18th Century Spiced Hot Chocolate

[@YamiKisara]

Fun fact: sugar cubes are a Czech invention by Jakub Kryštof Rad, the CEO of a sugar refinery (from beets, not cane), who came up with the idea after his wife hurt herself while chipping pieces off of that sugar cone. She was the first person ever to receive a package of sugar cubes. You can find two sugar cube memorials in the town od Dačice, where the sugar refinery used to be.

[@sarahwatts7152]

That's so sweet - in a few ways!

[@melissaharris3389]

Sir Henry Tate (the guy that established the Tate Gallery) made his fortune introducing cubed suger to Britain.

[@undertakernumberone1]

reading "sugar cone" i sitll want Max to make Feuerzangenbowle at some point.

[@sabinegierth-waniczek4872]

@@undertakernumberone1Feuerzangenbowle is delicious and not to difficult to prepare, and I would like to encourage you to treat yourself and try it out. There are many safe and easy recipes available, and it is fun to make! [If you can obtain the *metal "half-pipe"* (or a similar heat-resistant gadget with slits for the liquefied sugar to drip through) to put the burning *sugar cone* on, you only need additionally - a *pot* fitting the size of it, where you prepare a mulled wine in, - *ingredients* according to your *recipe* (usually any red wine, some citrus juices, and spices like those used in gingerbread) - *long matches*, - a *spirit* of (I think this is the correct expression) sufficient "proof" to douse the sugar cone in and set fire to (often a simple *rum of 42vol%* does it, but you can go for the Austrian Stroh-Rum with 80vol% alcohol content to be on the safe side - in any case, please do not ignite anything under your kitchen ventilator!!!), - and *guests happy to join the adventure* -> good to go! It is magical to dim the lights, watch the sugar burn with blue flames, little glowing drops falling into the hot mulled wine underneath, and after that comes the surprise of the unique taste! I really would recommend to invite some people to join in, because Feuerzangenbowle is best made and consumed freshly in my opinion, and it can be a bit much to knock back for a small congregation ;-) . One sugar cone is - in my experience - sufficient for 1,5 to 2,5 liters of wine, and IMO it should be entirely burned in one go, also due to safety reasons. Traditionally the movie from the 1930s or 1940s "Die Feuerzangenbowle", starring Heinz Rühmann, can be watched at the same time for an immersive experience!] Have a happy time, even if you decide against trying it in the near future :-)))

[@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410]

reminds me of the story behind the invention of bandaids, as the inventor wanted to make a more convenient bandage for his wife after she'd cut herself in the kitchen I do believe

[@Pommy727]

Tips for getting the most out of your vanilla beans from a baker: - if you’re not planning on using the whole bean, scrape out the seeds and mix them into sugar to make vanilla sugar. Excellent way to extend the shelf life and use out of your beans, just substitute any amount of sugar for vanilla sugar to boost flavour, especially in chocolate flavoured goods - with the now empty pods, an alternative to making vanilla extract (which can take months) is to dry out the empty pods in a low heat oven. Not only does it make your house smell wonderful, you can then crush the dry pods in a spice grinder and make vanilla powder. Dust on literally anything before baking to provide an aromatic vanilla boost, not to be used as a substitute for extract as this contains just the pods. - an alternative to drying the empty pods is to pan toast them until fragrant before using them to make extracts or syrups for a rich, toasted flavour Vanilla beans are an expensive resource, especially for the home cook. This is how we get our money’s worth both at home and in the bakery.

[@MM-cz1dw]

I love you.

[@Manwitch60]

Thank you, vanilla beans are a luxury, and that is a great way to get your money's worth!

[@felicianomiko5659]

I make extract, then drain out the beans if I don’t plan to use them again, dry them and make vanilla sugar with them. And I store my unused vanilla beans in the vanilla sugar jar too. If I have a big bundle of beans then I just store them in a jar with fresh sugar and by the time I’m done with that batch of beans, the sugar in the jar is also strong vanilla sugar. You can also grind the used beans into vanilla paste. I get the most mileage I can think of out of my vanilla beans.

[@shafffffff]

Tysm❤

[@lenac7352]

Just screenshot this. What great ideas! Thanks!

[@pads6367]

In Mexico we still use a version of sugar cone called piloncillo, which is brown because it's made with unprocessed sugar cane syrup. It tastes great and is used in several traditional desserts.

