Xocolatl: Chocolate de Oaxaca

Likely this ought to have been one of the first items I reviewed from the Chiles and Chocolate Festival at the Desert Botanical Garden a couple of months ago. But then again, hot chocolate is one of those things that you like to keep for a while so that you can try it again multiple times before making comments. This hot chocolate isn't like others: it's made in Oaxaca in small batches as part of a family tradition. So it's similar to the Mexican hot chocolate (Abuelita or Ibarra) that you can buy at any store--just much, much better.

I prefer Abuelita chocolate to Swiss Miss, sure; this one from Xocolatl, though, I prefer to nearly all of the hot chocolates I've had (I'm just using "hot chocolate" as a general, umbrella term today). And it's no wonder. The cocoa beans used in this chocolate are grown in Chiapas, Mexico, which is in itself less common; I don't come across much Mexican-grown cocoa. The only other ingredients are cane sugar, cinnamon, and almonds. No fluff, no fuss, no fillers, no junk.

Instead of coming in the familiar round discs, this chocolate comes in sticks. There are three sticks attached to one another and four of these sets of three in the bag that I bought. So that's twelve dollars for twelve sticks; expensive only compared to the price of cheap hot chocolate, but completely reasonable otherwise. My only complaint about this chocolate is in that stick style. I like hearing about how the chocolate is hand rolled into sticks, but I don't like trying to break off just one stick. If any of you buy Abuelita of Ibarra, you'll know that when you have trouble breaking a piece off of a disc, you just stick a knife into it and presto, it becomes easy to break. Not so here. Even using a knife, I usually can't break off just one stick, so I end up having to use two half sticks or something like that to get the right amount. Maybe if you're making more than one serving, you won't have as much of an issue with this.

The proportions are one stick per cup of milk (almond in my case). Most often, I end up using half of what a hot chocolate label recommends. To my surprise, then, I found that this proportion was exactly right--so much so that I haven't even been inclined to try adding less chocolate per cup, even just to experiment. I did choose the 60% cacao instead of the 70%; I don't normally like my hot chocolate to be too dark. I leave that for the chocolate bars. So maybe this lower percentage is also why I was happy with the full amount. I heated the chocolate in my usual method: in a small saucepan, with a whisk to mix it all in. I did find that this chocolate was much easier to froth than Abuelita and Ibarra are--which was exciting.

The only explanation I really want to give about the flavor is that it's exactly right, for me at least. There is rich chocolate flavor, but it isn't overwhelming. There is sweetness, but not a huge amount. I can taste a little cinnamon, but mostly I don't notice it (maybe also because I always add cinnamon to hot chocolate, so maybe it's just a neutral flavor to me). And the almonds are stronger than what I would expect (considering that they're not mentioned as a flavor, just in the ingredients list). They make the chocolate taste very Old World. I can almost taste rose and orange right along with the almond just because my mind is associating the flavor with all of those historical drinking chocolates they have at Kakawa Chocolate House in Santa Fe. No, this isn't flavored chocolate--and I might be making the almond taste sound stronger than it is. What I mean to say that the flavors here are textured, simultaneously simple and complex. That's traditional, isn't it? Food that is approachable and recognizable--and wonderful.

I highly recommend this chocolate, if you ever see it around (well, they do sell it online, as well). This is hot chocolate.

Alternative Hot Chocolate

Instead of a chocolate review, today I have a story about hot chocolate for you. And yes, I realize that hot chocolate has a specific definition and what I am describing is technically hot cocoa--but that phrase sounds strange to use to me, so I'm sticking to hot chocolate as a broad term.

A while ago I gave my basic method for making hot chocolate. About three quarters of a cup of (almond) milk, a teaspoon of sugar or honey, a teaspoon or two of cocoa powder, and usually a sprinkle of cinnamon. Heat and mix it all together in a saucepan and there you go, simple as can be.

Then I came across the turmeric trend for golden milk. I'm not exactly one to go for healthy food trends (like kale or chia seeds), but turmeric certainly is healthy and I was curious enough to try out golden milk. I followed this recipe from Wellness Mama (I haven't used this website for anything else, by the way), except that I added more cinnamon and ginger than she suggested. I didn't add cayenne because I don't have any at home right now, although it would be interesting to how that tastes. And of course I used honey rather than maple syrup. She's not kidding about the fact that turmeric stains. Rather than bothering to use a blender, I just stirred everything in the saucepan, so the (copper) spoon that I used did end up more yellow in color. I don't really mind, but this is good to know before you stain something important.

