Making Chocolate Eighteenth Century Style

Submitted by Laurie Alice Eakes

To Make Confectionary Drops

Take double refined sugar, pound and sift it through a hair sieve, not too
fine; then sift it through a silk sieve to take out all the fine dust which
would destroy the beauty of the drop. Put the sugar into a clean pan, and
moisten it with any favourite aromatic...Colour it with a small quantity of
liquid carmine, or any other colour, ground fine. Take a small pan with a
lip, fill it three parts with paste, place it on a small stove, the half hole
being the size of the pan, and stir the sugar with a little ivory or bone
handle, until it becomes liquid. When it almost boils, take it from the fire
and continue to stir it: if it be too moist, take a little of the powdered
sugar, and add a spoonful to the paste, and stir it till it is of such a
consistence as to run without too much extension. Have a tin plate, very
clean and smooth; take the little pan in the left hand, and hold in the right
a bit of iron, copper, or silver wire, four inches long, to take off the drop
from the lip of the pan, and let it fall regularly on the tin plate; two
hours afterwards, take off the drops with the blade of a knife.


To Make Chocolate Drops
Scrape the chocolate to powder, and put an ounce to each pound of sugar;
moisten the paste with clear water, work it as above, only take care to use
all the paste prepared, as if it be put on the fire a second time, it
greases, and the drop is not of the proper thickness.

Note: A pound of sugar is about 2 cups by modern measurements. I have no idea how much an ounce of cocoa powder is, but this would be like Hersheys cocoa powder for baking.