Chocolate Pots, Drinking Hot Chocolate- A Short Era History

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
Chocolate pots came up on another thread along with several super, super photos. We have several pots in the family, have always meant to look into their history. I can tell you who owned them originally, not why there remained several through so, so many years!

It transpires hot chocolate had been more of a savory, spicy morning drink beginning with the wealthy as long ago as 400 years, wider access brought it to the middle class through slow import and development and by the Civil War era the recipe was beginning to taste a lot like what we know now.

I don't mean to step on Donna's toes- you have to see one of the early recipes to get an idea of how different this drink was when first making an entrance on our breakfast trays;

" The first recipe for a chocolate drink was published in Spain in 1644 by Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma in his book, A Curious Treatise of the Nature and Quality of Chocolate. The spices included hot chiles, and the recipe goes as follows:
•100 cacao beans
•2 chiles (black pepper may be substituted)
•A handful of anise
•“Ear flower” *
•1 vanilla pod
•2 ounces cinnamon
•12 almonds or hazelnuts
•pound sugar
•Achiote (annatto seeds) to taste -

All of these ingredients were boiled together and then frothed with a molinillo, the traditional Aztec carved wooden tool. The achiote was used to redden the color of the drink. "
http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/hot-choco


" According to Khodorowsky and Robert: “The vogue for drinking chocolate, already established in Spain, reached the British Isles thanks to a Frenchman, who in 1657 opened the first chocolate factory in London. Unlike in France, where it was a pleasure strictly limited to the aristocracy, this ‘excellent West Indian drink’ was made available to the middle classes from the outset. Soon, alongside the coffee houses which made their appearance from 1652, there opened the first chocolate houses. London was also the setting, in 1674, for a historic invention: solid chocolate, presented in the form of ‘Spanish rolls’ or pastilles, and sold by the Coffee Mill and Tobacco Roll shop.” – The Gates of Vienna: The History of Cacao and Chocolate "

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Phoenix Bird Chocolate Pot


" During the 18th century, techniques were invented to improve the grinding of cocoa beans and by the end of that century chocolate was prepared with milk and sugar. "

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" The craze for drinking tea, chocolate, and coffee during this period resulted in an increased demand for porcelain and ceramic tea sets, chocolate pots, and coffee mugs. In response to public demand porcelain manufactures began to make specialized vessels that reflected the unique requirements that each beverage demanded in brewing and presentation, and which led to instantly identifiable tea, chocolate, andd coffee set. Coffee pots were generally taller and slimmer than short round tea pots, which were designed to keep boiling water hot. As in the image below, spouts were placed low on the body of small chocolate pots, which also sported a straight handle.

In comparison to chocolate pots, coffee pot spouts were long and sometimes arched, while the chocolate pot spout was fairly short (see image below). The inside of a coffee pot spout typically had a filter, or small partition with holes that kept the grounds from getting into the cup. A chocolate pot was made with a hinged finial that allowed for the insertion of a swizzle stick for stirring the hot chocolate. To prevent their loss, some of these finials were attached to the pot with a silver chain.

Due to the complexity of making the beverage, chocolate never attained the same popularity as coffee. By the latter part of the 18th century coffee houses had sprung up by the hundreds in London, and although the craze for chocolate had largely gone out of fashion by 1750, one of the most famous chocolate houses, White’s, still leaves a lasting impression:

The fame of St. James’s Street rests mainly upon its association with the coffee or chocolate houses and clubs which for some two and a half centuries have made it and Pall Mall the social rendezvous of masculine aristocratic society in London. This association dates back to the reign of William III, and more particularly to the fire of January 1697/8 which ravaged the Palace of Whitehall and resulted in the removal of the Court to St. James’s. Only two chocolate houses- White’s (1693) and Ozinda’s (1694)-are known to have been in existence in St. James’s Street and Pall Mall before the fire, but the succeeding years saw the establishment of the Cocoa Tree (1698), the Smyrna (1702), the Thatched House Tavern (1704 or 1705) and the St. James’s Coffee House (1705), all catering for the new client created in the neighbourhood by the presence of the Court of St. James.- Jermyn Street Asscociation "

http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/hot-choco

It is tough finding good photos with information attached at the moment- makers and years become detached from each other in the process of copy/paste, as members of various on-line photo collecting clubs randomly ' discover' these old beauties. That is was an accepted practice throughout our country is typified by pots manufactured through years, heck, through centuries and still in possession by families whose ancestors enjoyed their chocolate. It's nice.

