Cold Winter’s Night Good Time To Celebrate Chocolate
There’s nothing like a hot cup of cocoa on a cold winter’s night, for adults
and children alike. Actually, it originated as an adult drink, and lovely
chocolate sets were brought out to use when entertaining.
 This chocolate pot is a
contemporary imported one, with a floral decal decoration. It was
sold with matching cups.
Old Stuff photo |
|
Some early chocolate sets were of porcelain, with beautiful hand-painted
floral designs. Or, the hostess might have preferred a chocolate pot of
silver with a detached or hinged finial in the lid. Through this, a rod
could be inserted to stir up the chocolate. Most chocolate pots were
cylindrical in form, larger at the base and tapering towards the top.
Whether made of porcelain or silver, the pots were made taller than teapots,
so that the base of the spout could be kept above the sediment.
Cocoa originated in Mexico. However, it reached the United States by way of
Spain and then England. The explorer Hernando Cortes watched the Aztec
Indians grinding beans, from which they made a delicious drink. When Cortes
returned to Spain in 1528, he took some of the beans with him.
At first, cocoa was available only to the nobility. The use spread
gradually, and by 1657, a chocolate house, open to commoners, made the drink
popular with Londoners. For a few decades, cocoa was more popular than tea
in England.
The mark on the base of the imported chocolate pot.
Old Stuff photo |
|
In the United States, a young Irish immigrant chocolate maker convinced Dr.
James Baker to finance a chocolate mill in 1765. Several years later, in
1779, he left on a trip to buy cocoa beans and never returned. Baker took
over the company himself and called his product Baker’s.
Baker’s grandson, Walter Baker, joined the company in 1818 and created the
famous Baker trademark. It is said to be modeled after a painting of a
waitress in a Viennese chocolate shop. A prince is said to have fallen in
love with her and had her portrait painted as a wedding gift, as she looked
when they first met. La Belle Chocolatiere was one of the first trademarks
in use in the United States.
Cocoa lovers can search in a variety of directions for collectibles, from
the lovely drawing room porcelain chocolate pots of early England to old
Hershey cocoa tins of America.
The porcelain chocolate pots, with matching cups, have also been reproduced
and imported during the last 30 years.
Return to Index |
