Hot Chocolate is a popular warm beverage served year round. Derived from dark, semisweet, or bittersweet chocolate, the drink is extremely popular around the world. While it is sometimes confused with hot cocoa the two are quite different. Hot Cocoa is a beverage derived from cocoa powder, while hot chocolate is made from chocolate bars melted into cream.
Chocolate as Medicine
Throughout centuries chocolate has been examined for its medicinal qualities. According to Francisco Hernandez in 1577, using cacao paste as a beverage was found to treat liver disease and dysentery. Soon after Agustin Farfan discovered that mixing chili peppers and rhubarb into a chocolate beverage could aid in digestion and become a powerful laxative. Also in 1662, Henry Stubbe believed that drinking chocolate beverages twice a day relieved fatigue and strengthened the heart.
History of Hot Chocolate
Chocolate was discovered by the explorer Hernando Cortez and brought to Europe in the early 1500s. They drank it cold, flavored with wine and chili peppers, and not sweet. The Spanish were protective of this new beverage, and it was over a hundred years before it began spreading across Europe. After its was introduced in Spain, the drink began to be served hot, sweetened and without the chili peppers.http://coffeetea.about.com/cs/chocolate/a/chochistory.htm/
Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe
This video show how to make hot chocolate mix. To make you need 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk together and pour in a sauce pan on high, whisking constantly, bring almost to a boil, then add 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, good quality, whisk until they are melted, add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour into your cup add whipped cream and fresh shaved chocolate.
White Hot Chocolate
Video show how to make White Hot Chocolate. Ingredients needed are 3 pieces of white chocolate, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup milk and a pinch of salt. Pour milk in a saucepan and add white chocolate piece by piece try to cut in same size so they can melt at an even rate, stir constantly until melted. Add vanilla and stir, pour into cup and top with whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon.
References
Fast Facts
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Main ingredients
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Sometimes flavored with cinnamon, chili peppers or marshmallows
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Also available as white hot chocolate made with white chocolate
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Chocolate is made from cocoa which is the dried fermented seed of the cacao tree
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Cocoa powder is pressed chocolate free of the cocoa butter fat