I had some mild trepidation after hearing about the unusual earthy taste of turmeric, but I needn't have worried. I found this drink delicious, much like chai tea because of course they both have similar spices. The addition of cloves in the golden milk would probably even further this effect, though I've yet to try that.

What I have tried, however, is adding cocoa powder. Golden milk can be a nice alternative for hot chocolate when you're in the mood for something warm and flavorful but not quite hot chocolate. However, for more of a daily basis, hot chocolate is usually a welcome drink, so why not combine the two in order to get the benefits of the turmeric more often?

So here is what I have been doing. Same amount of milk, same amount of cocoa powder, same amount of honey, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a sprinkle of ginger, a sprinkle of turmeric, and a dash of ground pepper. You can try out small sprinkles of the spices and then increase the amount as much as you like. The drink ends up being a rich, warm brown. The way I make it, it still tastes mainly like hot chocolate, just with more spices. I may be entirely weird for liking it, but I find that it's such an enlivening drink full of plenty of nice flavor. Perfect for after dinner.

And the turmeric? I have noted one curious thing. I'd heard that turmeric could be good for your teeth (which of course sounds funny at first since it stains other surfaces yellow-orange). But whenever I drink either golden milk or even my turmeric hot chocolate, I notice that my teeth feel especially smooth afterward, like I just gave them a good cleaning. Interesting.

Even if you don't try out golden milk, I just want to use this space to encourage the blending of your own beverages. Find out what you like (hot? cold? milk-based? water-based? fruit-based? sweet? spicy? bitter?) and make it at home. It ends up costing less than buying ready-made drinks and gives you control over all the ingredients. And you can easily tweak your basic recipes every now and then for variety.

Hot Chocolate at Home

Don't worry, I will be continuing with chocolate reviews: I have a couple of suspects already in waiting. But it's something different for today: namely, a recipe.

I'm not usually one to make up and give out recipes. I follow recipes that other people make or I just put together dishes that don't need recipes (like salmon with salt and pepper and rosemary). I don't really experiment in the kitchen. But is that a good thing?

You see, I had been remembering how I had sometimes (just a couple of times) made hot chocolate just by mixing together cocoa powder and sugar. That's what the better mixes are made out of, anyway; everything else is just fillers (unless there are added flavors, like mint or rose, etc). So I decided to try it again--and I want to share my results.

Use about 3/4 cup of whatever type of milk you drink. Heat it up in a saucepan. Stirring, sweeten with one teaspoon of sugar or honey--I don't notice much difference in flavor with the honey, so give that a try because honey's better, anyway. Two teaspoons of cocoa powder will give you a pretty standard proportion of chocolate, but I've started only using one teaspoon because I'm trying to make the cocoa powder last longer. And also because I've started adding a good sprinkling of cinnamon in, too, because cinnamon is healthy and it tastes nice. Now I've ended up with a nice, spiced, lightly sweet mixture for a quiet evening.

You get the gist of it? Start with the milk, sugar, and cocoa powder and don't stop there. Do you like thicker chocolate? Add three teaspoons instead of just two. Do you love rose? Add some rose water. Try a bit of cream instead of marshmallows. Shave some chocolate into the warming milk. Whatever it is, don't feel like there is only one way to do it.

And don't feel like hot chocolate has to come from a packet or a box or a bag or a tin. Mixing it yourself is simple and gives you better control of ingredients. You can use whatever cocoa powder you like--and if you avoid Hershey's and Nestle, you'll end up with much better quality hot chocolate than what all the standard mixes offer. I've been using a tin from Guittard (from World Market) because I really wanted to buy it since Guittard usually makes good products--but some of the recipes I use don't want Dutch process cocoa powder (which this is); so I can still use it in hot chocolate.

Come to think of it, mixing up some batches and putting it in pretty jars with ribbons and such would make nice presents for birthdays and Christmas. Lots of possibilities.

