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.
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 .
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...
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 ?
You may be able to make chocolate/cocoa with lactose free milk (the sugar in milk that can cause problems). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance A2 milk is also said to cause fewer intolerance/allergy problems. https://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. https://www.xocoatl.org/history.htm
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.
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.
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.
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.....
I had some Mexican Chocolate the other day, nice but very different. (from Herbies in Sydney, I think) I can't believe the truckloads of chocolates my local little supermarket sells each week While chocolate, in itself, has health benefits, most chocolate bars are mostly refined sugar
Good to hear you enjoyed your choc eco. I forgot all about palm sugar. I think i might try one with coconut milk and palm sugar tonight. Did you find the cardamon seems to have a real synergy taste wise with the cocoa?
Yes - love cardamom in tea too. I'm wondering if I can use the ground nibs in a date cake to make it chocolate-y....
I listened to a Dermotologist on the radio one day having great success with bleach on eczema. It is caused by staph germs. Pour a bath and add one cup of bleach and bath in it. Diabetes Australia ( Qld) have found no positive effects from A2 milk over normal milk.
I was at the market this morning and there was a chap making hot chocolate from raw cacao powder and hazelnut milk, sweetened with coconut plan sugar. It tasted like liquid Nutella. Mmmmm..... Who needs cows milk after all!
While the mortar and pestle was fun to use I must admit i got tired of so much grinding by hand. Whipped up a really good one in the blender last night. What usually took me half an hour took me 5 mins.
Real hot chocolate (no cocoa!) 1/4 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (1 oz) 1 cup milk sugar to taste. Heat the milk and chocolate in a glass measuring cup in the microwave until it foams. Pour into the blender and blend until foamy. Add sugar if you like it sweeter. Pour back into the microwave and reheat a bit. Serve with real whipped cream.
Love the sound of these recipies. Can't easily find some of the ingredients where I am. I replace sugar in most of my recipies with honey, but where I don't want the taste of the honey to come through I use agave. Sweeter than sugar and no noticable added flavor or aroma. I grew stevia one year, but it adds it's own flavor to the mix, and is not always subtle. Gotta find those cacoa beans. I'm kinda leery of foods I haven't grown myself. The wife picked up some garlic on sale at the local Walmart, though we have several strings of it in the garage from our garden. After one taste I wouldn't even put them in the compost. Grown in China. I'm fortunate I can grow Kiwis, Grapes, and so many other healthful and healthy foods here in South Carolina. If it's tropical and bred small enough I can grow it in my greenhouse. Keep those unique recipies coming. Benjy
