Hot chocolate

[BananaBender]

Thought i would share a recipe that i have been using a for a while for a relaxing and even sedating hot chocolate i make for myself and my wife. Try and use good quality spices or even better use your own. You can play around with the amounts to your own taste preferences but i will be posting what works for me taste wise. Dont use cocoa powder because its just not the same!

Ingrediants:
2 cups of full cream biodynamic milk.

1 cup of cocoa beans (I like mine strong but this can be less, 2cups makes a nice really dark strong drink)

1/3rd cinnamon quill

2-4 cardamon pods (to taste)

1/3 nutmeg kernel (again to taste)

Sugar (A good ratio for cocoa is 2:1 sugar eg 2 tablespoons of sugar to 1 tablespoons cocoa)
Add as much or as little as you like suiting your taste.

Method:

In a mortar and pestle grind the beans up to around nib size, In a medium heat frying pan roast them quickly for around 2-3 minutes keeping a eye not to burn them. (dont forget to inhale the wonderfull aromas. If you like it raw you dont need to roast them but you do get a better choc taste if they are roasted slightly.

Put them back in the mortar and start grinding them into a thick dark paste.

Heat up the milk in a saucepan gently. While its heating up finely grind up your cinmamon into a powder and set aside. Remove the cardamon shells and grind the seeds into powder. Grate nutmeg and set aside.

Add the cocoa to the milk and use a whisk to mix it in. Add the spices and let it simmer on a low heat for about 5 mins.
Give it a good whisking to get it frothing on the top before you serve it.

Depending on what you like you can then use a strainer in a cup to strain out any stray cocoa grit or if your like me just leave them in.

Happy drinking.

[pippimac]

Yum! Where do you get your cocoa beans from? I've never seen them whole.

[aroideana]

I bet bananabender grows their own cocoa ! I do . It is very fast up here . Have had a very similar drink prepared for me in Mexico , and will try my own soon. Some vanilla would be nice also . Not been able to source a nutmeg tree yet .

Thanks very much for the recipe , it sounds great . Time for a Milo .

[eco4560]

I've had to go dairy free for health reasons. Boy I miss hot chocolate. I tried making it with rice milk and it wasn't good...

[aroideana]

I am certain the ancient Mexicans did not use milk when they made hot chocolate drinks .
Honey , chilli and all sorts of other exotic things would have gone into it .
And maybe drinking it out of a solid gold cup made it taste better ?
Fresh sweet corn blended might be an excellent base to start with .
Or a nut milk ?

[Michaelangelica]

You may be able to make chocolate/cocoa with lactose free milk (the sugar in milk that can cause problems).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance
A2 milk is also said to cause fewer intolerance/allergy problems.
http://www.a2milk.com.au/
The addition of sugar to chocolate was a European invention, to our taste it would have been a bitter, fatty, strange drink.
http://www.xocoatl.org/history.htm

[eco4560]

Aroideana if you provide me with a solid gold drinking vessel I'll try anything!
Some day soon I'll get around to trying out A2 milk and raw milk and see how I go. For now I'm just enjoying not having eczema for the first time in 6 months and having more energy that I have had in years! I don't want to give that up just yet.

[BananaBender]

Yes i grow my own but you should be able to get some beans from your local organic store (if you have one) or online. If you cant get beans you can also use "nibs" which are crushed beans but the whole beans give you a better drink.
I use the beans for food stuffs and the butter my wife makes into soaps and other cosmetic things. I have made it without milk before and its not bad but a bit of a aquired taste. Choc with vanilla (beans) not essence is another nice one. Ive also made it with fresh coconut milk and again not to bad. Orchad honey can be used instead of sugar aswell. Its quite versatile what you can do with the beans.
Looking forward to my Theobrama Bicolor flowing one day. Apparently it has a much higher theobromine content and should be interesting mixing the two together into a concoction. Also looking foward to using my own nutmeg and cinnamon one day. Ahh the patience with growing trees.

[eco4560]

Well I just learnt something! I assumed that when people were talking about nibs that they were like chocolate drops that you melt, but they aren't! I think I might have to hunt some down next time I'm at the organic store.

[eco4560]

Managed to find some at the markets this morning. I couldn't get them to break down into a paste - perhaps not fresh enough and too dry (might try the coffee grinder next time). I used a mixture of water and rice milk, with palm sugar, cinnamon and cardamon. It wasn't milky hot chocolate, but it was still nice. With crunchy bits reminiscent of cocopops.....