[@yesibot.2051]

Yup! And it’s also added in champurrado which is a thick hot chocolate 😋

[@LillaIgelkotten]

We call it panela in Colombia, and I agree. It is great

[@angeronal]

@@LillaIgelkotten How interesting! In Mexico, panela is a very fresh, soft cheese that is mild, slightly salty, and delicious!

[@sierrab5010]

It’s the secret to why Mexican products made with sugar tastes so much better than the same product in another country ! Like Coca-Cola for example

[@ColasTeam]

this is literally not true lol we have that in lots of countries and the shape doesnt affect the flavor that much other than making it more concentrated@@sierrab5010

[@zanleekain117]

As a Belizean, i have a suggestion for those who are not quite ready to try chilies with their chocolate but want a slightly gentler intro to the idea, try candied ginger dipped in dark chocolate. Gives you a bit of the nippy bite, the heat, without the chili flavor. ❤ 🇧🇿

[@TheMooreak]

❤ dark chocolate coated candied ginger.

[@kraftzion]

I will be trying that!

[@Beth_Alice_Kaplan]

Mmm, I love dark chocolate covered candied ginger! 😋

[@fluidthought42]

Or use pasilla chilies, which have a more darker, fruitier flavor akin to less sweet raisins than actually spicy.

[@alexgochenour8740]

Ginger is also an anti-inflammatory super food

[@TheSaneHatter]

The "long S" is a calligraphic headache all too familiar to anyone who's read the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence: there have been jokes for ages about " . . . life, liberty, and the purfuit of happineff."

[@Unhinged-Gamer2763]

That’s crazy too 😂

[@dilfhunter13]

Kim Chi must've ghostwrote it

[@ValeriePallaoro]

3:50am here in Aus and I'm laughing ... thanks for that!!

[@JoséM.Alvarez-u4e]

life, liberty, and the parfait of hapiness

[@BogeyTheBear]

Thought the draft which established the Bill of Rights started off with "Congrels of the United States..."

[@bsteven885]

An even BETTER idea for that unused 1/2 Vanilla bean: put it in a dedicated container of sugar, and you have Vanilla Sugar much cheaper than in the stores.

[@yasmin7903]

Much better too, without the bitter aftertaste vanilla sugar tends to have.

[@Junzar56]

Smart!

[@sabinegierth-waniczek4872]

Hi, I often toast vanilla pods in a hot oven (using the heat after baking or cooking something else), break them in pieces, and fill those into a small spice mill -> no need to squish the seeds out and create a mess (my usual method at least *shame*). Simply grind the desired amount into or over dishes/ beverages you want to become vanilla flavoured. I forgot from which vlog I stole the idea, but I did not need to buy vanilla sugar for since about eight years now, as it is in my experience easier and cheaper to use this procedure. I also simply do not like the aftertaste of the artificial vanilla flavoured sugar too much, and prefer the genuine pods. As vanilla prices went through the roof in the last five years, opening opportunities for tampering with the product to economise, I find it easier to keep track of, and choose my preferred level of product quality - but that's just me ;-))) Good day to all!

[@scienceguy8]

I say the best is to put it in a Mason jar full of bourbon or tequila. Makes an excellent vanilla extract. You can use vodka if you want, but you might as well just buy vanilla extract from the store, if you do that.

[@sabinegierth-waniczek4872]

@@scienceguy8Great idea, but not always the liquid form is suitable for a recipe, and I also find a small amount of dried pods easier to store (I already have too many jars full of raisins or berries in rum, please don't tell Cpt. J. Sparrow ;-) ). Vanilla tequila is wicked, before you know it you are in for the mostest bestest hangover of your life, so moderation is recommended! One could even recreate a quasi-Aztec potion with tequila, cocoa nibs, vanilla, and chili peppers - to use only for ceremonial purposes, of course *polishing my halo grinning piously*. [On a side note, please wish me luck, as I am about to try and cook a marmalade featuring Cedro citron, bergamots, and organic lemons, but can not yet muster the courage to face the amount of work involved! It is easier to conjure up boozy elixirs.]

[@QueenWendyLu]

I love the cooking terms we no longer use. Weakened vinegar = half vinegar and half water. Morning milk = half and half.

[@GingerMartinez-h7u]

My grandfather called milk, sweet milk & sour milk.

[@violetskies14]

It was likely called morning milk because that's when the milk has the most cream in it. My grandma grew up on a farm and it was her job to collect some of the morning milk after the cows had been milked and bring it to her mum. It was still warm and she told me how she used to eat the frothy cream on top on her way back to the cottage lol.

