When the cacao nuts, spices and vanilla are well mixt for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate heat and beat in an earthen pan till they are as hot as you can endure ye finger in it. My finely searced ingredents are in my earthen pan on a small bed of embers and they must be continuously stirred until all are very hot.

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Every ingredient for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate is finely beaten & searced.  To searce (meaning to sieve) was used as a culinary term in many early receipts and the word sieve utilized when it applied to agricultural processes.  The finely beaten cacao nuts, sugar, spices and vanilla were all searced as pictured in the redware bowl.

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The last of the flavorings for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate are amber and vanilla.  Amber (ambergris) is pictured on the left and is produced by the digestive system of the sperm whale.  My precious small piece is dull grey and the receipt stated to add as you like to taste.  I chose not to actually use it.  But the receipt calls for two sticks of vanilla beaten & searsed.  Vanilla (Vanilla planifola) is an orchid that grows as a vine and native to the tropics of the Americas.

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Jamaican pepper (the dried berries of Pimenta dioica) is more commonly known as allspice as the spice has flavor tones of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and pepper.  Half a drachm (one-eighth ounce) of Jamaican pepper beaten fine was weighed after the long pepper for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate.

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After the anise seed has been ground fine for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate, Piper Longum (long pepper) is beaten fine.  Pictured is fruit of this flowering vine in the Piperaceae family which is dried and used as a spice.  A half a drachm (one-eighth ounce) is needed for the receipt.

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After the nutmeg was grated and weighed for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate, anise seed was ground and half an ounce weighed.  (Since preparing half the receipt, I weighed a quarter of an ounce)  Pimpinella anisum (anise) is a member of the parsley family and the seeds are small, brownish-gray, curved slightly and have the aroma of licorice.

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After the Ceylon cinnamon was beaten and weighed for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate, a qtre of oz nutmeg was grated.  Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) is from the seed in the fruit of a tropical evergreen tree.  The fruit on the tree has the appearance similar to an apricot.  After the fruit is harvested and eaten, the seed is dried in the sun gradually and it shrinks from its hard shell.

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After the sugar was beaten & searced for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate, an ounce of cinnamon was next.  Since I was making half the receipt, pictured is a half ounce of cinnamon weighed with a stick of Ceylon cinnamon.  There are more than a few varieties of cinnamon and two of them are Cinnamomum cassia and Ceylon cinnamon from Cinnamomum verum trees.  The name Ceylon cinnamon comes from the region they were grown and imported to England-Ceylon (now with the name Sri Lanka).

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After the cacao nuts (raw fermented cacao beans) have been finely beaten and searced for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate do the same with half a pound of hard sugar.  Pictured is the top I knocked off from a sugar loaf in my marble mortar and pestle that weighed a quarter pound as I was making half the receipt.  A loaf of sugar is wrapped in blue paper behind the marble mortar.

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All searcing (sieving) of cocao nuts ground and other ingredients for the receipt (recipe) To make Chocolate would have been done using a horse hair sieve.  My original horse hair sieve is on display with a bundle of horse tail hair but I use a sieve made with synthetic fiber for actual use.  Typically, the word sieving was used for agricultural sieving and for cookery the word searcing.

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