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For Making Cocoa From the Nibs

A method for extracting cocoa from cocoa nibs using water and eggshell.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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For Making Cocoa From the Nibs

Ingredients

Directions

First infusion

  1. Put cocoa nibs and eggshell into a stewpan with cold water.

  2. Simmer gently for 4 hours.

  3. Strain through a fine sieve into a separate basin.

Second infusion

  1. Return nibs to the stewpan with another quart of cold water.

  2. Simmer gently for 3 hours and strain again.

Finish

  1. Boil the cocoa gently for 2 hours the next morning before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cocoa nibs
Provide the chocolate flavour and colour that the water draws out during simmering.

The step that matters

Simmer gently, not hard. A gentle simmer extracts flavour slowly and steadily. A hard boil can evaporate the liquid too quickly and draw out bitter, harsh notes from the nibs.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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