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Correct me if I am mistaken, but I think drinking hot chocolate, cocoa, has always been much more popular in the Royal Navy than coffee drinking. I also discovered while travelling in Europe that at these continental breakfast tables in the hotels that, whereas Americans tended to get coffee, the Europeans hit the hot chocolate urns. I don't ever recall reading much about its consumption during our Civil War, though.
 
I'm not sure it was something that could have taken place in the war- you know- even the most exacting general may have had a tough time being able to continue chocolate drinking as part of a routine. Judging from dates on some of the old pots we have, must have been ' something ' folks took part in of the era for every day use, or at least winter. Mom had a fairly modern set ( meaning I think she received it for a wedding present, early 50's ), for hot chocolate, Meissen Blue Onion, used to get it out for hot chocolate in winter- still around here somewhere. Never thought anything of it until we were older. Now of course even making ' real' hot chocolate tends to be a pain, we buy the instant we all see.

It IS a big pain, but worth it! Gosh. I won't step on Donna's toes again, but some recipes for it are wonderful, you just can't replicate a good Hershey's cocoa powder plus for a really cold winter's day.
 
This is a very cool piece on chocolate from the Colonial Williamsburg Journal. Pictures at the end showing the preparation of chocolate. http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/winter12/chocolate.cfm

This is from the article:

Its perceived medicinal value made chocolate a natural product for apothecary shops. It was considered nourishing for the sick as well as an aid to digestion and was believed to promote longevity, help lung ailments, energize the body, cure hangovers, suppress coughs, and, as mentioned, stimulate the libido. For that reason, the Virginia Almanac of 1770 cautioned women against it, warning “the fair sex to be in a particular manner careful how they meddle with romances, chocolate, novels, and the like,” especially in the spring, as those were all “inflamers” and “very dangerous.”


“This was very much ignored,” Gay says. “Women were the main consumers of chocolate. Children were denied chocolate because it was a stimulant.” But it was this sexy reputation that caused chocolate to become associated with love, Valentine’s Day, sinful pleasures, and decadence.


Ben Franklin recommended chocolate as a cure for smallpox in Poor Richard’s Almanac of 1761; Doctor Benjamin Rush did the same in his medical texts. Thomas Jefferson thought chocolate would overtake tea and coffee as the American beverage of choice. In a letter of November 27, 1785, to John Adams he wrote, “The superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain.” In this he was mistaken. Chocolate drinking would soon decline in favor of chocolate eating.
 
We all had a lot of fun with these threads, didn't we @donna? @RobertP shared a ton of wonderful stuff from his family's bottomless collection, I think it's what got the ball rolling.

You still see these as antiques on Ebay and Etsy, frequently misidentified as tea pots. Love the history behind them- before we all switched over to coffee and became addicts, hot chocolate was more than powder you buy in box. We'll still make it from scratch, it's incredibly rich- and tastes nothing at all like 2020 mixes.
 
We all had a lot of fun with these threads, didn't we @donna? @RobertP shared a ton of wonderful stuff from his family's bottomless collection, I think it's what got the ball rolling.

You still see these as antiques on Ebay and Etsy, frequently misidentified as tea pots. Love the history behind them- before we all switched over to coffee and became addicts, hot chocolate was more than powder you buy in box. We'll still make it from scratch, it's incredibly rich- and tastes nothing at all like 2020 mixes.
A very similar food is Pots de Creme which is a chocolate-custard dessert. It is served in elegant little "pots" (or demitasse cups if you don't have the pots--which are available at antique stores). Our historical society used to sell these as a fundraiser...until the lady who made it moved to the Maine coast, taking her recipe with her. Pots de Creme dates back to the 1600's.
 
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