Mexican Hot Chocolate for the Harvest Moon

As far I know this is not traditional anywhere except in my family, but Mexican hot chocolate on the Harvest Moon is a longstanding tradition for us. It started because my kids were always asking for hot cocoa in the summer and I was always telling them that it was the wrong season for cocoa. (Spring and summer are obviously tea season!) While winter is proper cocoa season fall is cocoa adjacent. Mexican hot chocolate has cinnamon which gives it a decidedly fall feeling for me. Because of that we decided that the Harvest moon was the official start of hot chocolate season.

First things first, only Americans call it Mexican hot chocolate- in Mexico its just chocolate or champurrado. As early as 500 BC, the Mayans were drinking a chocolate beverage. In fact, the origin of the word chocolate comes from xocolatl (bitter water), from the ancient Aztec language, Náhuatl. Original recipes only contained cacao, water, and corn. The sugar, milk and cinnamon were introduced by the Spanish. In Mexico today, hot chocolate is most often prepared with tablets of rustic “chocolate de mesa.” These tablets contain cacao paste, sugar and cinnamon. This chocolate has a grainier texture than European chocolate. Traditionally, the frothiness of the hot chocolate is an important part of the drink– in fact, the Mayans would mix the drink by pouring it back and forth from a cup to a pot until a thick foam developed. These days the traditional tool for frothing is the molinillo which is a wooden whisk created for the single purpose of mixing and creating froth in cacao drinks. Apparently aside from being delicous the ancient Mesoamericans thought the foam would bring them wisdom and power.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

While this recipe is dead simple you do need a speciality ingredient– tablets of hot chocolate. The chocolate really makes all the difference here, Mexican chocolate is made from less refined and grittier cacao paste as opposed to super processed and creamy European style chocolate. The two easiest to find brands are Ibarra (made by a company in Jalisco, Mexico) and Abuelita (a Nestle product). They are both good and there are a few premium brands as well. They all have have some cinnamon which is probably why I love this in the fall. You also need a stick blender (or a more traditional molinillo if you happen to have one) both to better emulsify the chocolate and create the all important foam.

Ingredients:

• Mexican chocolate (sold in tablets)
• milk
• stick blender

Method:

Put the chocolate and the milk in a saucepan and heat until just under boiling (but don’t boil!) Follow the directions on the chocolate package for the ratio of milk to chocolate.

Use the stick blender to emulsify the hot chocolate and froth it up. Pour into a mug and enjoy!