejuelas, which are sweet smelling Flowers, Aromaticall and hot. And the Mechasuchil hath a Purgative quality; for in the Indies they make a purging portion of it. In stead of this, in Spaine they put into the Confection, powder of Alexandria, for opening the Belly.

To make tablets to reconstitute:

… And sometimes they make Tablets of the Sugar, and the Chocolate together: which they doe onely to please the Pallats, as the Dames of Mexico doe use it; and they are there sold in shops, and are confected and eaten like other sweet-meats.

Version 2: Ingredients:

The Receipt is this.

To every 100. Cacaos, you must put two cods of the long red Pepper, of which I have spoken before, and are called in the Indian Tongue, Chilparlagua; and in stead of those of the Indies, you may take those of Spaine which are broadest, & least hot. One handfull of Annis-seed Orejuelas, which are otherwise called Pinacaxlidos: and two of the flowers, called Mechasuchil, if the Belly be bound.

Version 3: Ingredients:

But in stead of this, in Spaine, we put in six Roses of Alexandria beat to Powder: One Cod of Campeche, or Logwood: Two Drams of Cinamon; Almons, and Hasle-Nuts, of each one Dozen: Of white Sugar, halfe a pound: of Achiote enough to give it the colour. And if you cannot have those things, which come from the Indies, you may make it with the rest.

Method for mixing ingredients:

The way of Compounding.

The Cacao, and the other Ingredients must be beaten in a Morter of Stone, or ground upon a broad stone, which the Indians call Metate, and is onely made for that use: But the first thing that is to be done, is to dry the Ingredients, all except the Achiote; with care that they may be beaten to powder, keeping them still in stirring, that they be not burnt, or become black; and if they be over-dried, they will be bitter, and lose their vertue. The Cinamon, and the long red Pepper are to be first beaten, with the Annis-seed; and then beate the Cacao, which you must beate by a little and little, till it be all powdred; and sometimes turne it round in the beating, that it may mixe the better: And every one of these Ingredients, must be beaten by it selfe; and then put all the Ingredients into the Vessell, where the Cacao is; which you must stirre together with a spoone; and then take out that Paste, and put it into the Morter, under which you must lay a little fire, after the Confection is made. But you must be very carefull, not to put more fire, than will warme it, that the unctuous part doe not dry away. And you must also take care, to put in the Achiote in the beating; that it may the better take the colour. You must Searse all the Ingredients, but onely the Cacao; and if you take the shell from the Cacao, it is the better; and when you shall find it to be well beaten, & incorporated (which you shall know by the shortness of it) …

To make tablets to reconstitute:

… then with a spoone take up some of the Paste, which will be almost liquid; and so either make it into Tablets; or put it into Boxes; and when it is cold it will be hard. To make the Tablets you must put a spoonfull of the Paste upon a piece of paper, the Indians put it upon the leaf of a Planten-tree; where, being put into the shade, it growes hard; and then bowing the paper, the Tablet falls off, by reason of the fatnesse of the paste. But if you put it into any thing of earth, or wood, it sticks fast, and will not come off, but with scraping, or breaking.

Mixing the drink:

Codex Tudela, fol. 3r. From a manuscript painted in New Spain ca. 1553, this image depicts a Nahua woman, of high social rank (as suggested by her fine cloak), frothing chocolate by pouring it from a height. A similar representation of chocolate-frothing occurs on a ceramic piece used for serving chocolate by Maya from the Late Classic period (a.d. 600–900). 21 × 15.5 cm. Ink on vegetable-fiber paper. Reproduced courtesy of the Museo de América, Madrid, Spain.

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/111.3/norton.html

How to mix it to drink 1:

… In the Indies they take it two severall waies: the one, being the common way, is to take it hot, with Atolle, which was the Drinke of Ancient Indians (the Indians call Atolle pappe, made of the flower of Maiz, and so they mingle it with the Chocolate, and that the Atolle may be more wholesome, they take off the Husks of the Maiz, which is windy, and melancholy; and so there remaines onely the best and most substantiall part.)

How to mix it to drink 2:

… Now, to returne to the matter, I say, that the other Moderne drinke, which the Spaniards use so much, is of two sorts. The one is, that the Chocolate, being dissolved with cold water, & the scumme taken off, and put into another Vessell, the remainder is put upon the fire, with Sugar; and when it is warme, then powre it upon the Scumme you tooke off before, and so drinke it.

How to mix it to drink 3:

… The other is to warme the water; and then, when you have put it into a pot, or dish, as much Chocolate as you thinke fit, put in a little of the warme water, and then grinde it well with the molinet; and when it is well ground, put the rest of the warme water to it; and so drinke it with Sugar.

