Mexican hot chocolate

A Classic Mexican Recipe

Easy Recipe for Hot Chocolate made with Mexican Ibarra Chocolate

Winter came again to our part of Mexico. I know this means everybody north of the border is really having winter, but we can have winter, too, can’t we, even if the thermometer only reads 71 F.? And it has been raining all day. Believe me, after eight months of heat, I’m going to call this winter. (Do I hear a snicker out there?) To celebrate winter’s return and to warm up a bit, I made hot chocolate, Mexican style. Theobroma Cacao, cultivated in southern Mexico, means “food of the gods” and to drink a cup of hot chocolate may be a divine experience.

Cacao pods on the tree. Cacao nibs in the pods are ground to

produce cocoa powder and chocolate.

In markets in the interior of Mexico, one can find cakes of cacao nibs ground with sugar, almonds and cinnamon. This is the real thing. For the rest of us, “Chocolate para Mesa” (chocolate for the table) is sold commercially in all the grocery stores here. Ibarra is my favorite brand, partly because of its pretty, six-sided red and yellow package. North of the border, large grocery stores that stock Mexican food items will have Ibarra and Abuelita brand chocolate.
To make hot chocolate, heat one cup of water and one cup of milk. You could use all milk or all water, as some Mexican recipes specify, but I like the mixture of both. (For a less sweet, lighter version, use one and one half cups of each.) If you really want to be traditional, you can use an earthenware pot, similar to the one I used for cooking black beans, but smaller. When the milk and water are almost boiling, stir in the chocolate pieces until the chocolate has melted. Simmer for a few minutes, then beat until frothy. Modern cooks use a blender to create the froth, but using a molinillo, the hand-carved chocolate beater with its jangling carved wooden rings, will connect you to the Mexican cooks of yesteryear.

Chocolate Para Mesa and a molinillo

Mexican Hot Chocolate                                                                      
1 cup (8 fl. oz./230 ml.) water
1 cup ( 8 fl. oz./230 ml. ) milk
1 3-oz. (90 grams) tablet of Ibarra or other Mexican chocolate, broken into pieces
ground cinnamon
Heat milk and water until almost boiling. Cut chocolate disc into small pieces. Ibarra discs are really hard. They will chop more easily if warmed first in a micro-wave oven for 10 seconds.

Add pieces of chocolate to hot water and milk and stir until melted.

Using a molinillo or blender*, beat until there is a thick layer of foamy bubbles. To use a molinillo hold it between your hands and spin it vigorously.

It’s like rubbing your hands together to warm them, but with the molinillo handle held between them.

Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and serve.

Notes
For a “gringo” touch, add a dollop of whipped cream on top of the finished hot chocolate, sprinkled with ground cinnamon. You could also stir in a pinch of dried ancho chile.
*Be very careful when using an electric blender with hot liquids. Hold the lid on very firmly and leave plenty of head room in the blender jar.
Update: The temperature has dropped to 71 F., with a forecasted low of 66 tonight. I’m looking for a sweater. 

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Champurrado, drink of the gods

If chocolate is considered food for the gods, champurrado, chocolate atole, must be their drink. February 2 is Día de la Candelaria when tamales and atole will be served. Las mujeres (the women) are already grinding cacao beans to make chocolate for champurrado. I’m taking the easy route, and using Ibarra chocolate, the sweet table chocolate used for making hot drinks.
Russ and I were touring the colonial city of San Luis Potosí when we first encountered champurrado on a plaza in front of the city’s baroque cathedral. This has now been many years ago, but the memory has stayed with me. I can’t remember my first taste of chocolate candy or my first bite of a juicy peach — I was too young. But champurrado came into my life when I was old enough to fully appreciate and remember its smooth chocolate richness. I’m sure I immediately had a second cup. I hope I did.
And somewhere in the mountains, when we were still traversing Mexico with our vintage Avion trailer, we found atole strainers made of woven horse hair in a village market. The hand-woven mesh of dark hair was stretched across rough, hand-cut hoops of pinewood and tied onto the hoops with fibers. This was a handcraft we had never seen before, nor have we since. We bought three graduated sizes of strainers, but I never use them. They are appreciated as a craft from a by-gone time. Cheap, plastic strainers are now in every Mexican kitchen, including mine, and that is what I use when making atole.
Día de la Candelaria marks the halfway point between winter solstice and Spring equinox. It is the day tamales are served to friends by the person who found the little doll in their piece of Rosca de Reyes, Three Kings Bread, last month on El Dia de los Reyes, which marks the end of the Christmas holidays. If your slice of rosca hid the baby doll, you’re about to host a tamales and atole fiesta this week.
a
Champurrado 4 servings

• 5 oz. (142 grams) fresh masa
• 6 cups (1.5 liters) water
• 3 discs Ibarra chocolate, chopped
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 pinch of salt

1. Crumble masa into water and whisk well until dissolved.
2. Strain through a seive into a pot, discarding solids.
3. Heat the masa liquid in a pan over medium heat and stir until thickened, about 8 minutes.
4. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until chocolate is dissolved.
5. Serve hot.

Notes:
Chocolate is made from seed pods of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao). “Theobroma” means “food of the gods”. The Mayan people knew cacao had divine associations. It was used in their rituals and consumed in great quantities by the Aztec emperor Moctezuma.
Atole has sustained people of Mexico since pre-Columbian times. Taken as a nourishing gruel, it can be sweetened with piloncillo, an unrefined sugar, and sometimes fruit. For special fiestas, champurrado, chocolate atole, is served with tamales.

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