THE Cacao, which the Americans call Cacavi, is a Fruit of several different Sizes; but the most usual is that of an Almond, which is found united together in a Sort of a Shell, not much bigger or less than a Pomegranate Seed; and in these Shells are enclos'd about sixty or eighty Berries. As to the Shape, Leaves and entire Fruit of the Trees, they appear as represented in the Figure taken from the original or Life, as deliver'd to me by Mr. Tournefort; the Leaves are green, and the Fruit, when ripe upon the Tree, are of a very fine yellow Colour, and rib'd like the Melon.
Mr. Tournefort, in Page 191 of his Book, makes mention of four Sorts of Trees which bear the Cacao Nut; the first and the second whereof are call'd, Cacahuaquahuitl, the third Xuchicacahuaquahuitl, the fourth Tlacacahuaquahuitl: This is what he relates, as to the four Sorts of Cacao's, which we now sell, which certainly come from different Trees; the first and best Sort is call'd the large and small Carack, from the Province of Nicaragua, from whence these Sorts of Cacao's are brought: The third and fourth are call'd the large and small Island Cacao's, because they come from the American Isles, as St. Domingo, &c. The most valued of the four Kinds of Cacao's is the large Carack, especially for making Chocolate, which is the chief Use; for the small Quantities that are eat of it, are not worth speaking of; they all ought to be chose fresh, plump, weighty, blackish without, and of a deep red within, well tasted and not of a musty Smell: The small Carack is next in Virtue to the great. As to the Island Cacao, especially the large, the nearer it comes to the Carak, the better it is. Some Authors say, that the Cacao is in such Use in Mexico, that it is the chief Drink of the Inhabitants of the Country, and that they give it as Alms, or Charity to the Poor: Besides, the other Sorts that come from the Isles, are ground to make Bread of different Sizes, for the Use of different Sorts of People.
The Cacaos, or Cacao, is a Kind of Almond that is made the Basis or Foundation of Chocolate, and from whence it takes it Name: It grows in America from a small Tree call'd Cacavate, well supplied with Leaves that resemble those of the Orange-Tree, but that they are longer, and more sharp-pointed; the Flower is large, and of a yellow Colour, and leaves, in falling of, long, stringy Filaments, which are green, from which a yellow, pointed Fruit is form'd, of the Size of our Melons. Each Fruit contains twenty or thirty little Nuts, or Almonds, as big as the Pistachia; and sometimes there are such as contain fourscore of these. They are each of them cover'd with a yellowish Pellicle or thin Skin; which being separated, a tender Substance appears, which is divided into several unequal Particles, that are oily, of good Nourishment, and leave a certain Acridness upon the Palate. The Inhabitants of the Country, where this grows, call it Cacahuatl, and the Spaniards, by Corruption, Cacao.
It grows in all the Spanish West-Indies; Guatimala, Hispaniola, Cuba, New-Spain, Jamaica, &c. in hot, but shadowy Places, for being planted in Ranks and regular Walks, shady Plantane-Trees are rang'd with them; the one to shelter the other, lest the parching Sun, by its excessive Heat shou'd kill them, or the boisterous Wind injure them. This Cacao-Tree, not exceeding our Cherry-Tree for Bigness; as it is a Tree of singular Beauty, having large, broad, oblong, green Leaves, which fall back, and hang like so many Shields, to preserve and defend the tender Fruit; so it is a Tree of great Profit to the owner, arising from its most desirable Fruits, which grows after an admirable Manner in Cods; studded, as it were, in the very Body of the Tree, as well as the Arms and Boughs, from the very Earth upwards; each Cod containing about thirty or forty Nuts, regularly set in a Mass of soft, slimy Pulp, both to preserve, as well as nourish, the tender Fruit. The Nuts, among the Indians and Spaniards, go for current Money, even in those Countries where Gold and Silver are naturally produc'd; there is Food and Raiment, Riches and Delight all at once!
The Cod is said to be very like the Pear or Pear fashion'd Gourd. Each Nut is about the Bigness of an Almond Stone, and cover'd with a thin Shell, blackish without, containing within a brownish red, or almost Chesnut-colour Kernel, with brownish Ash colour'd Veins, which to the Indians is pleasant in Taste, tho' not altogether so to us. The Cods being gathered, they break them, take out the Nuts, and lay them upon Mets to dry in the Sun, till the Moisture within them be consum'd, and then keep them both for Meat and Merchandize.
This Fruit is certainly cooling, as may easily be discern'd by their cold nitrous Taste. They open Obstructions, restore in deep Consumptions, stimulate to Venery causing Procreation and Conception, facilitate Delivery, preserve Health, help Digestion, make People inclinable to feed, ease Coughs of the Lungs, Gripings of the Bowels, and Fluxes thereof, cause a sweet Breath, and assist in a Difficulty of making Urine. The chief Use of them is in Chocolate, which is so well known, there needs no longer Discourse about it.