Lemon Prawlings.—Made the same as orange prawlings.
Orange Prawlings.—Take four or five Havana oranges, and cut off the peel in quarters, or small lengths; take off all the pith or white part of the peel, leaving only the yellow rinds, and cut in small pieces, about an inch long, and the size of pins. Have about a pint of clarified sugar boiling on the fire; when it comes to the blow, put in the pieces of peel, and let them boil until the sugar attains the small ball; take them off, and stir them with the spatula until the sugar grains and hangs about them; sift off the loose sugar; when cold, separate and keep them in a dry place.
Peppermint, Lemon and Rose Candy are made after the same manner as Ginger Candy, coloring the lemon with saffron, and the rose with cochineal.
CHOCOLATE.
Cacao Nuts.—The cacoa or cacoa nuts, of which chocolate is made, is the seed of the fruit of a tree common in South America and the West Indies. The seeds of the nuts, which are nearly of the shape of an almond, are found to the number of from thirty to forty in a pod. The pods are oval, resembling a cucumber in shape. The different sorts are distinguished by name, according to the places which produce them; thus, the cacao of Cayenne, Caraccas, Berbice, and the islands of St. Magdalen and Domingo. These all differ in the size of their almonds or seed, quality and taste. The most esteemed is the large Caraccas, the almond of which, though somewhat flat, resembles the shape of a large bean. The next are those of St. Magdalen and Berbice. The seeds of these are less flat than those of the Caraccas kind, and the skin is covered with a fine ash-colored dust. The others are very crude and oily, and only fit to make the butter of cacao. The kernels, when fresh, are bitter, and are deprived of this by being buried in the ground for thirty or forty days. Good nuts should have a thin brittle skin, of a dark black color; and the kernel, when the skin is taken off, should appear full and shining, of a dusky color, with a reddish shade. Choose the freshest, not worm-eaten, or moldy on the inside, which it is subject to be.
Equal parts of the cacao of Caraccas, St. Magdalen and Berbice mixed together make a chocolate of first-rate quality; and these proportions give to it that rich and oily taste which it ought to have. That made from the cacao of Caraccas only is too dry, and that from the islands too fat and crude.
Roasting.—Take a sufficient quantity of nuts to cover the bottom of an iron pot two or three inches deep, place them on the fire to roast, stirring them constantly with the spatula that the heat may be imparted to them equally. A coffee-roasting machine would answer for this purpose admirably, taking care not to torrefy them too much, as the oil of the nut suffers thereby, and it becomes a dark brown or black, grows bitter and spoils the color of the chocolate. Musty or moldy nuts must be roasted more than the others, so as to deprive them of their bad taste and smell. It is only necessary to heat them until the skin will separate from the kernel on being pressed between the fingers. Remove them from the fire and separate the skins. If you have a large quantity, this may be accomplished by putting them in a sieve which has the holes rather large, but not so much as to allow the nuts to pass through; then squeeze or press them in your hands, and the skins will pass through the meshes of the sieve; or, after being separated from the nuts, they may be got rid of by winnowing or fanning them in a similar manner to corn. When they are separated put them again in the fire, as before directed, stirring them constantly until warmed through, without browning. You may know when they are heated enough by the outside appearing shiny; again winnow, to separate any burnt skin which may have escaped the first time.
The Making of Chocolate.—An iron pestle and mortar is requisite for this purpose, also a stone of the closest grain and texture which can be procured, and a rolling-pin made of the same material, or of iron. The stone must be fixed in such a manner that it may be heated from below with a pot of burning charcoal, or something similar.
Warm the mortar and pestle by placing them on a stove, or by means of charcoal, until they are so hot that you can scarcely bear your hand against them. Wipe the mortar out clean, and put any convenient quantity of your prepared nuts in it, which you pound until they are reduced to an oily paste, into which the pestle will sink by its own weight. If it is required sweet, add about one-half or two-thirds of its weight of loaf sugar in powder; again pound it so as to mix it well together, then put it in a pan, and place it in the stove to keep warm. Take a portion of it and roll or grind it well on the slab with the roller (both being previously heated like mortar) until it is reduced to a smooth impalpable paste, which will melt in the mouth like butter. When this is accomplished, put it in another pan, and keep it warm until the whole is similarly disposed of; then place it again on the stone, which must not be quite so warm as previously, work it over again, and divide it into pieces of two, four, eight, or sixteen ounces each, which you put in molds. Give it a shake, and the chocolate will become flat. When cold it will easily turn out.