Traditional Mexican Hot Chocolate Recipe | Wanderzest (2024)

FAQs

What makes Mexican hot chocolate different? ›

Mexican hot chocolate contains spices like cinnamon and chili and chopped bittersweet chocolate to create a very rich but less sweet flavor. Whereas traditional American hot chocolate is usually made with a combination of cocoa powder and/or chocolate and tends to be more on the sweet side.

This is the gist of Aztec hot chocolate: mix cocoa powder with chili powder and cinnamon and you've got a mug that's sure to warm you up in more way than one. By the way, we think the best base for this drink is hot milk, not water. (It's one of our favorite winter drinks if you happen to like dipping cookies, too.)

Ingredients. SUGAR, CHOCOLATE, SOY LECITHIN, VEGETABLE OIL (PALM, SHEA NUT AND/OR ILLIPE NUT), ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, PGPR (EMULSIFIER), COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI.

It has a noticeably grainy texture because it's processed only to the “liquor” stage, before it's poured into the disk-shaped molds to cool and harden. Classically, it's flavored with cinnamon and vanilla. To make the drink, this solid chocolate is broken into pieces, then just melted into a pot of hot milk.

Mexican chocolate should taste intense and have a rustic texture. Its flavor is due to the fact that the cacao beans are simply roasted and ground into a liquor, whereas a lot of European-style chocolate takes things a step further, using a conching machine to aerate the chocolate liquor and mellow out its flavor.

Nestlé Abuelita Hot Chocolate Tablets

This is one of the most famous brands of hot chocolate from Mexico.

The original Mayan chocolate drink, known as “chocolatl” or “chocolha” in the Mayan language, was a spicy and bitter beverage made from roasted cacao beans. It was flavored with various indigenous ingredients such as chili peppers, spices (cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) and vanilla.

Centuries later, the Mayans praised chocolate as the drink of the gods. Mayan chocolate was a revered brew made of roasted and ground cacao seeds mixed with chilies, water and cornmeal. Mayans poured this mixture from one pot to another, creating a thick foamy beverage called “xocolatl”, meaning “bitter water.”

Did they drink chocolate hot or cold? Surprisingly, the Aztecs preferred it cold, whilst the Maya preferred it hot! This is a gross over-simplification, but there clearly were cultural differences.

As per the suit, Nestlé USA finds an issue with the distributor importing Mexican products to the U.S. This includes Nescafé, Abuelita chocolate, Nido, La Lechera, Carnation and Media Crema. Nestlé USA alleges that Nestlé Mexico products were never meant to be sold in the United States.

What are the ingredients in Ibarra Mexican hot chocolate? ›

Ingredients. SUGAR, COCOA PASTE, SOY LECITHIN AND CINNAMON.

I'm Interested! Contact Me. For generations, Nestlé Abuelita Authentic Mexican Style Hot Chocolate Mix has been an essential part of the Hispanic kitchen. Its perfect balance of cocoa, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon gives it a distinctively delicious “calor de hogar” taste.

Mexican hot chocolate includes various spices, including cinnamon, cloves, and ancho chili pepper. These ingredients give it a unique flavor that is sweet and slightly spicy.

Sugar Bloom

“The moisture dissolves the sugar in the chocolate and when it evaporates, the sugar crystals re-solidify into those tell-tale spotty white dots and chalky appearance on the surface.”

Abuelita is a Mexican-style hot chocolate also known as chocolate para mesa (English: "table chocolate") owned by the Nestlé company. It was originally invented and commercialized in Mexico in 1939, by Fábrica de Chocolates La Azteca.

Mexican chocolate is made with cacao, sugar, and cinnamon. It boasts a grainier texture than other types of chocolate thanks to all of the extra added sugar. While cacao nibs, sugar, and cinnamon form the base of traditional Mexican chocolate, you may also see it made with almonds, vanilla, or even chiles.

It Started in Mexico

As early as 500 BC, the Mayans were drinking chocolate made from ground-up cocoa seeds mixed with water, cornmeal, and chili peppers (as well as other ingredients)—a much different version from the hot chocolate we know today.

Mexican hot chocolate has a different taste than other hot chocolates, as it has a bold chocolate taste and incorporates spices and flavors like cinnamon. Its unique tablet form creates a frothy and rich drinking experience.

Unlike “American hot chocolate”, Mexican hot chocolate contains less sugar and has a stronger, more intense chocolate taste. It also contains warm spices like cinnamon and cayenne pepper to add an extra dimension to the drink. What is this? Basically, it's divine.