Rancho Gordo: Drinking Chocolate

Forget Swiss Miss hot chocolate; I used to drink it all the time when I was ten, but eventually I upgraded to Nestle's Abuelita chocolate (Ibarra is very similar). As far as hot chocolate (sorry, I make no distinction between hot chocolate and hot cocoa: I always think of hot cocoa as an old-fashioned, not a technical, term) from the grocery store, I generally consider Abuelita one of the better options: the round discs of sugar and chocolate appear to have more chocolate in them than the powdered milk, sugar, and chocolate powders of the Swiss Miss and similar varieties.

A friend of mine brought back this hot chocolate from Tucson, where the woman in the shop had claimed it was her favorite ever. Honestly, I'm a bit confused on how to label it. The name up top is Rancho Gordo, but that's the importer based out of Napa, California. The little snippet on the side explains that the chocolate is "grown, roasted, and ground by the Mujeres [women] de Xochis Collective in Guerrero, Mexico using local cacao and evaporated cane juice. The chocolate beans are roasted on clay pans before being stoneground with soft cinnamon." And the box has "Chocolate" written all across it, while this little section calls it "hand crafted stoneground cacao for drinking and cooking." So I've settled for leaving Rancho Gordo as the company and drinking chocolate as the product name.

The style is very similar to Abuelita, except for the details. This six-sided box is just a tad smaller and thinner and is plain, uncolored brown with brown lettering as compared to the bright yellow Abuelita box. This natural look is, from my view, much preferable, and promises something more natural and (hopefully) of greater quality.

Inside, the five round discs are individually wrapped in wax paper and then stuffed into this clear bag; it's all perfect for keeping them fresh. 

The minimalist look continues onto the discs. Instead of being divided into eight pieces as both Abuelita and Ibarra chocolate are, the circle is plain and without markings of any kind. You decide if it looks sad or rustic or elegant like a flourless chocolate cake. Funnily enough, even though I'd thought that the lack of markings would make this disc harder to break, it in fact breaks easier than Abuelita chocolate tends to. Just pierce a knife into it where you'd like it to break and you'll find that the chocolate is quite soft and willing to work with you.

I've come to admit something to myself: except for a small cup of elegant (and usually flavored) drinking chocolate from time to time, I don't like to drink thick chocolate. I'd go so much as to say that I'd rather melt a bar of chocolate and eat it with a spoon (which, of course, I have done before) than to drink certain hot chocolates as thick as the instructions say to make them. I have found that I like this particular hot chocolate with half of the chocolate that's recommended: that means one quarter disc per cup as opposed to half a disc. And this is, in fact, more like the ratio for Abuelita, in case you were wondering. 

Note that, as always, I'm doing my review of this chocolate as made with almond milk. 

There are simply three ingredients to this chocolate: cacao, evaporated cane juice, and cinnamon--in that order. Abuelita places sugar in first place, adds vegetable oil, and uses artificial flavor. So if you're just looking for purer, better quality ingredients, this chocolate definitely wins: I give it much respect for that alone. And hearing all of that info about how the chocolate is roasted on clay pans and stone ground makes me really look forward to something special. The question after tasting, though, is whether or not I prefer this flavor.

It's good hot chocolate. It tastes like chocolate and only faintly like cinnamon. It isn't bitter or dark and yet it isn't particularly sweet, either. There's almost an earthy flavor to it that I can't quite place--I'm not sure if it's the lack of sugar that gives it this flavor, if it's a flavor from the chocolate itself, or if it's a product of the way this chocolate was prepared and the tools with which it was prepared. 

You see, when I drink this chocolate, I enjoy it. But I'm not left in awe of it. And then when I pick up the box of Abuelita chocolate and sniff it, my mind smiles at the familiar aroma and happily pictures the taste. Is it just nostalgia?

I don't know. It could be. But the fact remains that I'll continue buying Abuelita chocolate and if I were to come across Rancho Gordo hot chocolate myself at some point, well, I might or I might not buy it. It would just depend on whether or not I felt like buying hot chocolate on that particular day: I wouldn't feel like this chocolate was so delicious that I absolutely couldn't pass it up.

With that said, however, I still highly recommend it for the sake of its ingredients: this is more how hot chocolate should be made and it shows in the fact that this drink tastes primarily of chocolate--the main ingredient for which it is named and which so many hot chocolates out there barely use and therefore barely taste of. 

