[Sca-cooks] chocolate as passion

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

There's an organic chocolate company that makes *interesting* 
chocolate bars. The brand is "Dagoba" (no, i'm not making this up). 
My most recent purchase was a 74 per cent cacao bar called 
"xocolatl", featuring dark chocolate, chilies & cacao nibs. It also 
had hints of nutmeg and vanilla.

One of my favorites of their bars is dark chocolate (59 per cent) 
with lavender blossoms and dried blueberries. Another is the 
"Roseberry", dark chocolate (59 per cent) with dried raspberries and 
bits of rose hips.

They also sell unsweetened cocoa powder - i've got the plain, but 
they also make "xocolatl" with chiles and cinnamon.

As for the period or just OOP recipe for hot chocolate with chiles, 
it is on-line:
http://jducoeur.org/justin/chocolate.txt
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-SWEETS/chocolate-msg.html

 From "Chocolate: or, An Indian Drinke." London, 1652, by Capt. John Wadsworth.
Apparently a translation of a book by Melchor de Lara, "Physitian 
General for the Kingdome of Spaine", 1631.

"The Receipt of him who wrote at Marchena, is this:
Of Cacaos, 700
of white Sugar, one pound and a halfe
Cinnamon, 2 ounces
of long red pepper, 14
of Cloves, halfe an ounce:

Three Cods of the Logwood or Campeche tree;
or in steade of that, the weight of 2 Reals, or a shilling of Anniseeds;
as much of Agiote [achiote = annato], as will give it the colour, 
which is about the quantity of a Hasellnut.

Some put in Almons,
kernells of Nuts [walnuts?], and
Orenge-flower-water.

ORIGINAL PREPARATION
[paragraph breaks mine for ease of reading]

The Cacao, and the other Ingredients must be beaten in a Morter of 
Stone, or ground upon a broad stone, which the Indians call Metate, 
and is onely made for that use: But the first thing that is to be 
done, is to dry the Ingredients, all except the Achiote, with care 
that they may be beaten to powder, keeping them still in stirring, 
that they be not burnt, or become black; and if they be over-dried, 
they will be bitter, and lose their vertue. The Cinamon, and the long 
red Pepper are to be first beaten, with the Annisseed; and then beate 
the Cacao, which you must beate by a little and little, till it be 
all powdred; and sometimes turne it round in the beating, that it may 
mixe the better: And every one of these Ingredients, must be beaten 
by it selfe, and then put all the Ingredients into the Vessell, where 
the Cacao is; which you must stirre together with a spoone; and then 
take out that Paste, and put it into the Morter, under which you must 
lay a little fire, after the Confection is made. But you must be very 
carefull, not to put more fire, than will warme it, that the unctuous 
part doe not dry away. And you must also take care, to put in the 
Achiote in the beating; that it may the better take the colour. You 
must Searse all the Ingredients, but onely the Cacao; and if you take 
the shell from the Cacao, it is the better; and when you shall find 
it to be well beaten, & incorporated (which you shall know by the 
shortness of it)

then with a spoone take up some of the Paste, which will be almost 
liquid; and so either make it into Tablets; or put it into Boxes; and 
when it is cold it will be hard. To make the Tablets, you must put a 
spoonfull of the Paste upon a piece of paper, the Indians put it upon 
the leaf of a Plantentree, where being put into the shade, it growes 
hard; and then bowing the paper, the Tablet falls off, by reason of 
the fatnesse of the paste. But if you put it into any thing of earth, 
or wood, it sticks fast, and will not come off, but with scraping, or 
breaking.

In the Indies they take it two severall waies: The one, being the 
common way, is to take it hot, with Atolle, which was the Drinke of 
Ancient Indians (the Indians call Atolle pappe, made of the flower of 
Maiz, and so they mingle it with the Chocolate, and that the Atolle 
may be more wholsome, they take off the Husks of the Maiz, which is 
windy, and melancholy; and so there remaines onely the best and most 
substantiall part.) Now, to returne to the matter, I say, that the 
other Moderne drinke, which the Spaniards use so much, is of two 
sortes. The one is, that the Chocolate, being dissolved with cold 
water, & the scumme taken off, and put into another Vessell, the 
remainder is put upon the fire, with Sugar; and when it is warme, 
then powre it upon the Scumme you tooke off before, and so drinke it. 
The other is to warme the water; and then, when you have put it into 
a pot, or dish, as much Chocolate as you thinke fit, put in a little 
of the warme water, and then grinde it well with the molinet; and 
when it is well ground, put the rest of the warme water to it; and so 
drinke it with Sugar.


MY SIMPLIFIED INTERPRETATION

The recipe calls for drying the ingredients. This appears to be what 
i call dry roasting which i do in a wok or skillet with no oil on a 
medium-low fire, stirring constantly until things seem right (color, 
smell, texture).

Grind everything but the chocolate to a powder; sieve to assure it is 
well powdered and to remove fibers. Crush cacao nibs, then grind them 
near a fire, which will make a paste. I suppose one could just use 
melted unsweetened baking chocolate. Stir powdered ingredients into 
cocoa paste and mix well.

Make tablets by putting a spoonful of paste on paper or plantain 
leaves and letting it harden.

To drink:
(1) mix a tablet into atole;
or
(2) mix with water, warm, and beat, and add sugar to taste.

-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita