Chocolate and hot peppers are notoriously good together. Aztecs did this all the time but there was no sugar in the chocolate, which they served as a hot drink. I'd try this combo if I weren't allergic to peppers. It's intriguing.
I've wondered abut Aztec chocolate for a long time. Since childhood I've heard that they served it as a hot drink, but I've never heard a description of how it was prepared.
On a related note, for several years I've been wondering how well it would work to take whole, roasted cocoa beans and grind them the same way one grinds coffee, and prepare a drink that way (well, "those ways": drip, Turkish, espresso, etc...) And, of course, I've wondered whether that has any relation to how the Aztecs did it.
The last time I went looking for cocoa beans (about two years ago, IIRC), I was only able to find places to buy them by the shipload (I'm not sure I even saw trainload quantities, and I know I didn't see anything as small as a truckload available). Sooner or later I'll find some place that will sell me a pound of beans to experiment with.
Basically, ground cacao beans (our cocoa powder is a much more recent invention), ground spices, and boiling water. Or so I've read--I've never done this, being fond of my hot chocolate sweet and made with milk.
I routinely put cinnamon in my hot chocolate (and often one or more of vanilla, salt, and orange extract); I should try a bit of hot pepper sometime.
This may sound like a stupid question but how do you get the cinnamon to not just float on top of the drink? I've been buying tea bags with cinnamon already in... Or do you use cinnamon sticks rather than ground powder?
My procedure (taken off a Droste cocoa box) is to mix the cocoa powder, sugar, and spices together in the mug; add milk, a little at a time, and mix until it makes a paste. Then, when the milk is hot enough, pour it into the mug and mix until the cocoa/sugar/spice paste is dissolved.
Oh they probably noticed but had no idea how you'd gotten the effect. :-) The interaction of peppers and chocolate (both at "enough to taste hot" and "can't taste the peppers as peppers" levels) is pretty neat.
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I added some Taco Bell Fire Sauce to chocolate cake mix once. No complaints. I noticed the difference, I'm not sure anyone else did.
Something else -- use bbq sauce or other liquids with instant biscuit mix.
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I'd try this combo if I weren't allergic to peppers. It's intriguing.
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On a related note, for several years I've been wondering how well it would work to take whole, roasted cocoa beans and grind them the same way one grinds coffee, and prepare a drink that way (well, "those ways": drip, Turkish, espresso, etc...) And, of course, I've wondered whether that has any relation to how the Aztecs did it.
The last time I went looking for cocoa beans (about two years ago, IIRC), I was only able to find places to buy them by the shipload (I'm not sure I even saw trainload quantities, and I know I didn't see anything as small as a truckload available). Sooner or later I'll find some place that will sell me a pound of beans to experiment with.
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I routinely put cinnamon in my hot chocolate (and often one or more of vanilla, salt, and orange extract); I should try a bit of hot pepper sometime.
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