Fizzies: Fizzin' Hot Cocoa

Wow, look what I found in a box in my closet: Fizzin' Hot Cocoa. How exciting. Good thing it still has a long way toward the expiration date, otherwise my exciting find would have been doomed for the trash, untested and undiscovered. As you can tell by the ribbon on the box, it was intended as a Christmas item.

Perhaps because of the Christmas possibilities, there are eight individual packets inside. You can have a party for eight people or tear the packets apart and put them in stockings--there are instructions on the back of each one. They're quite simple, after all: drop one tablet into 3/4 cup of warm milk and wait until fully dissolved, about five minutes. Seems simple enough. And the idea of fizzing hot chocolate, well, that is sort of intriguing. At three dollars for the box, it was worth trying.

The tablets are like giant, brown Smarties. They're flavored with both natural and artificial chocolate, and, of course, are sweetened with other products besides sugar. Let's move right along and get away from icky pictures of ingredients.

My flowered teacup is just the right size for a 3/4 cup serving of hot chocolate, but I suspected that the fizz from this particular kind might take up more space. I was right--but I didn't use a different cup.

After dropping in the tablet, I tried to get some hasty pictures of the process. Foaming fizz develops right away and it quickly overflowed my teacup; I was worried that it might also overflow the saucer, though it never did. Perhaps this type of thing isn't the company's responsibility (after all, I knew this cup was too small), but mightn't it be nice if they included a caution to use a large mug?

The first few seconds were exciting. Then it was terrifying. What is this mass of foamy, hot fizz that I'm expected to drink? It's even more terrifying once you dare to take a sip. It tastes like standard powdered hot chocolate, plus a weird flavor that's designed to imitate the taste of carbonation in soda. After all, this isn't exactly carbonated hot chocolate: it's fizzy hot chocolate. It's like a quirky twist on foamy hot chocolate.

I prefer, a thousand times, to drink hot chocolate that's been stirred with a milk frother. You get the foam without any other weird tastes, even if it takes an extra step to get there. This hot chocolate tastes terrible. Granted, I don't really drink soda and I don't eat a lot of highly processed, sweet products, so maybe I'm exaggerating the average opinion. But still.

What happens with this drink is that the foam arises above a pretty standard hot chocolate. So with each sip, you get some of that foam and some of the regular liquid. The foam quickly becomes a frightening mix of brown and white color, and if you let it set for another minute, the foam will dissipate entirely and you're left with nothing but a messy rim on your cup and an ill-tasting hot chocolate.

It's fun as a novelty product, I suppose, though I don't see who would want to drink it. It probably has the most appeal for ten year olds (or the ten year old moment in us all) who just want to watch a tablet turn milk into brown foam. I don't even feel like using the other seven tablets.

Eclipse Chocolate: Drinking Chocolate & Truffles

That's it, I'm moving: there just aren't any chocolate shops where I live. Not only are there none in the area, but in the whole state (sort of). It's terrible. 

But I know, the lack of chocolate shops is just one of the prices I have to pay to live where it is beautiful. I know. And it's probably for the best, anyway: this way, chocolate remains special because it is more scarce. So any time that I go out of state, I try and look up chocolate shops around where I'll be. I usually try and visit at least one of them. So my "at least one" shop for the San Diego area was Eclipse Chocolate. I thought perhaps breakfast there would be nice since they also serve food, but that never happened. In addition to food, chocolate, desserts, hot chocolate, and tea, they also serve alcohol, so there is quite a variety of what they have on offer. It's nice to have options.

When I looked up the place, I saw that it was near Balboa Park, which is where the museums are. I thought, oh, good, it's near the fancy area. Well, the particular corner where the cafe is isn't particularly fancy--but the shop is nicely designed and very clean. With blue and white, it's made up to be a hip hangout spot. Since I went there after lunch, all I ordered was a drinking chocolate. And since it was after lunch, I went for a lighter milk chocolate versus something heavy and dark. The Cardamom Rose Milk Chocolate (with soy) was my choice. 

The good-sized white mug came with two fresh marshmallows. I pinched a taste because they were so pretty, but didn't eat them because I'm one of the people who don't really like marshmallows. The chocolate was good, and I was glad that I didn't order something dark because if it's dark, I prefer a much smaller serving. The rose gave it that soft, floral feeling, while the cardamom added a touch more spice and movement to keep it all from becoming cloying. All very pleasant for an afternoon drink. 

