[MR] hot chocolate

[FaeryLight2 at aol.com]

this is a very interesting bit of information on hot chocolate that i 
recently recieved from another email group...enjoy :)

From:  "Duquessa Juana Isabella de Montoya y Ramirez, OL, OP, OST, QOG, etc." 
<<A HREF="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/europe16thc/post?protectID=114185091056056116015102065148021208248144075046167121181">dgreen at c...</A>>
Date:  Thu Oct 18, 2001  2:41 pm
Subject:  Chocolate

    
Just in case you're curious --Documentation for the Chocolate I served at the 
late 16th century Salon at Mists Fall Coronet AS XXXVISources --I got the 
information below from page 36 and 37 of The Feudal Gourmet: A Brief Overview 
of Early Spanish Cuisine, edited by Eden Rain, published by the Madrone 
Culinary Guild. The source Eden used was 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. This is available on-line at <A HREF="http://jducoeur.org/justin/chocolate.txt">http://jducoeur.org/justin/chocolate.txt</A> 
Not all of the article at that URL is quoted below. What is quoted below is 
what appeared in the Madrone pamphlet.***************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, as will 
give it the colour, which is about the quantity of a Hasellnut. Some put in 
Almons, kernells of Nuts, and Orenge-flower-water.Concerning this Receipt I 
shall first say, This shooe will not fit every foote; but for those, who have 
diseases, or are inclining to be infirme, you may either adde, or take away, 
according to the necessity, and temperature of every one: and I hold it not 
amisse, that Sugar be put into it, when it is drunke, so that it be according 
to the quantity I shall hereafter set downe. And sometimes they make Tablets 
of the Sugar, and the Chocolate together: which they doe onely to please the 
Pallats, as the Dames of Mexico do use it; and they are there sold in shops, 
and are confected and eaten like other sweet-meats.How to make use of the 
Chocolate, to be taken as a drinke, exceeding cordiall for the comfort of the 
healthfull, and also for those in weaknesse and Consumptions, to be dissolved 
in Milke or Water.If you please to take it in milke, to a quart, three ounces 
of Chocolate will be sufficient: Scrape your Chocolate very fine, put it into 
your milke when it boiles, work it very well with the Spanish Instrument 
called Molenillo between your hands: which Instrument must be of wood, with a 
round knob made very round, and cut ragged, that as you turne it in your 
hands, the milke may froth and dissolve the Chocolate the better: then set 
the milke on the fire againe, untill it be ready to boyle: having the yelke 
of two eggs well beaten with some of the hot milke; then put your eggs into 
the milke, and Chocolate and Sugar, as much as you like for your taste, and 
worke all together with the Molenillo, and thus drinke a good draught: or if 
you please you may slice a little Manchet into a dish, and so eate it for a 
breakfast: you may if you please make your Chocolate with Water and Sugar, 
working it after the same order with your Molenillo, which for some weake 
stomacks may chance to be better liked. And many there be that beat Almonds, 
and strayne them into the water it is boyled, and wrought with the Chocolate 
and Sugar: others like to put the yelkes of eggs as before in the milke, and 
ever sweeten it with Sugar to your taste: If you drinke a good draught of 
this in a morning, you may travel all the day without any other thing, this 
is so Substantiall and Cordiall.***************Using Cocoa Beans --Since the 
recipe gives the amount of cocoa in number of beans, the first hurdle is to 
determine what amount of beans is equivalent to what weight. Several years 
ago a friend of mine in the salvage business gave me a large quantity of raw 
cocoa beans. To get as close as possible to a period chocolate drink, you 
should start with cocoa beans if at all possible. The modern processes to 
which chocolate is subjected are just that, modern … they were not used in 
period. They do serve a useful purpose; chocolate in its natural state does 
not emulsify. It remains particulate and granular. This is why period sources 
admonish the drinker to stir frequently. It is now possible to get broken 
cocoa beans from Scharffen Berger Chocolate <A HREF="http://www.scharffenberger.com/products/nibs/">
http://www.scharffenberger.com/products/nibs/</A> These broken beans have already 
had the hulls removed, so you need not worry about that step. I have not used 
this product, but I would imagine that you could use them in your redaction 
if you can not obtain actual whole raw cocoa beans.Raw cocoa beans have hulls 
