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08-31-2013, 06:45 PM
Very old English favourite: Recipe for first iced chocolate dessert 350 years ago discovered by academics
Found in 1668 pamphlet by Sir Edward Montagu, the 2nd Earl of Sandwich
Recipe was written at a time when chocolate was very different
He shook salty chocolate with snow to create an icy treat
Freezing food required cutting-edge technology in the seventeenth-century
Great grandson John Montagu also invented the sandwich
By JAYMI MCCANN
PUBLISHED: 17:10 GMT, 31 August 2013 | UPDATED: 18:22 GMT, 31 August 2013
Iced chocolate treats may be a firm favourite these days, but it seems that the combination is older than many people thought.
The earliest English recipe for chocolate 'dessert' has been discovered after being hidden for 350 years.
The recipe was written at a time when chocolate was very different from what we are familiar with today.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/31/article-2407901-1B8D331F000005DC-887_634x692.jpg
Chocaholic: The dessert is similar to a modern iced chocolate drink, according to Dr Kate Loveman
It was made by shaking a salty chocolate liquid inside a container surrounded by snow, with the resulting concoction being similar to chilled drinks sold in coffee shops today.
Dr Kate Loveman, from the University of Leicester, discovered the dessert in a pamphlet of seven recipes for chocolate dishes written in 1668 by Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Sandwich.
The Restoration chocoholic was Pepys's patron and the great, great grandfather of John Montagu, 4th Earl, credited with inventing the sandwich.
Dr Loveman said: 'I tried out the freezing method using snow - and lived to tell the tale, despite not following Sandwich's advice.
'It was pretty good, it's not creamy like you would expect of an ice-cream, it's like a very solid version of one of the iced coffees you can buy from a high street coffee shop.'
Today iced cold drinks and treats are usually enjoyed on hot summer days, rather than in the depths of winter, which was virtually the only time the Earl could have the drinks.
Dr Loveman said: 'Freezing food required cutting-edge technology in seventeenth-century England, so these ices were seen as great luxuries.
'There were a few reasons why the Earl would have been collecting the recipes.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/31/article-2407901-1B8D3439000005DC-963_634x571.jpg
Delicious: The dessert is not like a modern ice cream and is icy rather than creamy
'Firstly they just liked it. Secondly, there seems to be a long term interest in bringing chocolate to England commercially.
'Sandwich also sits on a committee looking at how to improve trade with newly colonised areas in South and Central America.
'Lastly, the Earl of Sandwich was a member of the Royal Society and they were interested in freezing and ice, this was at the time when Robert Boyle was doing a lot of work on how to freeze things.'
Even if the technology was yet to catch up, chocolate was till a novelty item and only just ticking the nation's taste buds in the 1600s.
Dr Loveman explained: 'Chocolate was first advertised in England around 1640 as an exotic drink made from cacao beans. In the 1660s, when the Earl of Sandwich collected his recipes, chocolate often came with advice about safe consumption.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/31/article-2407901-1B8D55CE000005DC-421_306x423.jpg
The recipe was found in a pamphlet my Sir Edward Montagu, the 2nd Earl of Sandwich
'One physician cautioned that the ingredients in hot chocolate could cause insomnia, excess mucus, or haemorrhoids. People worried that iced chocolate in particular was 'unwholesome' and could damage the stomach, heart, and lungs.
'There were ways round this, however. Sandwich thought the best way to ward off the dangers of eating frozen chocolate was to 'Drinke Hott chocolatti of an houre after' it. In other words, chocoholics are not new.'
The discovery was made during a search of a journal kept by Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Sandwich, by Leicester University historian, Dr Kate Loveman.
Altogether seven recipes were found, including one acquired by the Earl from King Charles II for enhancing chocolate with extravagant ingredients including whale vomit, known as ambergris, musk and civet, a substance extracted from the glands of a civet cat.
The recipe has a £200 cost written on it - a staggering amount for the time - but it is not known whether this was the price paid for the recipe or the cost of the ingredients.
Dr Loveman said: 'Charles II's recipe involved mixing 3lbs of cocoa nuts, oil of Jamaica, oil of aniseed, oil of cinnamon, cardamom and Guinea pepper to make what they call a leaven cake, although it's nothing like what we would consider a leaven cake today.
'Then to make the chocolate he says you should mix more cocoa nuts, vanilla and sugar, which could be perfumed with musk, ambergris and civet.
'It's unclear if Sandwich paid £200 for the recipe itself or just for the ingredients, but to put it in perspective if you are a housemaid in the Earl's house you would make £4 a year.'
The thick mixture would usually be watered down before it was drunk, or it may have been mixed in a way similar to the Earl's own recipe.
Six of the other recipes recorded by the Earl were drawn from his connections on the continent, where drinking chocolate was pioneered by the Spanish.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/31/article-2407901-022C2C4E00000578-861_634x718.jpg
Changes: The chocolate is very different from the sweet, milky form we eat now
Dr Loveland said: 'Sandwich used a book called A Curious Treatise on the Nature and Quality of Chocolate by a Spanish Doctor called Antonio Colmenero, which had been translated into French, for some of the recipes.
'The others came from one of his subordinates in Spain called John Warden, who sent information from Madrid on frozen chocolate technology, including a recipe for frozen chocolate froth.'
Dr Loveland recreated the Earl's own recipe, which resembled a thicker version of the iced coffee drinks available at high street coffee shops today.
The Earl's recipe read: 'Prepare the chocolatti [to make a drink]... and Then Putt the vessell that hath the Chocolatti in it, into a Jaraffa [i.e. a carafe] of snow stirred together with some salt, & shaike the snow together sometyme & it will putt the Chocolatti into tender Curdled Ice & soe eate it with spoons.'