On the way out, I picked up two truffles and one chocolate bar. The bar I will save for a later post, but the truffles I will address now. The first was a champagne truffle, which I chose since it's a kind of must-have flavor. There may have been something more to the name, but I don't remember what it was. There is a dried cranberry on top, which I'm not sure I get, but the chocolate smells fragrant and the ganache looks smooth when you cut it open. 

The mouthfeel is also smooth without being plasticy; the flavor is rich and light at the same time. There are rich cocoa notes, possibly a hint of salt from the other truffle, and a berry-like flavor for a splash of color. It's a nice truffle, maybe not the best I've ever had but of course a thousand times better than mass-produced chocolates. 

The second truffle was the Lavender Sea Salt Caramel, which is a rectangular chocolate with sprinkled salt and lavender. I think it was available in milk and dark; I didn't specify which one I wanted, so I ended up with milk, which I think goes better with the caramel, anyway. As you can see, the caramel is semi-stiff, so it doesn't flow out on its own. While the lack of messiness is nice, I would have preferred a less chewy caramel: chewiness always feels less fancy to me. It does, however, taste nicely of vanilla and sugar and whatever else caramel is composed of. 

I'm starting to get tired of hearing of salted caramels because everyone does them, but the addition of lavender in this truffle makes it more unique and entertaining. Lavender does, after all, have a zing to it that is not entirely unlike the zing of salt. Now, the salt is still more prominent than the lavender (and it's delicious, flaky salt, by the way), but the lavender still adds some of its floral, citrus pop. I like this subtle addition to a popular chocolate flavor. 

Now that Eclipse Chocolate has passed the taste test, I can go on to praise their other aims. They work with Guittard Chocolate (which has long been one of my favorites) for ethically-source chocolate, they use organic ingredients when they can, they don't add vegetable fats to the chocolate, they produce their chocolates in small batches (as you can already tell), and they donate a portion of profits to charities. So, yes, Eclipse Chocolate has a lot going for them, and I am a bit jealous that California has places like this and Arizona, basically, does not.

Petite Maison: Chocolat Chaud

This isn't the hot chocolate time of year, is it? It's more the lemonade time of year--but I will make the exception and give attention to my latest chocolate find. At a store arranged primarily in decorating things (furniture, pillows, pictures, dishes), there is also a corner with food items. Among these food items you will find Petite Maison's Chocolat Chaud. And it is beautiful. The dark brown tin comes with words and patterns in blue and a small handle for carrying. If it were bigger (it's only about six inches), I would say it could make a cute lunch box. How about an evening bag?

Petite Maison is one of the labels of Wildly Delicious Fine Foods, which is a Canadian company. I don't come across many Canadian chocolate products. While Wildly Delicious doesn't sound like a very serious name, Petite Maison does seem to have some attractive products, as far as I can tell from their online page. And there's no arguing that this hot chocolate tin looks as if it is good quality. One would certainly hope so since, at this particular store, the price was $20. That comes out to $2.50 per serving, which is not much compared with what you would pay for a fine drinking chocolate at a cafe or wherever but is much compared with average hot chocolates. 

As you can see, the mixture is made up of tiny chocolate drops and powder. I'm not sure what brand Petite Maison uses, but it appears, the way that the ingredients list is put together, that they get the chocolate drops from another company. They add sugar, cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and waxy corn starch. At home, you stir three tablespoons of this mixture into simmering water; you let that simmer for a little longer so that it can thicken. All very simple. The chocolate you come up with is thicker than what I'll call the regular hot chocolates, but it isn't a super thick suspension of liquid.

In flavor, there are brownie notes, rich and warm rather than very dark. I would imagine that would make it more welcome and less intimidating to the average person. There isn't anything bitter to it, just nothing sweet or mellow. The "Rich & Dark" label isn't misplaced; this just isn't an intense dark experience. I do find myself wondering whether or not it is lacking in depth. It reminds me of eating a 60-something percent chocolate, where you feel like if it were just a bit darker there would be more complex and entertaining flavor notes. Maybe it's just me. As usual, I prefer just half a serving to treat it more as something to savor through sipping. And when I am done, I will still have the tin to swing happily back and forth by its handle.