Just bumped into this story, and I have to say is really weird watching how chocolate is perceived in the outside. Mostly because the piece has almost nothing to do with how chocolate in consumend (ceremonially or not) in Mexico. Among the many differences I got, three sprung inmediately:
- When on a ceremonial taking of chocolate, nobody would ever use a cup, you use a jicara, which is bowl shaped, almost always made from wood and you have to take it with two hands
- True chocolate never goes with milk, that's something the Spaniards put into it, Xocolatl literally means "bitter water"; so, you can guess what is the liquid of choice here.
- At least in Mexico, nobody takes real chocolate in powder, that's just not chocolate. It's always in tablilla, wheter in disk or tablet form.
I confess I know next to nothing about chocolate consumption in Ecuador or Perú, but, given that the very name of the drink stems from Mexico, I could share some of the distinctions we have here.
Hola Darío, mucho gusto. I'd welcome your comments and feedback. Correct in principle on all three points, although we might debate the concept of "true chocolate" in the context of the way the world takes its chocolate today. It has been a long journey since the ancient people of Ecuador made their chocolate, and as far as we know, that is the birthplace of this wondrous food. What worries me most is not whether we do chocolate with milk or water but the industrial commoditization of cacao and the forced labor including children that produces so much of the candy chocolate on the market today.
As far as ceremony goes, as mentioned in the post there is a lot to unpack there. This is why I stress the "personal" aspect here—you can make a food sacred to you, in your own way, without appropriating the cultures that created and evolved their traditions over time. (BTW the illustration you see above, is indeed a wooden jicara)
Finally, wholeheartedly prefer chocolate discs or tablets to powder myself.
Dario, great share. I've studied ceremonial beverages in Oaxaca with many abuelas and had such a profound experience. Living in Panama, we too would use jicara, or totuma as we would call them as the drinking vessel, drink without milk and use a round ball of hardened cacao liquor that would be grated into the warming water. I love hearing how other traditions are making their own ceremonies.
It's really encouraging to hear a lot of requests for transparency in sourcing, kind of a close cousin of the way I answered that question.
As a coffee drinker, I can't fathom replacing morning coffee with chocolate, but I can certainly envision a time when it's a regular treat for me and my family. <3
I'd be very much interested to reading your musings on said topic. "Much more to say on this… once the Tour concludes I’ll get back to the stack of posts I’ve got cooking, including on this topic." Warm wishes for a festive season. x, Lyn
Oooh. Cacao instead of coffee. I'm curious. Not quite ready to make that leap as a dedicated daily coffee drinker of decades. But open.
Just bumped into this story, and I have to say is really weird watching how chocolate is perceived in the outside. Mostly because the piece has almost nothing to do with how chocolate in consumend (ceremonially or not) in Mexico. Among the many differences I got, three sprung inmediately:
- When on a ceremonial taking of chocolate, nobody would ever use a cup, you use a jicara, which is bowl shaped, almost always made from wood and you have to take it with two hands
- True chocolate never goes with milk, that's something the Spaniards put into it, Xocolatl literally means "bitter water"; so, you can guess what is the liquid of choice here.
- At least in Mexico, nobody takes real chocolate in powder, that's just not chocolate. It's always in tablilla, wheter in disk or tablet form.
I confess I know next to nothing about chocolate consumption in Ecuador or Perú, but, given that the very name of the drink stems from Mexico, I could share some of the distinctions we have here.
Hola Darío, mucho gusto. I'd welcome your comments and feedback. Correct in principle on all three points, although we might debate the concept of "true chocolate" in the context of the way the world takes its chocolate today. It has been a long journey since the ancient people of Ecuador made their chocolate, and as far as we know, that is the birthplace of this wondrous food. What worries me most is not whether we do chocolate with milk or water but the industrial commoditization of cacao and the forced labor including children that produces so much of the candy chocolate on the market today.
As far as ceremony goes, as mentioned in the post there is a lot to unpack there. This is why I stress the "personal" aspect here—you can make a food sacred to you, in your own way, without appropriating the cultures that created and evolved their traditions over time. (BTW the illustration you see above, is indeed a wooden jicara)
Finally, wholeheartedly prefer chocolate discs or tablets to powder myself.
Dario, great share. I've studied ceremonial beverages in Oaxaca with many abuelas and had such a profound experience. Living in Panama, we too would use jicara, or totuma as we would call them as the drinking vessel, drink without milk and use a round ball of hardened cacao liquor that would be grated into the warming water. I love hearing how other traditions are making their own ceremonies.
It's really encouraging to hear a lot of requests for transparency in sourcing, kind of a close cousin of the way I answered that question.
As a coffee drinker, I can't fathom replacing morning coffee with chocolate, but I can certainly envision a time when it's a regular treat for me and my family. <3
I'd be very much interested to reading your musings on said topic. "Much more to say on this… once the Tour concludes I’ll get back to the stack of posts I’ve got cooking, including on this topic." Warm wishes for a festive season. x, Lyn