Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Supplement/Chocolate-tree

CHOCOLATE-TREE, or Cacao-tree, Theobroma Cacao, L. is a native of the West Indies, and South America, attaining the height of from 15 to 20 feet: it produces small pale-red flowers, that are succeeded by pods, containing several seeds, or nuts.

From this fruit, and not from the Cocoa-nuts (as we have been misled to state in the article Cocoa) is prepared the favourite beverage, known under the name of Chocolate. The Cacao-nuts are first gently parched, in an iron vessel over a fire, with a view to separate their external covering more easily: the kernel is then triturated on a smooth warm stone; a little anotta is added, and, with the aid of a small quantity of water, the whole is formed into rolls or cakes, weighing about one pound each.—For an account of the manner, in which these cakes are reduced to a liquid state, the reader will consult vol. i. p. 520.