How to mix it to drink 4:

… Besides these former wayes, there is one other way; which is, put the Chocolate into a pipkin, with a little water; and let it boyle well, till it be dissolved; and then put in sufficient water and Sugar, according to the quantity of the Chocolate; and then boyle it againe, untill there comes an oyly scumme upon it; and then drinke it. But if you put too much fire, it will runne over, and spoyle. But, in my opinion, this last way is not so wholsome, though it pleaseth the pallate better; because, when the Oily is divided from the earthy part, which remaines at the bottome, it causeth Melancholy; and the oily part loosens the stomacke, and takes away the appetite:

How to mix it to drink 5:

… There is another way to drink Chocolate, which is cold; and it takes its name from the principall Ingredient, and is called Cacao; which they use at feasts, to refresh themselves; and it is made after this manner. The Chocolate being dissolved in water with the Molinet, take off the scumme or crassy part, which riseth in greater quantity, when the Cacao is older, and more putrified. The scumme is laid aside by it selfe in a little dish; and then put sugar into that part, from whence you tooke the scumme; and powre it from on high into the scumme; and so drink it cold. And this drink is so cold, that it agreeth not with all mens stomacks; for by experience we find the hurt it doth, by causing paines in the stomacke, and especially to Women. I could deliver the reason of it; but I avoid it, because I will not be tedious, some use it, &c.

How to mix it to drink 6:

… There is another way to drinke it cold, which is called Cacao Penoli; and it is done, by adding to the same Chocolate (having made the Confection, as is before set downe) so much Maiz, dryed, and well ground, and taken from the Huske, and then well mingled in the Morter, with the Chocolate, it falls all into flowre, or dust; & so these things being mingled, as is said before, there riseth the Scum; and so you take and drink it, as before.

How to mix it to drink 7:

… There is another way, which is a shorter and quicker way of making it, for men of businesse, who cannot stay long about it; and it is more wholsome; and it is that, which I use. That is, first to set some water to warm; and while it warms, you throw a Tablet, or some Chocolate, scraped, and mingled with sugar, into a little Cup; and when the water is hot, you powre the water to the Chocolate, and then dissolve it with the Molinet; and then without taking off the scum, drink it as is before directed.

How to mix it to drink 8:

… If you please to take it in milke, to a quart, three ounces of Chocolate will be sufficient: Scrape your Chocolate very fine, put it into your milke when it boiles, work it very well with the Spanish Instrument called Molenillo between your hands: which Instrument must be of wood, with a round knob made very round, and cut ragged, that as you turne it in your hands, the milke may froth and dissolve the Chocolate the better: then set the milke on the fire againe, untill it be ready to boyle: having the yelke of two eggs well beaten with some of the hot milke; then put your eggs into the milke, and Chocolate and Sugar, as much as you like for your taste, and worke all together with the Molenillo, and thus drinke a good draught: or if you please you may slice a little Manchet into a dish, and so eate it for a breakfast:

How to mix it to drink 9:

… you may if you please make your Chocolate with Water and Sugar, working it after the same order with your Molenillo, which for some weake stomacks may chance to be better liked.

How to mix it to drink 10:

… And many there be that beat Almonds, and strayne them into the water it is boyled, and wrought with the Chocolate and Sugar: others like to put the yelkes of eggs as before in the milke, and even sweeten it with Sugar to your taste: If you drinke a good draught of this in a morning, you may travell all the day without any other thing, this is so Substantiall and Cordiall.

How to mix it to drink 11:

… Set a Pot of Conduit Water over the fire untill it boiles, then to every person that is to drink, put an ounce of Chocolate, with as much Sugar into another Pot; wherein you must poure a pint of the said boiling Water, and therein mingle the Chocolate and the Sugar, with the instrument called El Molinillo, untill it be thoroughly incorporated: which done, poure in as many halfe pints of the said Water as there be ounces of Chocolate, and if you please, you may put in one or two yelks of fresh Eggs, which must be beaten untill they froth very much; the hotter it is drunke, the better it is, being cold it may doe harme. You may likewise put in a slice of white bred or Bisquet, and eate that with the Chocolate. The newer and fresher made it is, the more benefit you shall finde by it; that which comes from forreigne parts, and is stale, is not so good as that which is made here.

Codex Mendoza, fol. 47r. Although this manuscript was commissioned and compiled ca. 1541–1542, the tribute lists that it includes are thought to be based on pre-Hispanic prototypes. The loads of cacao and chocolate-drinking vessels were among the items that the Aztec ruler levied from tributaries. Ink on European paper. Shelfmark: MS. Arch. Seld.A.1. Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, England.

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/111.3/norton.html

* Redacting the 1652 version of the 1631 recipe

Using Cocoa Beans

Since the recipe gives the amount of cocoa in number of beans, the first hurdle is to determine what amount of beans is equivalent to what weight. Several years ago a friend of mine in the salvage business gave me a large quantity of raw cocoa beans. To get as close as possible to a period chocolate drink, you should start with cocoa beans if at all possible. The modern processes to which chocolate is subjected are just that, modern … they were not used in period. They do serve a useful purpose; chocolate in its natural state does not emulsify. It remains particulate and granular. This is why period sources admonish the drinker to stir frequently. It is now possible to get both cocoa beans and cocoa nibs from various sources.

