Ghirardelli hot chocolate

[mindstalk]

So, not long ago I talked about the hot chocolates I've had in this town, from fancy stuff at the bookstores to stuff I walked away from in Soma. I speculated there was a powder vs. syrup thing going on. Recent evidence suggests just a quality difference. I have a canister of Ghirardelli powder which I don't use very often, but have twice recently, and both times have been quite good. The cup just now had that "liquid chocolate" taste and feel to it. More specifically:

Tonight's cup: I used the label proportions, one cup of milk to 3 tbsps of powder. Result was pretty rich, though there were also little clumps of undissolved powder.

A few nights ago: I accidentally used more milk than recommended, maybe 1.6 cups. Result was still good, and no clumps. I also made that neo-Aztec style, as I'd told chefkatsuya, with cinnamon and a bit of cayenne. I'm not sure what to say about that, though I could feel a burn as I approached the bottom of the cup.

Milk both times was organic, which might not matter, and whole, which probably does.

Comments

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia has various pages on chocolate, and Dutch-process vs. natural (Dutch is apparently deeper, but destroys the flavonols). It also says European hot chocolate is often made directly from melted chocolate. Actually chocolate used to mean 'hot chocolate', until candy bars became popular. Hot cocoa and hot chocolate are sometimes distinguished based on cocoa powder vs. solid chocolate base.