[@goukeban6197]

One not often commented on but still quite fascinating aspect of these old recipes is seeing the change in language throughout the ages, not only with the words, but also the verbose way in which people arranged their discourse even for something as mundane as cooking instructions. I find it quite charming.

[@Starmongoose]

ye olde food blogger talking about their life story for 20 paragraphs before getting to the instructions.

[@goukeban6197]

@@Starmongoose "Godammit, Melville!"

[@lenabreijer1311]

As opposed to the ones that give you a list and tell you to cook until done like that previous recipe that didn't get into your version.

[@bluegum6438]

​@@prophet3091A lot of it was due to protectionism, or rather that there was no point writing detailed recipes for amateurs. They were more used as aides memoir for people already extensively educated in the materials they were working with, hence "take a goodly amount of flesshe and broil until it be done"

[@markfergerson2145]

@@prophet3091I got the impression somewhere that that was due to the variable freshness of ingredients like herbs and spices, particularly seasonal ingredients. We all know the vast difference in dried or fresh herbs, which distinction is seldom made in old recipes, hence “to taste”. And that’s for ingredients that still exist in commercially available qualities- bought a bottle of garum lately? What exact flavor contribution did (that extinct Roman herb I can’t remember the name of) make to dishes? It doesn’t help that many of these recipes are for dishes that have gone so far out of fashion that no living person knows what they’re supposed to taste like and can only guess from the recipe, or from descriptions from persons living at the time. Of course the person writing the recipe knew but how do you write that down in anything but generic ways?

[@staciecampbell5078]

We just got back from Costa Rica where we did a chocolate plantation tour. They use the cast off husks to make a tea. It was DELICIOUS and very chocolaty.

[@culinarynerd]

Sounds amazing!

[@AlexandraK1]

oh, yes, there are teas that you can purchase that uses this method, from Yogi tea.

[@leev263]

Fun fact about musk: not only does it act as a base note in perfume composition, it also acts as a fixative chemical that helps keep the other ingredients stable and makes the perfume last longer on the skin. Historical perfumers needed musk to make stable, good quality perfume, but animal musk was extremely difficult to obtain and therefore very expensive. As chemistry advanced there was high demand to develop synthetic musks, and this experimentation also led to the development of artificial flavorings. There’s a great book called The Secret of Scent by Luca Turin if you want to read more.

[@rhettlee]

Off topic kind of, but the movie “Perfume” is amazing.

[@YaYa-ke1zr]

Ambergris is also a fixative that transforms notes in a similar (but different) vein as animal musk. I’ve used both raw materials and they do amazing things in tiny amounts.

[@CalebCalixFernandez]

Conching, the process of grinding cocoa nibs with all of the additives required for the type of chocolate being made, usually takes at least 24 hours. And that's using a conche, a machine specifically made for grinding and keep everything mixing evenly. As for the grittiness, that's the main reason for conching taking very long. Our tongue can detect as "gritty" particles as small as 10 microns, so a long grinding time is required to achieve the smooth texture we expect from chocolate nowadays.

[@whisperpone]

sadly the conches (or also sometimes known as wet mills or chocolate mills) are very, very, very expensive

[@whisperpone]

if you go find How To Cook That on youtube anne reardon does a very good explanation on the entire chocolate making process, including using the proper machine, she seems to have an addiction to chocolate lol

[@CalebCalixFernandez]

@@whisperpone if you're referring to the video where she explains why artisanal chocolate tastes better than factory made chocolate, I've already seen it. It's a very in-depth analysis of the process that I hadn't thought about. I already knew about the chocolate making process because my country grows cacao, so I wasn't too much in the dark about it. Also, who in their right mind wouldn't be obsessed with chocolate? Remember that its scientific name, Theobroma, literally means food of the gods in Greek.

[@TheoRae8289]

@@CalebCalixFernandez I grew up near a kid who had a very unfortunate chocolate allergy.

[@CalebCalixFernandez]

@@TheoRae8289 well, that's a very unfortunate situation indeed. Poor kid wasn't, well, isn't able to enjoy one of the greatest food the New World has.

[@eleridragon]

When I was in my teens (1980's) the Jamaican nurses from my mother's ward used to bring back pure chocolate balls and cinnamon leaves whenever they went back home, and I was lucky enough to be gifted some of them. Honestly, they made the best chocolate drink ever.

