Image: F_A · CC BY 2.0
The Natural History of Chocolate
- Year
- 1730
- Era
- 18th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- Single-subject
The Natural History of Chocolate, translated by Richard Brookes from the French treatise of D. Quélus, stands among the earliest English-language monographs devoted wholly to cacao. Surveying the plant's botanical character, cultivation, preparation, and medicinal virtues, it brought to British readers a systematic account of a commodity then transforming European taste, and remains a foundational source for the historiography of chocolate as both foodstuff and pharmacopoeial ingredient.
Cooking from this book
Drinking Chocolate
Signature dishThe book is forever linked with the frothy cup of drinking chocolate, the beverage that captivated European courts and coffee houses in the early eighteenth century. Quelus presents chocolate as a nourishing tonic with medicinal virtues, drawing on observations from the Spanish Americas. As one of the earliest English language monographs devoted entirely to the cacao bean, it helped shape how British readers understood, prepared, and appreciated this then exotic and fashionable drink.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
