These 3 Mexican Hot Chocolate are the World’s Best!
Now is a perfect time for amazing Hot Chocolate!
And guest what? The best, as listed from an amazing source ‘Consumer Reports’, state they are Mexican! Ahuuaa!
They were compared to Swiss Miss, Guittard, and more. And Mexico came out as 3 winners from a total of 6 hot chocolates.
Here’s best Mexican hot chocolates in the World!
1. The Best Spiced Hot Chocolate: La Monarca Mexican Hot Chocolate.
Price: $8 for 8 ounces
Where to buy: Amazon, World Market
I was delighted when I took a sip of this. The mix, from a Southern California bakery started by two Stanford grads who grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, makes a full-bodied, complex Mexican-style hot chocolate that won’t overload the taste buds with spice. Rather, the cinnamon in this mix mingles beautifully with the chocolate, allowing both flavors to come through in harmony. Joanne says that La Monarca “has a brightness, but with a cinnamon twist.” Althea calls it “best of the bunch,” though notes that a heaping tablespoon of chocolate in the milk will make for a richer, more chocolatey drink than a tablespoon that’s been leveled off.
2. A Drinking Chocolate for Adventurous Palates: Spicewalla Mexican Hot Chocolate.
Price: $14.99 for 4.1 ounces
Where to buy: Spicewalla
You either love this hot chocolate or you hate it. It is quite spicy—I was surprised, and I have such a palate for spice that I once ended up in the hospital from gastritis because I overdid it on some habanero salsa. This likely won’t send most to the hospital, but it’s definitely a bit spicier than what you might expect from a spicy hot chocolate, which tends to be on the milder side of the Scoville scale, which measures a pepper’s pungency and heat. (The scale ranges from 0 to 2 million Scoville heat units—from mild bell peppers to extremely hot Carolina Reapers.) It certainly makes sense how almost over-the-top spicy this hot chocolate is, considering Spicewalla is first and foremost a spice company.
3. A Hot Chocolate for a Crowd: Ibarra Chocolate Genuine Mexican Chocolate.
Price: $2.59 for 12.6 ounces
Where to buy: Target, Walmart
If you want a cozy, sweet beverage to serve at a holiday party, you (and your guests) will be well-served by the hot chocolate from the Mexican chocolate company Ibarra. This hot chocolate is lightly sprinkled with cinnamon which makes it more interesting and complex than your standard sweet hot chocolate. It comes in large discs that are whisked in milk on the stove. One tablet of chocolate is good for 4 cups of milk, and the tablet melts pretty quickly and easily, “much to my surprise, since the mix is in a tablet form,” says Valerie.
A Little History of Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate is an ancient drink. Interestingly, the beverage precedes the sweet, solid versions of chocolate we snack on today.
“Hot chocolate has been made for literally thousands of years, stretching back to the Olmecs, where it was made with ground cocoa beans, water, and perhaps some spices,” says Art Pollard, the owner at the Utah-based chocolate company Amano Artisan Chocolate.
The Olmec civilization thrived near modern-day Tabasco and Veracruz in southern Mexico from around 1200 BCE to 400 BCE. The drink persisted for thousands of years and was still a popular beverage among the Aztecs, who lived in central and southern Mexico between the 14th and 16th centuries. It was bitter, rather than sweet, and often served cold. The Aztecs drank it primarily as a ceremonial and medicinal beverage, and saw it as treating toothaches, diarrhea, and fever.
Evidence suggests that the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés tried chocolate around the year 1518 in the court of Montezuma II, the emperor of the Aztecs. Though the Spanish soldiers supposedly didn’t like the drink much, Cortés was intrigued by the fact that Montezuma reportedly drank it 50 times a day (sheesh), so decided to bring it back to Spain and see what could be done with it there.
“After the Spanish brought cocoa beans back from their visits to Central and South America, hot chocolate found its way into cafes throughout Europe,” says Pollard. In Spain, the drink transformed more closely into the beverage we drink today: served sweet, frothy, and hot. Chocolate houses became popular gathering places for intellectuals, politicians, and other prominent thinkers in Europe and the United States, which began its love affair with chocolate in the late 17th century.
Chocolate remained a beverage “until roughly the mid-19th century when the first widespread production of ‘modern’ eating chocolates and confectionery applications began to appear,” says Michael Laiskonis, a chef at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.
Today, European drinking chocolate—particularly in France and Spain—is richer and creamier than what is commonly drunk in the United States, says Pollard, who notes that it’s typically served in smaller quantities, too. Drinking chocolate remains part of Mexican and other Central American cuisines, according to Laiskonis. “In some regions, it’s prepared by small artisans—and sometimes in the home—where a special lavado, or unfermented cacao, is used,” he says. “Water, not milk, is often the base, as was typical in ancient Mayan and Aztec recipes.”
The Difference Between Hot Chocolate and Hot Cocoa
Though many of us tend to use the terms hot chocolate and hot cocoa interchangeably, they’re not technically the same thing. “Since the FDA defines cocoa and chocolate (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Chapter 1, Subchapter B, Part 163) differently, we can use this as a guide,” says Alan McClure, PhD, a food scientist and founder of Patric Food & Beverage Development. “Hot cocoa will generally include much less natural cacao fat—also called cocoa butter—than would hot chocolate. Hot chocolate is therefore a richer sensory experience.”
If you wanted to make hot cocoa at home from scratch, you would add sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder, such as Droste cocoa, and mix it into hot milk. For hot chocolate, you’d take whatever chocolate bar or chocolate nibs that you prefer and whisk it into simmering milk or water, no sugar necessary.
Expert Tips for the Best Cup of Hot Chocolate
You can certainly add your favorite hot chocolate mix to some hot milk and call it a day, and if you’re trying a new brand, it might be good to keep it simple on the first go. But there’s no need to keep it so simple, especially if you intend to make it a semi-regular part of your winter rotation.
“Heat up the water or milk that you are going to use for your hot chocolate or hot cocoa. Put your mix in your cup. Add just enough liquid to your mix to wet it. Stir until it makes a paste,” he says.
“Add a bit more liquid and stir. Keep adding liquid and stirring until the desired amount is achieved.” With this method, you can more easily control the consistency of your drink—if you like a thinner, milder hot chocolate, add more milk; if you prefer your beverage on the richer side, add less. It also results in a smoother drink with fewer chunks of chocolate or cocoa, says Pollard.
McClure recommends adding cayenne or cinnamon for a kick, while Pollard says to throw in a pinch of sea salt to bring out more flavor from the drink. And consider using half and half instead of milk, says McClure, “then split the serving in two and share with someone who loves hot cocoa as much as you do!”
A mini cup of hot chocolate made with half and half has another benefit: less chocolate. Some research has shown that some cocoa powder and dark chocolate may contain heavy metals, such as cadmium and lead. What I can say is that after drinking six different hot chocolates in a row, I’m going to cool it for a while. One month, maybe two, before I’m ready to experiment with a little cayenne in my cup of Guittard hot chocolate, as a treat.
source: ‘Consumer Reports’.
