Building on James Madison’s role in drafting this country’s guiding document, Montpelier is unveiling Constitutional Cocoa, a look at the role of chocolate in our history. Historian Kelley Fanto Deetz says some patriots ditched their traditional tea for hot chocolate.
“The cocoa beans were coming from Central America. They didn’t have to rely on the British for that," Deetz says. "There has actually been some recent scholarship talking about how – in some ways – cocoa and sipping chocolate was used as a sort of a revolutionary, pro-American, patriotic drink.”
And there are many recipes for that ingredient in 18th century cookbooks.
“These recipes are sort of crude. They just kind of give you a list of ingredients and hope you can figure it out on your own. Chocolate can be very sensitive and incredibly hard to do on an open-hearth stove," Deetz told RadioIQ.
But the enslaved people who staffed Montpelier’s kitchen knew just what to do.
“Cocoa was definitely a part of the Madison table here. In our archaeology collection we have an 18th century chocolate sipping cup, and so that evidence alone shows that somebody was drinking cocoa.”
Modern-day experts will be demonstrating on We the Kids Day – April 11th and Constitution Day, September 20th.
“We’ll have two interpreters coming into that kitchen space with the cocoa nibs, grinding down the chocolate on a hot chocolate stone, scraping it off and making tarts and providing small samples to everybody who comes," she pledges.
Montpelier also plans to offer heritage chocolate and cocoa powder in its gift shop and custom-made M&Ms.