[@vbrown6445]

Yes, when I was little, when my family would go back to Jamaica we would always bring back the blocks/sticks of chocolate. My dad made the best hot cocoa, perfectly spiced, thick, frothy, and sweetened on Sunday mornings. It was labor intensive, but we loved it.

[@unit--ns8jh]

My dad brought these from Guatemala, I'm not a big fan of hot chocolate, but this was superb 🙂

[@NothingXemnas]

Another thing worth mentioning is that, in some ritualistic drinks, the chocolate was so concentrated that the theobromine (a chemically similar substance to caffeine) would be at high enough concentration to cause mild hallucinations and euphoria. It is not enough to cause you to "trip balls", but enough for an already religiously aligned person to feel "in contact with the gods". Energy, motivation, clarity, all kinds of positive feelings one would think is a blessing. Today, it is easy to reach the same effect by making a "strong" pre-workout drink. I guess those ancient natives were onto something...

[@ThatGuy-sc5rx]

I once drank too much cacao powder and it made my heart feel really weird. Its definitely a stimulant. Has a different feeling than coffee. Has a bit more of a body load and fullness in my experience.

[@HootOwl513]

Ceremonial beakers that once held cacao were found at Chaco Canyon NM. Very far from its source. Chaco was a trading center of the Ancestral Pueblans.

[@oldasyouromens]

You can get this feeling today also by drinking very small cups of very concentrated tea from the same set of leaves - in Mandarin it is "cha qi" or tea energy, and every tea has a different one

[@thomasbeach905]

The concept of cacao being the “food of the gods “ is the source of the taxonomic name “theobroma cacao”. The active ingredient, then, is called theobromine, which confuses many as it contains no bromine. 😮

[@NothingXemnas]

@@thomasbeach905 Indeed! To add, "theo" would mean "deity", and "broma" is "fruit", both in Latin. And if you think back to every ancient drink around the world that isn't booze or vinegar (fermented honey, grains, fruits or tubers/roots), most of them contain caffeine, theobromine and/or theophylline. Cola, yerba mate, tea, coffee, cacao, all dating 2000 years or more in the past, from every corner of the planet. Humans LOVE that energy zest. No joke, our species are powered by alcohol and energy drinks.

[@JarodCain]

One of the ways I'd always melt the chocolate blocks of Mexican Chocolate (Ibarra or Abuelita) that I'd make, that my grandmother taught me, is to basically boil a small amount of water in the pot (very small amount, like enough to have a quarter of an inch from the bottom) and then melt the chocolate and make sure everything is melted and incorporated smoothly in that first, then let it cool for a bit and then add the milk and heat it up. That way all you have to worry about is frothing it properly and not if the chocolate melted or not.

[@lilypantoja5527]

My abuela also taught me this!! Best trick ever

[@AmethystNotTaken]

I’m trying this for Dia de Reyes, thank you for sharing!

[@quigonkenny]

"Where the bee sucks so suck I" Given Shakespeare's penchant for double entendre, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he wrote that line specifically with the similarity between the long s and the f in mind...

[@0nthemend]

This just made me chuckle and appreciate Shakespeare even more 😂

[@MarsJenkar]

Yeah, I remember when studying Hamlet, that when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern refer to themselves as the king's "privates", the teacher pointed out that no, this was _not_ simply an unfortunate accidental turn of phrase; this was a joke specifically aimed to get a laugh from the Elizabethan equivalent of the peanut gallery. And that was just one of several examples he pointed out throughout the play. I would not put it past old Billy to have specifically written that line with the confusion between the lowercase "f" and the long "s" in mind.

[@anidiquaojala1804]

😂 😊🙌

[@5th_cellar]

@@MarsJenkar Clearly you had a great teacher for pointing that out. We were reading Hamlet in 8th grade, and when it got to the bit about heads in laps and country matters, he just nervously chuckled that Hamlet was being "a little...squirrelly, there..." and moved on. 9th grade, different teacher. Romeo and Juliet. Line about maidenheads went completely unremarked on and probably went over the heads of anyone who didn't already have a sizable collection of their neighbor's romance novels, as the more common modern term was 'cherry.'

[@ashleyobanion5717]

Absolutely.

