Food of the Gods How to make Mexican hot chocolate The Golden Egg Newsletter: March 20, 2000

Cacao trees grow wild in the tropical climates of South and Central Americas. Long before Europeans traveled to the Americas,

The Cacao God of the classic Maya, from a bowl engraving

the Incas in Peru and the Mayas in Mexico had discovered that cacao beans could be roasted to bring out the chocolate flavor. They crushed the roasted beans and mixed them with water, vanilla, and spices to make a chocolate drink.

The distinguished Mexican philologist Ignacio Davila Garibi who proposed the idea that the "Spaniards had coined the word by taking the Maya word chocol and then replacing the Maya term for water, haa, with the Aztec one, atl." One other possibility is that chocolate is derived from the Maya verb chokola'j, which means, "to drink chocolate together." [Exploratorium]

"In Mexico, where the story of chocolate began, rich chocolaty sweets are not common. Instead, chocolate is used in some unusual ways-for example, as part of the spicy mole sauces that are served with meats. Mexicans also drink a lot of chocolate, just as their Indian and Spanish ancestors did. They make it with prepared tables containing cacao paste, sugar, cinnamon, and ground almonds. These tables are dissolved in hot water or milk, and then the liquid is whipped vigorously with a special wooden beater, known in Mexico as a molinillo. Rich, sweet, and frothy, this chocolate drink combines traditions from two worlds." [From: Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn, and Beans by Sylvia A. Johnson [Buy Me: Amazon]]

Making Mexican Hot Chocolate:

From the Florentine Codex

• Heat milk in a jarro (pot) over medium high temperature, until milk is very hot.
• Add Mexican chocolate Ibarra or Abuelita (2 wedges per cup), or Moctezuma (1/2 wedge per cup), let it dissolve for about 3 minutes.
• Start mixing with a special wooden beater known in Mexico as a molinillo (or a wire whip or electric blender), until is really mixed well and it has bubbles.
• Serve very hot - hotter always tasted better.

Tasting Notes:

Rather then using a molinillo, the Aztec method of aerating involved beating or pouring the liquid from one container to another to produce a foamy head.

We tried 3 brands of chocolate: Abuelita, Ibarra from Jalisco, and Moctezuma from Michoacan. We liked Ibarra or Moctezuma with milk the best.

The molinillo leaves small pieces of chocolate, whereas the blender made it completely smooth. We were divided on which we liked better. We all agreed that making it frothy made it better and that the hotter you could drink it the better it tasted. Luke warm was unappealing.

• Three kinds of Mexican chocolate Ibarra, Abuelita, Moctezuma
  
• Other Chocolate Scharffen-Berger
• Books
  • Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn, and Beans, by Sylvía A. Johnson.
    A history of foods found in native to North and South America.

Interesting Chocolate Sites:

The Exploratorium
Cloister's Chocolate Review: Ibarra
Cloister's Chocolate Review: Callebaut
Cloister's Chocolate Review: Valrhona
Chocolate Ibarra Group

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