Chocolate was first cultivated by the Ancient Mayans, however the way they consumed it was not much like the sweet treats we know today. Their preferred method of consumption was a thick, bitter, frothy drink served cold. This instructable chronicles my attempt to make such a beverage.
I feel the need to point out that this is more of a historical experiment than a recipe. The results will most likely not be to the taste of modern people. However, if you're interested in experiencing the past through your taste buds (however painful the process ~.^) read on!
I feel the need to point out that this is more of a historical experiment than a recipe. The results will most likely not be to the taste of modern people. However, if you're interested in experiencing the past through your taste buds (however painful the process ~.^) read on!
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Signing UpStep 1: Ingredients
First of all, we need to gather our ingredients. We need:
- 1/2 cup raw cocoa beans
- 2 medium sized dried chilis
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- ~6-8 cups water
- honey to taste (optional, and not entirely accurate)
This will make about 4 mugs worth of the concoction. I made it a mug at a time trying to refine the recipe. More on that later.
Yes, the picture shows cinnamon sticks, and my original attempt involved grinding the sticks in my mortar & pestle with everything else, however, unless you are an authenticity masochist (which I occasionally am) I recommend using ground cinnamon. Grinding sticks in a mortar and pestle is hard as heck, and trust me, you'll be doing enough grinding. (Also, I'm not sure cinnamon is entirely accurate, but I'm not going to sweat that now)
The only ingredient that I anticipated having trouble finding was the raw cocoa beans, however I found them quite easily at my local health food store. The package billed them as a "raw superfood" so I tried one raw. I don't recommend it... Moving on...
- 1/2 cup raw cocoa beans
- 2 medium sized dried chilis
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- ~6-8 cups water
- honey to taste (optional, and not entirely accurate)
This will make about 4 mugs worth of the concoction. I made it a mug at a time trying to refine the recipe. More on that later.
Yes, the picture shows cinnamon sticks, and my original attempt involved grinding the sticks in my mortar & pestle with everything else, however, unless you are an authenticity masochist (which I occasionally am) I recommend using ground cinnamon. Grinding sticks in a mortar and pestle is hard as heck, and trust me, you'll be doing enough grinding. (Also, I'm not sure cinnamon is entirely accurate, but I'm not going to sweat that now)
The only ingredient that I anticipated having trouble finding was the raw cocoa beans, however I found them quite easily at my local health food store. The package billed them as a "raw superfood" so I tried one raw. I don't recommend it... Moving on...
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Grinding the beans: I know an old Samoan lady who makes a drink called Koko Samoa, which is pan roasted cocoa beans that are ground, re-formed, and dried, then later grated into boiling water with sugar; it is delicious! But my point is that to grind the beans, she uses a glass bottle full of water and a tupperware container - says it works way better than a mortar and pestle. Maybe it's worth a try?
Some ideas:
1.- Roast cocoa beans at a lower temperature for a longer time. Burnt beans will taste bad. that alone could ruin the whole thing.
2.- Use just a little chile, and bea in mind that there are many different types of chiles. Some are smoky, some add color, some are very hot.
3.- Use just a little corn flour or masa so it won't thicken too much
4.- to make it froth in Mexico we use a molinillo or Mexican Whisk (see pic). It is moved between the palms of your hands and will surely make it froth. A modern approach woudl be to use a Moulinex type submersible blender.
While most historians say that chocolate was consumed in a wasy similar to what you made, others say that honey or agave nectar was used to sweeten it.
Good Luck!
I think your meant to let it stand for a day.. (ferment) add a pinch of yeast or leave it on the porch in the wind.
oh and cooking over an open fire would add a bit of smoke and wood ash (alkaline) to mellow out the acids and help convert the corn.
things cooked out doors taste different...
love it!
And yes, it´s suppose to tasts bad. It wasn´t until some nuns in a convent added the cinammon and the sugar that this drink began its road to stardom.
And the frothing won´t work unless it has the most important ingredient, supplied later by the french: milk.
Today the drink does not contain chilis or cornmeal. That would be closer to champurrado--made with cornmeal, chocolate and brown sugar.
And the chili and spices mixed with chocolate and sugar make Mole, a dark sauce served over chicken and pork meat.
Nevertheless, it was a good try and an entertaining read.
They did have vanilla and corn flour. Corn flour must have been used the same way as in atole.
Chocolatl is a Nahuatl word, not Mayan. The Mayan word was cacao.
Very interesting instructable.
there is a Chilli called Mulato pepper, and it is not very hot, You can get it between mild and medium.
and about The corn meal, They had many types of corn, and one was right for this..
I love the attempt !
For what do we live otherwise ??
Another thing: did you strain this concoction? This will certainly make it less harsh.
Anyway, glad to see you did not go blind or anything ;-) Nice job!
I did try straining it in one of my attempts... perhaps the cloth I was straining it through was too fine, but it seemed to take out most of the chocolate along with the lumps, and what I got looked kind of like dirty water
Thanks for putting it up, regardless of the flavor.
On a further note, the name of this drink is chocolatl. It also commonly contained chicken or beef broth.
And the only reason I know this is we are currently in a home-school co-op on pre-Colombian civilizations and just finished studying Mayan culture and we made this (we left out the chiles to make it more kid-friendly)...everyone loved it! We used a Mexican brown sugar as a sweetener...
That being said, I tried it without cornmeal in a couple of my trial runs, and it wasn't all that nice then either, in fact the bitterness was even more pronounced.
I would think cornflour might be better than cornmeal, as it is ground much finer. I truly admire your diligence and persistence, honestly it LOOKS great in the photos. All that work deserved a vote imo.
here's one place where I found quite a bit of info http://www.fmnh.org/chocolate/about.html
It's not strictly "historical" in that there aren't any writings on how to make it (which would make it more experimental archeology than history I suppose...), only art on the vessels used to drink it showing the process of making it, and some analysis done on residue in the vessels to see what was inside.