Chocolatiere

Chocolatieres were chocolate pots made of precious metals and porcelain that emerged in the 17th century. Their appearance resembled that of a coffee pots with a hole set in the top, permitting access to molinillo or swizzle sticks (molinet) that could create foams.^[1][2][3]

Chocolatieres represented a modification of earlier chocolate-making equipment. In 16th century Mesoamerican society, chocolate had a large head of foam, produced by pouring liquid from a height between cups. As the Spanish entered the Americas and encountered chocolate, they developed the molinillo, a device that could be twirled between the hands, foaming chocolate in large containers made of pottery and likely wood.^[4] Over time, wooden lids were added to the top to prevent sloshing and assist with foam development, with a hole in the centre to allow the molinillo in.^[3][5] In The True History of Chocolate, historians Michael D. Coe and Sophie Coe speculate copper versions of these devices preceded the French chocolatiere in Italy and Spain.^[3]

In the chocolatiere, earlier devices were modified. 90° around the side of the pot from the spout, a wooden handle was fixed. The lid became opened via a hinge, and the hole covered by a finial that could be unscrewed or unhinged. Materials became porcelain and, among nobility silver or gold.^[3] Chocolate could be made in the devices by placing a compressed brick or cake of chocolate inside with hot water and foaming it with a molinillo (known as moussoir in French) inserted through the hole in the top.^[6] The hot, foamy chocolate drink could then be served into drinking vessels.^[7]

The Coes report the French are "usually credited" with the development of the chocolatiere. Though the earliest evidence they identify comes from 1685 by an English silversmith, they concur, arguing descriptions of a 1686 gift of chocolatieres to the French from a Siamese expedition meant chocolatieres must have been established in France much earlier.^[8] The device soon became dominant in Europe for making chocolate.^[6] During the 18th century, the chocolatiere was commonly featured in French family portraits, intended to represent an ideal maintained among the aristocracy of social situations marked by temperance.^[9] The use of chocolatieres declined and then ceased in the 19th century, as the invention of techniques separating cocoa butter from chocolate and therefore chocolate powder eliminated the need for devices to beat heavy chocolate drinks.^[3]