Raw cocoa beans have hulls on them. You must gently roast the beans, let them cool and then manually remove the hulls. It is best to get your oven warm, spread the beans in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and leave them in the warm oven overnight.

My redaction of The Receipt of him who wrote at Marchena, is this: Of Cacaos, 700; of white Sugar, one pound and a halfe; Cinnamon, 2. ounces; of long red pepper, 14. of Cloves, halfe an ounce: Three Cods of the Logwood or Campeche tree; or in steade of that, the weight of 2. Reals, or a shilling of Anniseeds; as much of Agiote, as will give the colour, which is about the quantity of a Hasell-nut. Some put in Almons, kernells of Nuts, and Orenge-flower-water. Is as follows:

130 shelled cocoa beans weighs 5 ounces. I had some additional ground beans from an earlier project so I mixed those with the freshly roasted beans. This came to 10 ounces. The proportions I came up with were as follows:

10 oz shelled cocoa beans or cocoa nibs

9 oz sugar*

.2 oz cloves

¾ oz cinnamon

½ oz anise

½ tsp annatto**

½ cup ground blanched almonds

2 Tbl. orange flower water

5 red chili peppers (I used long red ones about the length of a thumb)

* Sugar: I have used both regular refined white sugar (cane, not beet) and Mexican cone sugar. I believe that Mexican cone sugar is closer to sugar that was used in period, also, the Mexican stuff is very tasty.

**Most of the redactions I have seen list annatto instead of agiote. This is because annatto is the same thing as agiote. Annatto is a red coloring agent. Annatto can be found at any store that has a reasonably large spice collection.

In making this mixture, I used all of my grinding machines; the spice grinder, the small food processor and the large food processor. Mexican sugar should be pounded on with a mallet or meat tenderizer first to make smaller pieces. Then grind it and run the mix through a strainer so the large pieces can be ground again. The chilies and the annatto seem to work best if you run them through the small food processor first and then the spice grinder. I used the large food processor to mix all the ingredients together.

Mixing the Drink

For the mixing, I used this version:

Boil one quart of milk. Add three ounces of chocolate mix. Stir with the molenillo. Return the milk to the fire. Add two egg yolks to the drink. Mix them in with the molenillo. This can also be made with almond milk instead of real milk, but I haven’t tried that one yet.

What is a Molenillo?

City archaeologist Carl Halbirt holds a wooden molinillo, or chocolate stirring stick, that dates to the 1500s and was found while excavating a well in downtown St. Augustine

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2009-12-28/sweet-discovery

This is a tool which can still be purchased in Mexico or in Mexican groceries. Scharffenberger and various other fancy food stores also carry them, but they charge too much.

When I visited El Escorial in Spain (Phillip II's palace) I was pleased to see a molenillo on display among the kitchen tools. As you can see above, one from the 1500’s was discovered in St. Augustine Florida in the old Spanish settlement there.

A molenillo is a wooden stick with a knob at the end that goes in the beverage and a loose ring and arched hollows down near the knob. If you don't have one, a whisk should work fine. Regardless of which tool you use, stick it in the drink and hold the handle between your palms. Rub your palms together back and forth as if to warm them. This will cause the tool to spin in the drink and mix the chocolate.

Antonio Ponce (1608–1677), A Still Life of Peaches, Fish, Chestnuts, a Tin Plate and Sweet Box and Two Mexican Lacquer Cups. In Spain, it became increasingly common by the late 1630s for still lifes to depict chocolate accoutrements. In this painting, chocolate is signified by the lacquered gourds known as jícaras and the molinillo used to froth chocolate (upper left), perched on a container holding ground cacao. The presence of the gourds and frother demonstrates that chocolate engaged Iberians' tactile and visual senses in much the same way it did their Mesoamerican antecessors. Reproduced courtesy of the Galería Caylus, Madrid, Spain.

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/111.3/norton.html

Solid Chocolates?

"And sometimes they make Tablets of the Sugar, and the Chocolate together: which they doe onely to please the Pallats, as the Dames of Mexico do use it; and they are there sold in shops, and are confected and eaten like other sweet-meats."

http://www.spanishseamstress.org/as-entries-2009/2010/2/15/spanish-chocolate.html

This blog shows a redaction of the historical sources on chocolate and a method of making the solid tablets.

Sources and Acknowledgements:

The Feudal Gourmet: A Brief Overview of Early Spanish Cuisine,

edited by Eden Rain, published by the Madrone Culinary Guild, page 36 and 37.

"Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke." London, 1652, translated and/or published by Capt. John Wadsworth from a work by Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma. Approved by Melchor de Lara, "Physitian General for the Kingdome of Spaine", 1631.

http://jducoeur.org/justin/chocolate.txt

the Gutenberg Project

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21271/21271-8.txt

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21271/21271-h/21271-h.htm

Dr. Bert Gordon of Mills College

Baron Raymond von dem Lowengrab OL

Chocolate details — Spanish Seamstress

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/111.3/norton.html

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2009-12-28/sweet-discovery

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