Watch a Modern Chocolatier Use an Ancient Technique to Make a Delicious Hot Chocolate Drink

[Judi Lynn]

BY COLIN GORENSTEIN
 SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

You won't find any modern culinary bells and whistles at Chocolate D' Taza. This fourth-generation chocolatier, located in the town of Antigua, Guatemala, is using ancient Mayan techniques to produce a deliciously rich hot chocolate drink.

The family-owned business uses a 3000-year-old technique to produce their handmade chocolate, which takes four days to make. After cacao beans—or "the food of the gods," as they were once called—are gathered from the fruit, they're roasted over an open fire until a char develops. The beans are then placed on a traditional grinding stone called a metate.

Though it might have been more common for their ancestors to add corn and chili to their cacao concoctions, the artisans at Chocolate D' Taza opt for a mix of cinnamon, cardamom, and sugar.

Once turned into 4-ounce chunks, the chocolate is cut into tablets on a special plant-based mat called a petate and divided in fourths, which can then be added into 90°F water. The temperature has to be just right to melt the chocolate to create a delicious Guatemalan hot chocolate.

More:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/504360/watch-modern-chocolatier-use-ancient-technique-make-delicious-hot-chocolate-drink

[Xipe Totec]

1. Del Tropico - Ruben Dario

...

Y la patrona, bate que bate,
me regocija con la ilusión
de una gran taza de chocolate,
que ha de pasarme por el gaznate
con la tostada y el requesón.

https://www.poemas-del-alma.com/del-tropico.htm

Ruben Dario immortalized the preparation of chocolate by that ancient method in this, one of his most famous poems.

[Judi Lynn]

4. So glad to see this poem, and learn about Ruben Dario.

People really love him. He writes so well.

Good for Nicaragua, and his readers everywhere.

[Xipe Totec]

2. And the other reference is the title of that novel "Like Water for Chocolate"

Which means to be hot enough to melt chocolate.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Never knew that, until now! Thank you. n/t

[Xipe Totec]

5. Should have said hot enough to dissolve chocolate

In Mexico, the expression "Like water for chocolate" means to be in a heightened emotional state; near the boiling point. An appropriate description for the subject of the novel. But it can also mean at the point of exploding in a rage of fury.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Thank you for the deeper explanation.

Had no idea after hearing that title originally.



Did hear the plot explained once, it really sounds interesting.

Thank you.