Mexican Hot Chocolate

I subscribe to a newsletter from Replacements.com, and recently they had an article about antique chocolate pots, and it included the history of chocolate. I was intrigued by a recipe they included:

"the original cocoa beverage comes from the Mayans and Aztecs, and was often a mixture of ground cocoa beans, water, wine, and peppers. It did not take long for the Spaniards to begin heating this blend and sweetening it with sugar to suit their tastes".

"the first published recipe for a chocolate drink was published in Spain---"A Curious Treatise of the Nature of Quality of Chocolate" by Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma in 1644. The recipe called for 100 cacao beans, 2 chiles, a handful of anise, "Ear Flower", one vanilla pod, 2 ounces of cinnamon, twelve almonds or hazelnuts, one pound of sugar, and Achiote (annatto seeds to color the drink) to taste. All of these ingredients were boiled together and then frothed with a molinillo, a traditional Aztec carved wooden tool".

Up here in the Northwest where I live, it is especially cold in the winter, so I enjoy a cup of Mexican hot chocolate, but I don't follow the recipe above which sounds labor-intensive with all that grinding, finding and purchasing of several exotic ingredients, etc. (what in the world is "ear flower"?). I find it convenient to just buy the tablets of Ibarra brand manufactured at the Chocolatera de Jalisco in Guadalajara. All it contains is sugar, cocoa, and cinnamon. Some of my cousins prefer the Abuelita brand, but I bet that old Spanosh recipe made by scratch would be wonderful (except for maybe the chiles in it---some Kahlua would be better).

I recall my mother making hot Mexican chocolate and using one of those wooden molinillos which was just a stick with a bulbous end with wooden rings around the bottom. She would rub the stick between her palms to froth the drink. I often wonder what happened to that little molinillo.

Emilie
Port Orchard, Washington