When people of today first think of chocolate, they often think of delicious chocolate cake! However, a “cake” of chocolate in colonial Boston was very different from the chocolate cake we enjoy today. In colonial Boston, chocolate was available to the consumer in the form of a hard cake, which was a ball of solid chocolate weighing two to four ounces and seasoned with white refined sugar and spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, red peppers, clove and vanilla. These cakes of chocolate were sold in linen bags or perhaps tin or wooden boxes.
The consumer would create a hot chocolate drink by cutting, scraping or grating the chocolate cake, then adding the powder to hot water in a chocolate pot, using a stirring rod to infuse the chocolate into the water creating a rich, thick frothy chocolate drink.
Today you can still purchase a cake of chocolate (The American Heritage Chocolate Block) at Captain Jackson’s Historic Chocolate Shop. The American Heritage Company, a division of the Mars Incorporation, researched 18th chocolate beverage recipes, going through old tavern and household records and cookbooks so you can enjoy your own 18th century historic chocolate drink today.
From the Hearth and Home of Captain Newark Jackson,