BEHIND THE CRAFT
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A Recipe for Aztec Hot Chocolate

Chocolate was drunk rather than eaten for centuries. Montenzuma, the ruler of the Aztec Empire, would drink chocolate out of a golden cup before visiting his many wives, chocolate being considered a powerful aphrodisiac.

He may have drunk something like this: are you tempted to try?

Bring 500ml of fresh water to the boil in a small saucepan. Add a pinch of powdered chilli pepper, a pinch of turmeric, another of powdered ginger and a vanilla pod or some vanilla essence. Mix all thoroughly, then add 5 teaspoons of honey, and bring back to the boil.

Remove from the heat, add 75g of chopped up cocoa paste [cocoa paste is now widely available, it’s made of roasted cacao beans, dehusked, ground, pulverised then pressed and moulded].

Stir until well mixed, then whisk to a froth and serve immediately.

FGCH13105

Himalayan Salt & Caramel Drinking Chocolate Flakes Tin

Net Weight: 200g

Signature caramel flavoured real milk chocolate flakes, with a touch of our special Himalayan salt. A perfect present creating an authentically, rich and delicious chocolatiere - style hot chocolate.

The East India Company - Lifestyle

Chocolate

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£16.00
Originally in Aztec cultures, chocolate was only consumed as a savoury style drink. In the 17th and 18th centuries, The East India Company’s ships returned to Europe with the world’s finest cacao. Initially consumed as a fashionable beverage by members of high society, ‘chocolate houses’ were soon born.
Enjoyed best when made with hot milk and for an extra indulgence top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. 

Ingredients

Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Dried Whole Milk, Cocoa Mass, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Himalayan Salt, Vanilla Extract, Flavouring. Milk Chocolate contains Cocoa Solids 35% minimum, Milk Solids 19% Minimum.


Allergens

Not suitable for nut, dairy and gluten allergy sufferers. Contains soya, milk.

Nutrition

Typical values 100g – Energy: 2217kj/513kcal | Fat: 30.7g, of which saturates: 19.0g | Carbohydrate: 54.4g, of which sugars: 51.8g | Protein: 8.0g | Salt 0.48g


Storage

Store in a cool, dry place avoiding direct sunlight and strong odours.

Stories

The London Chocolate Houses

London arrived rather late to the chocolate party... Cocoa was used as a beverage over 2000 years ago by the Mayans, who, like the later Aztecs, used cocoa as a special occasion beverage, to reward brave warriors and as an aphrodisiac. Both empires also used cocoa beans as currency.

Columbus first brought cocoa back to Spain in 1502 to little acclaim but after Cortes conquered Montezuma and the Aztecs, he successfully introduced cocoa, transformed from bitterness with sugar or honey, to the Spanish court, saying “One of this precious drink allows a man to walk a whole day without taking nourishment.”

Chocolate soon arrived in Britain, being first sold in 1657 in The Coffee Mill & Tobacco Roll. It was all things to all people: to some, as with the Aztecs, it was the viagra of the day; to others including Samuel Pepys, a hangover cure.
London Chocolate Houses also became the fashionable meeting places for the elite of London society, as well as being dens of iniquity for the colourful characters of London. The surviving White’s Chocolate House was like all, an all-male establishment, charging a penny for entrance, whilst The Cocoa Tree in Pall Mall saw Tory strategy developed over cups of chocolate.

The East India Company did trade in cocoa, paying 2 shillings in tax per pound of cocoa imported by 1760, the equivalent to one day’s wages, for these beguiling cargoes of cocoa from far off lands, but in truth was more engaged in tea than chocolate. And industrialisation made chocolate a food for the masses around this time and Chocolate Houses soon fell out of fashion.

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