[@Firegen1]

A perfumed hot beverage Too illegal to be ever brewed The alternative no less average For the genteel, fine wit or shrewd A spiced extravagance to start a Friday Made with nibs, vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom To keep the thoughts of Monday away ☕

[@mylesjude233]

Nice rhymes to start the day chocolate 🍫 😋

[@TastingHistory]

Always the top comment

[@Firegen1]

​@@TastingHistoryauww thanks Boss 💜. Happy Friday! Yay to you coming to UK in June

[@Firegen1]

​@@mylesjude233Best response! Thank you! Happy Friday 🍫💜

[@blunderingfool]

Love it. Now if only I had something stronger to get me through tomorrows's 10 hour shift. Irish coffee anyone? ;P

[@MikeBenko]

American living in Spain here. If you will ever have hot chocolate in Spain, you'll notice the similarities...but also some differences. Hot chocolate in Spain is much much thicker than in the US, also a lot less sweet. It's almost like a melted down dark chocolate candy bar, it's sweet, but not that sweet. It's also usually served with churros or porras (a thicker churro) which are actually salty and are dipped into the hot chocolate.

[@BSWVI]

Sounds divine!!

[@pirateyarn6331]

This! I had hot chocolate very similar to this when I was in the Canary Islands a few years ago. It was delightful.

[@Nixx0912]

Churros and chocolate were my principal food while visiting Barcelona and Madrid, honestly I didn't needed much more food after that during the day.

[@jeromethiel4323]

American hot chocolate *IS* too sweet. Chocolate is best, IMHO, when you can taste the bitter of the chocolate along with the sweet.

[@trinklest]

Just how he described the recipe he made in the video!

[@sidhackney8831]

2:57 There's a very simple explanation for both forms of "s" being used in this word - the "f" version is called "medial" because it's the version you use if the letter comes in the middle (or beginning) of the word. The "s" form is reserved for the end of words.

[@RichWoods23]

And this was a practice which was adopted into English thanks to Greek, where a medial sigma is written differently from a final sigma. The Greek final sigma looks very similar to the modern Roman 's', but is written with a descender below the line rather than on the line. The usage was more formal in Elizabethan English onwards than it was in Old English. (Apologies if I've used unclear terminology here -- I remember this mostly from a passing introduction to typography that I received back in the late 1980s.)

[@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts]

Hebrew does the same thing, for example the letter Nun looks like a straight bracket: "]" but at the end of a word it becomes a line, "|". The letter is called "Nun sofit" when at the end of the word.

[@mimsredjelly]

And the German ß is actually a ligature between a long and regular s

[@windhelmguard5295]

@@mimsredjelly it doesn't really effect how long the s sound is, mostly it actually modifies the vowel that comes before.

[@mark314158]

​@@mimsredjelly Long s and z.

[@MyName-tb9oz]

You're the best, Max. There are so many, "content creators," that just make videos intended to make people angry. You make people happy.

[@kayjacoby290]

Don't waste half a vanilla bean - use it to make vanilla sugar. I have a 2nd sugar canister that I keep toss vanilla bean pieces into, and add sugar as I use it. Okay, a 4th sugar canister - white, brown, powdered & vanilla. Oh wait, and I have turbinado that I use to top muffins; I may have a problem...

[@slwrabbits]

in my view, you have the opposite of a problem :)

[@mauveferret7076]

I'm fine with my cheap beaver butt vanilla.

[@wandamontgomery6030]

Do you just put it in with the sugar,?😊

[@NOLAfugee]

Funny thing about "Ye Olde" I recently learned is that there was a character in an old language that looked similar to a "Y." Ironically, it's pronounced "th." Thusly, the proper way to say "Ye Olde" is "The Old." 🤭

Yes! It’s called “Thorn” and appears in older Teutonic languages (the Germanic-Scandinavian family of languages). It symbolises the sound ‘th’ (in its voiced fricative form, I think (so more ‘thee’ than ‘thing’), but I might be wrong with that detail).

[@kimvibk9242]

The letter in question is called 'thorn', and it is part of the runic alphabet brought to England by the vikings.

[@lakrids-pibe]

Þe olde The letter is thorn or þorn (Þ, þ) I really wish English would reintroduce eth (Ð, ð) and thorn and get rid of the th-digraph.

[@jimboyson3245]

The 'e' at the end of 'olde' died out as a common pronunciation in the early 16th century, I think. Words that came into the Irish (Gaelic) language at around that time preserved the 'e' sound; siopa (Gaelic)- shoppe (Eng.), cota (Gaelic) - coate (Eng.).