His journal was written after he found his love for chocolate while ambassador extraordinary to Spain in the 1660s.
Found in 1668 pamphlet by Sir Edward Montagu, the 2nd Earl of Sandwich
Recipe was written at a time when chocolate was very different
He shook salty chocolate with snow to create an icy treat
Freezing food required cutting-edge technology in the seventeenth-century
Great grandson John Montagu also invented the sandwich
By JAYMI MCCANN
PUBLISHED: 17:10 GMT, 31 August 2013 | UPDATED: 18:22 GMT, 31 August 2013
Iced chocolate treats may be a firm favourite these days, but it seems that the combination is older than many people thought.
The earliest English recipe for chocolate 'dessert' has been discovered after being hidden for 350 years.
The recipe was written at a time when chocolate was very different from what we are familiar with today.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/31/article-2407901-1B8D331F000005DC-887_634x692.jpg
Chocaholic: The dessert is similar to a modern iced chocolate drink, according to Dr Kate Loveman
It was made by shaking a salty chocolate liquid inside a container surrounded by snow, with the resulting concoction being similar to chilled drinks sold in coffee shops today.
Dr Kate Loveman, from the University of Leicester, discovered the dessert in a pamphlet of seven recipes for chocolate dishes written in 1668 by Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Sandwich.
The Restoration chocoholic was Pepys's patron and the great, great grandfather of John Montagu, 4th Earl, credited with inventing the sandwich.
Dr Loveman said: 'I tried out the freezing method using snow - and lived to tell the tale, despite not following Sandwich's advice.
'It was pretty good, it's not creamy like you would expect of an ice-cream, it's like a very solid version of one of the iced coffees you can buy from a high street coffee shop.'
Today iced cold drinks and treats are usually enjoyed on hot summer days, rather than in the depths of winter, which was virtually the only time the Earl could have the drinks.
Dr Loveman said: 'Freezing food required cutting-edge technology in seventeenth-century England, so these ices were seen as great luxuries.
'There were a few reasons why the Earl would have been collecting the recipes.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/31/article-2407901-1B8D3439000005DC-963_634x571.jpg
Delicious: The dessert is not like a modern ice cream and is icy rather than creamy
'Firstly they just liked it. Secondly, there seems to be a long term interest in bringing chocolate to England commercially.
'Sandwich also sits on a committee looking at how to improve trade with newly colonised areas in South and Central America.
'Lastly, the Earl of Sandwich was a member of the Royal Society and they were interested in freezing and ice, this was at the time when Robert Boyle was doing a lot of work on how to freeze things.'
Even if the technology was yet to catch up, chocolate was till a novelty item and only just ticking the nation's taste buds in the 1600s.
Dr Loveman explained: 'Chocolate was first advertised in England around 1640 as an exotic drink made from cacao beans. In the 1660s, when the Earl of Sandwich collected his recipes, chocolate often came with advice about safe consumption.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/31/article-2407901-1B8D55CE000005DC-421_306x423.jpg
The recipe was found in a pamphlet my Sir Edward Montagu, the 2nd Earl of Sandwich
'One physician cautioned that the ingredients in hot chocolate could cause insomnia, excess mucus, or haemorrhoids. People worried that iced chocolate in particular was 'unwholesome' and could damage the stomach, heart, and lungs.
'There were ways round this, however. Sandwich thought the best way to ward off the dangers of eating frozen chocolate was to 'Drinke Hott chocolatti of an houre after' it. In other words, chocoholics are not new.'
The discovery was made during a search of a journal kept by Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Sandwich, by Leicester University historian, Dr Kate Loveman.
Altogether seven recipes were found, including one acquired by the Earl from King Charles II for enhancing chocolate with extravagant ingredients including whale vomit, known as ambergris, musk and civet, a substance extracted from the glands of a civet cat.
The recipe has a £200 cost written on it - a staggering amount for the time - but it is not known whether this was the price paid for the recipe or the cost of the ingredients.
Dr Loveman said: 'Charles II's recipe involved mixing 3lbs of cocoa nuts, oil of Jamaica, oil of aniseed, oil of cinnamon, cardamom and Guinea pepper to make what they call a leaven cake, although it's nothing like what we would consider a leaven cake today.
'Then to make the chocolate he says you should mix more cocoa nuts, vanilla and sugar, which could be perfumed with musk, ambergris and civet.
'It's unclear if Sandwich paid £200 for the recipe itself or just for the ingredients, but to put it in perspective if you are a housemaid in the Earl's house you would make £4 a year.'
The thick mixture would usually be watered down before it was drunk, or it may have been mixed in a way similar to the Earl's own recipe.
Six of the other recipes recorded by the Earl were drawn from his connections on the continent, where drinking chocolate was pioneered by the Spanish.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/31/article-2407901-022C2C4E00000578-861_634x718.jpg
Changes: The chocolate is very different from the sweet, milky form we eat now
Dr Loveland said: 'Sandwich used a book called A Curious Treatise on the Nature and Quality of Chocolate by a Spanish Doctor called Antonio Colmenero, which had been translated into French, for some of the recipes.
'The others came from one of his subordinates in Spain called John Warden, who sent information from Madrid on frozen chocolate technology, including a recipe for frozen chocolate froth.'
Dr Loveland recreated the Earl's own recipe, which resembled a thicker version of the iced coffee drinks available at high street coffee shops today.
The Earl's recipe read: 'Prepare the chocolatti [to make a drink]... and Then Putt the vessell that hath the Chocolatti in it, into a Jaraffa [i.e. a carafe] of snow stirred together with some salt, & shaike the snow together sometyme & it will putt the Chocolatti into tender Curdled Ice & soe eate it with spoons.'
His journal was written after he found his love for chocolate while ambassador extraordinary to Spain in the 1660s.