Xocolatl - Mexican Chocolate
By
Roger X. Navas-Balladares
By
Roger X. Navas-Balladares
Xocolatl - Mexican Chocolate is a natural product made with sugar, cacao (chocolate), almonds and spices like cinnamon, clove and even chilies. It is this precise blend which gives Mexican Chocolate its exquisite flavor and aroma.
How to prepare your own delicious batch of Xocolatl - Mexican Hot Chocolate
-Ingredients-
12 ounces of Whole Milk
Xocolatl Table
Mexican Chocolate is prepared by heating milk right before boiling point. Once the milk has reached the desired temperature, mix in a chocolate tablet per 12 ounces of milk. I recommend you break each tablet into two or four pieces before adding it to the milk. Stir slow and constant with a wooden spatula or a traditional molinillo and serving it hot.
This beverage is mostly consumed during the cold weather months. It is traditionally served for breakfast or after dinner and it is usually accompanied by a piece of sweet pastry, in our case we recommend an Alfajores or to add a good-old American touch, try one of our Marshmallows.
Mexican Style Chocolate is the beverage of choice at many holiday celebrations including Christmas and New Years. During these holidays people prepare large pots full of hot chocolate which will serve as the perfect compliment to traditional dishes such as tamales and buñuelos. Try adding a pinch of chili powder for an alternative and wild experience. In Spain Hot Chocolate is slightly thicken with very fine corn meal or corn starch. This is great for making fresh made churros stand in your chocolate.
A very brief introduction into origin of chocolate:
Chocolate was first cultivated and used in Pre-Columbian Central America. It was perhaps the Mayas or the Olmecs who first made use of the cacao plant from which chocolate is derived. Archeological evidence and written texts have shown that the Mayas used the cacao beans as currency and food. The Aztecs inherited from the Mayas the knowledge of cultivation and usage of the cacao plant. For the Aztecs, cacao was a gift from the god Quetzalcoatl's, who at the time of being expelled from Paradise, promised his people that he would return.
When Hernán Cortés appeared on the shores of the Aztec Empire, they thought he was Quetzalcoatl's reincarnation, so they graciously welcomed him with a drink made from the cacao beans. This drink, which the Aztecs called Xocolatl, “Food of the Gods", was served to Cortés in cup made of gold. It is believed that the original Xocolatl was a bitter-sweet drink perhaps seasoned with honey, nuts, and chilies. Keep in mind that neither cow's milk nor sugar was available in pre-Columbian America.
How to prepare your own delicious batch of Xocolatl - Mexican Hot Chocolate
-Ingredients-
12 ounces of Whole Milk
Xocolatl Table
Mexican Chocolate is prepared by heating milk right before boiling point. Once the milk has reached the desired temperature, mix in a chocolate tablet per 12 ounces of milk. I recommend you break each tablet into two or four pieces before adding it to the milk. Stir slow and constant with a wooden spatula or a traditional molinillo and serving it hot.
This beverage is mostly consumed during the cold weather months. It is traditionally served for breakfast or after dinner and it is usually accompanied by a piece of sweet pastry, in our case we recommend an Alfajores or to add a good-old American touch, try one of our Marshmallows.
Mexican Style Chocolate is the beverage of choice at many holiday celebrations including Christmas and New Years. During these holidays people prepare large pots full of hot chocolate which will serve as the perfect compliment to traditional dishes such as tamales and buñuelos. Try adding a pinch of chili powder for an alternative and wild experience. In Spain Hot Chocolate is slightly thicken with very fine corn meal or corn starch. This is great for making fresh made churros stand in your chocolate.
A very brief introduction into origin of chocolate:
Chocolate was first cultivated and used in Pre-Columbian Central America. It was perhaps the Mayas or the Olmecs who first made use of the cacao plant from which chocolate is derived. Archeological evidence and written texts have shown that the Mayas used the cacao beans as currency and food. The Aztecs inherited from the Mayas the knowledge of cultivation and usage of the cacao plant. For the Aztecs, cacao was a gift from the god Quetzalcoatl's, who at the time of being expelled from Paradise, promised his people that he would return.
When Hernán Cortés appeared on the shores of the Aztec Empire, they thought he was Quetzalcoatl's reincarnation, so they graciously welcomed him with a drink made from the cacao beans. This drink, which the Aztecs called Xocolatl, “Food of the Gods", was served to Cortés in cup made of gold. It is believed that the original Xocolatl was a bitter-sweet drink perhaps seasoned with honey, nuts, and chilies. Keep in mind that neither cow's milk nor sugar was available in pre-Columbian America.
The History of Chocolate is long and tragic, and for a long time it's importation and processing were a monopoly of the Spanish Crown. After having been the Kings' Official Drink and of the Court's in the New Spain and Europe, symbol of distinction and elegance, at the end of the XVIII Century, chocolate started being prepared with milk and sugar. It is not until the early years of the XIX Century when chocolate is manufactured in the shape of tablets, such as we know it today.
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posted by Split Bean Coffee at 10:52 PM
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