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Page 36
So many adulterations are found in ground coffee, that it is safest for
the real coffee-lover to buy the bean whole. Roasting is usually more
perfectly done at the grocers', in their rotary roasters, which give every
grain its turn; but, by care and constant stirring, it can be accomplished
at home. Too much boiling dissipates the delicious aroma we all know; and
the best methods are considered to be those which allow no boiling, after
boiling water has been poured upon it, but merely a standing, to infuse
and settle. The old fashion, however, of mixing with an egg, and boiling a
few minutes, makes a coffee hardly inferior in flavor. In fact, the
methods are many, but results, under given conditions, much the same; and
we may choose urn, or old-fashioned tin pot, or a French biggin, with the
certainty that good coffee, well roasted, boiling water, and good judgment
as to time, will give always a delicious drink. Make a note of the fact
that long boiling sets free tannic acid, powerful enough to literally tan
the coats of the stomach, and bring on incurable dyspepsia. Often coffee
without milk can be taken, where, with milk, it proves harmful; but, in
all cases, moderation must rule. Taken too strong, palpitation of the
heart, vertigo, and fainting are the usual consequences.
_Cocoa_, or, literally, cacao, from the cacao-tree, comes in the form of a
thick seed, twenty or thirty of which make up the contents of a gourd-like
fruit, the spaces between being filled with a somewhat acid pulp. The
seeds, when freed from this pulp by various processes, are first dried in
the sun, and then roasted; and from these roasted seeds come various forms
of cocoa.
_Cocoa-shells_ are the outer husk, and by long boiling yield a pleasant
and rather nutritious drink. Cocoa itself is the nut ground to powder, and
sometimes mixed with sugar, the husk being sometimes ground with it.
In _Chocolate_--a preparation of cocoa--the cocoa is carefully dried and
roasted, and then ground to a smooth paste, the nuts being placed on a hot
iron plate, and so keeping the oily matter to aid in forming a paste.
Sugar and flavorings, as vanilla, are often added, and the whole pressed
into cakes. The whole substance of the nut being used, it is exceedingly
nutritious, and made more so by the milk and sugar added. Eaten with bread
it forms not only a nourishing but a hearty meal; and so condensed is its
form, that a small cake carried in traveling, and eaten with a cracker or
two, will give temporarily the effect of a full meal.
In a hundred parts of chocolate are found forty-eight of fatty matter or
cocoa-butter, twenty-one of nitrogenous matter, four of theobromine,
eleven of starch, three of cellulose, three of mineral matter, and ten of
water; there being also traces of coloring matter, aromatic essence, and
sugar. Twice as much nitrogenous, and twenty-five times as much fatty
matter as wheaten flour, make it a valuable food, though the excess of fat
will make it disagree with a very delicate stomach.
_Alcohol_ is last upon our list, and scientific men are still uncertain
whether or not it can in any degree be considered as a food; but we have
no room for the various arguments for and against. You all know, in part
at least, the effects of intemperance; and even the moderate daily drinker
suffers from clouded mind, irritable nerves, and ruined digestion.
This is not meant as an argument for total abstinence; but there are cases
where such abstinence is the only rule. In an inherited tendency to drink,
there is no other safe road; but to the man or woman who lives by law, and
whose body is in the best condition, wine in its many forms is a
permissible _occasional_ luxury, and so with beer and cider and the wide
range of domestic drinks. In old age its use is almost essential, but
always in moderation, individual temperament modifying every rule, and
making the best knowledge an imperative need. A little alcoholic drink
increases a delicate appetite: a great deal diminishes or takes it away
entirely, and also hinders and in many cases stops digestion altogether.
In its constant over-use the membranes of the stomach are gradually
destroyed, and every organ in the body suffers. In ales and beers there is
not only alcohol, but much nitrogenous and sugary matter, very fattening
in its nature. A light beer, well flavored with hops, is an aid to
digestion, but taken in excess produces biliousness. The long list of
alcoholic products it is not necessary to give, nor is it possible to
enter into much detail regarding alcohol itself; but there are one or two
points so important that they can not be passed by.
You will recall in a preceding chapter the description of the circulation
of the blood, and of its first passage through veins and arteries for
cleansing, before a second round could make it food for the whole complex
nervous system. Alcohol taken in excess, it has been proved in countless
experiments by scientific men, possesses the power of coagulating the
blood. The little corpuscles adhere in masses, and cannot force themselves
through the smaller vessels, and circulation is at once hindered. This,
however, is the secondary stage. At first, as many of you have had
occasion to notice, the face flushes, the eyes grow brighter, and thought
and word both come more freely. The heart beats far more rapidly, and the
speed increases in proportion to the amount of alcohol absorbed. The
average number of beats of the heart, allowing for its slower action
during sleep, is 100,000 beats per day. Under a small supply of alcohol
this rose to 127,000, and in actual intoxication to 131,000.
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