No. 238. How to Prepare Cocoa Nibs.
Boil gently two ounces of cocoa nibs in three pints of water for two hours and a-half, without allowing it to reduce more than one-third; that is, the three pints should be boiled down to one quart. When sufficiently boiled, strain the cocoa from the nibs, mix it with equal proportions of milk, and sweeten with sugar. Two ounces of cocoa nibs cost a penny three-farthings, one quart of skim milk twopence (in the country one penny), two ounces of moist sugar three-farthings; thus, for about fourpence halfpenny, you may prepare sufficient cocoa for the breakfasts of four persons. This would be much wholesomer and cheaper than tea. To be sure, it would take some trouble and care to prepare it, and this should be attended to over-night.
ECONOMICAL AND SUBSTANTIAL SOUP FOR DISTRIBUTION TO THE POOR.
I am well aware, from my own experience, that the charitable custom of distributing wholesome and nutritious soup to poor families living in the immediate neighbourhood of noblemen and gentlemen's mansions in the country, already exists to a great extent; yet, it is certainly desirable that this excellent practice should become more generally adopted, especially during the winter months, when their scanty means of subsistence but insufficiently yield them food adequate in quantity to sustain the powers of life in a condition equal to their hard labour. To afford the industrious well-deserving poor a little assistance in this way, would call forth their gratitude to the givers, and confer a blessing on the needy. The want of knowing how to properly prepare the kind of soup[100] best adapted to the purpose has, no doubt, in a great measure, militated against its being more generally bestowed throughout the kingdom; and it is in order to supply that deficient knowledge, that I have determined on giving easy instructions for its preparation.