on them. You must gently roast the beans, let them cool and then manually 
remove the hulls. It is best to get your oven warm, spread the beans in a 
single layer on a cookie sheet, and leave them in the warm oven overnight. Do 
not try to speed up the process by using a higher temperature or a larger 
quantity of beans. I lost a large quantity of beans that way … they were 
burnt and had to be thrown out.Redaction --130 shelled cocoa beans weighs 5 
ounces. I had some additional ground beans from an earlier project so I mixed 
those with the freshly roasted beans. This came to 10 ounces. The proportions 
I came up with were as follows:10 oz Shelled cocoa beans9 oz Sugar.75 oz 
cinnamon5 red chili peppers (I used long red ones about the length of a 
thumb).2 oz cloves.5 oz anise½ tsp annatto*half cup ground blanched almonds 2 
Tbl. orange flower water*  Most of the redactions I have seen use annatto in 
place of agiote. I could not find any spice or herb called agiote and annatto 
comes from Central America, as does chocolate. Annatto is a red coloring 
agent. This seemed to me a reasonable substitution. Annatto can be found at 
any store that has a reasonably large spice collection. In San Francisco I 
would recommend Rainbow Grocery.In making this mixture, I used all of my 
grinding machines; the spice grinder, the small food processor and the large 
food processor. The chilies and the annatto seem to work best if you run them 
through the small food processor first and then the spice grinder. I used the 
large food processor to mix all the ingredients together.I served chocolate 
to 20 people using less than a sixth of the mix made with the recipe 
above.Mixing the Drink -- This is where I had to make major compromises. 
These drinks were served to those who passed through our Salon on a Sunday at 
a camping event. It being Sunday, keeping a large quantity of milk in our 
limited ice chest space would have been impractical. Also, mixing the drinks 
and having all of them hot, or at least warm, for serving required 
compromises since the stove was not convenient to where we were serving. 
Instead I put a tablespoon or so of mix in each serving bowl, added hot water 
and finished off with half and half. This was then stirred with a molenillo 
and presented to our guests. I used small wooden bowls for serving because I 
knew the molenillo would fit, our guests would not be stuck with extra dishes 
of their own to wash, and paper cups would have looked cheesy. Also, the 
hostess of our Salon does not like eggs, so I skipped the egg yolk bit.To do 
this more properly (i.e. more closely following the original source), you 
would:Boil one quart of milk. Add three ounces of chocolate mix.Stir with the 
molenillo.Return the milk to the fire.Add two egg yolks to the drink.Mix them 
in with the molenillo.This can also be made with almond milk instead of real 
milk.I have not yet tried it this way, but it sounds yummy. It would just be 
more difficult to do for a large number of people who are not all being 
served at the same time.What is a Molenillo? –This is a tool which can still 
be purchased in Mexico. That's where mine came from. When I visited El 
Escorial in Spain (Phillip II's palace) I was pleased to see a molenillo on 
display among the kitchen tools. This is a wooden stick with a knob at the 
end that goes in the beverage and a loose ring and arched hollows down near 
the knob. If you don't have one, a whisk should work fine. Regardless of 
which tool you use, stick it in the drink and hold the handle between your 
palms. Rub your palms together back and forth as if to warm them. This will 
cause the tool to spin in the drink and mix the chocolate.Solid Chocolates? –
"And sometimes they make Tablets of the Sugar, and the Chocolate together: 
which they doe onely to please the Pallats, as the Dames of Mexico do use it; 
and they are there sold in shops, and are confected and eaten like other 
sweet-meats." I would imagine that the simplest way to create these tablets 
is to increase the amount of orange flower water which is added to the 
mixture. If more liquid is added, the mix would become more of a solid mass 
rather than the powder you get with my recipe. I have not yet tried 
this.Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone who may enjoy 
it. However, please do not cut out my reference to Eden Rain and the Madrone 
Culinary Guild. Her hard work is appreciated and all of the pamphlets in the 
Feudal Gourmet series are very useful.Juana Isabella de Montoya y Ramirez   
    

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