[@halo7oo]

@@kimvibk9242 The English had thorn in their alphabet long before the viking age. The Anglo-Saxon (and Frisian) runic alphabet (The fuþorc), was in use when they lived in Denmark and northern Germany.

[@DarthZino93]

One of my favorite parts of Tasting History is seeing what Pokemon plushie is and connecting the dots in my head with how it relates to the dish/history lesson.

[@SingingSealRiana]

Yeah, ITS adorable

[@jens-techlog]

In Germany, smaller sugar canes (250g) are used for Feuerzangenbowle. A variant of mulled wine where the sugar cane is soaked with rum put on top of the pot of mulled wine and set on fire. The burning sugar then drops into the wine.

[@thayrathyn]

And there is singing while it burns! At least in the Hungarian students traditions, which were taken from the German ones

[@WastedTalent-]

I'm guessing that's where they learned it from when filming "From Hell" and had Johnny Depp doing it with Absinthe. Now, idiots around the world think that's how you drink Absinthe.

[@resourcedragon]

_That_ sounds like fun!

[@angelikalindenau943]

That'll be a fine recipe 😊

[@carlottevelthuijs7029]

Feuerzange is delicious! I always go get it at weinachtsmarkte

[@cascode1192]

Musk sticks have been popular in Australia since the 1920s, but they have been eclipsed this century by many new sweets that are now available. They are a sugary fondant, either soft or firm, which is extruded as sticks with a star shaped cross section. They have a dusky aroma similar to rose, vanilla, patchouli and other flowery fragrances and a sweet “musky” rose-water flavour. My grandmother loved them. They don’t use animal-gland derived musk, but rather an imitation musk however I don’t know its composition. More recently sweets with the same texture and shape have appeared with lime, lemon, pineapple and other flavours, but the pink musk ones are the original.

[@willam1992]

he pink musk ones are the original. and the best

[@jakasmalakas]

Yep loved these growing up

[@MKR5210]

I hate that a lot of these "old fashioned" sweets disappear. My favourite that is hard to get and bloody expensive is Parma violet fondant in dark chocolate ❤️ Or as described by Fortnum and Masons where you can still buy them loose.... Parma violets ENROBED in chocolate...🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@reicrystalline2506]

i found musk flavoured food flavouring (in Australia) made by "Queen" food colouring brand. I didn't know it was such a rare flavour!

[@torashiki5646]

Chocolate for beverage is still sold in solid ''bar'' form in many places of south america. Its usually similarly spiced. The one I buy on occasion is from Peru.

[@kramermariav]

Has anyone else just eaten one of those like a Hershey bar, or is it just me 😅

[@rizkiramadhan9266]

Man that must be hard to find

[@kramermariav]

@@rizkiramadhan9266 not in Southern Colorado, where I live

[@Beth_Alice_Kaplan]

My bestie likes to buy the solid disk drinking chocolate from a Mexican company named Abuelita that started up the late 30s. I not overly fond of it, and I wonder if tasted better before it was sold to Nestlé?

[@AngieBee-uz1tw]

@@rizkiramadhan9266 You can look for Ibarra or Abuelita. They're both disks meant to make hot chocolate.

[@lagggoat7170]

9:00 the way the hardened paste looks makes me remember when I was in Tenerife as a kid and we bought chocolate that turned out HORRIBLY hard to eat. You had to scrape it forcefully with your teeth to get even a hint of it off the main body (I ended up gnawing its corner with my molar like a dog would a bone). And it tasted unusual, not bad, but not quite like regular chocolate. Looking back and watching this video I bet it was something similar to this paste, intended for hot chocolate instead lol. Thanks for solving this childhood memory for me!

[@patron8597]

That does sort of sound like it was baking chocolate. Then again, maybe some countries sell chocolate of such a consistency as sweets.

[@krankarvolund7771]

@@patron8597 I've ate baking chocolate, it's hard but not gnawing like a dog hard XD

[@junova7503]

Was it in a disk shape? It indeed sounds like chocolate designed for hot chocolate. A couple brands that make it this way which are super common are Ibarra and Abulita (Abulita being owned by nestle).

[@BeaGamusina]

Most likely, it was the chocolate we use to make hot chocolate for churros. When I was little, I used to pretend I was a little mouse because yes, you have to gnawing at it to be able to eat it. If you cook it with milk, the result is really similar to Max’s hot chocolate: thick and rich. And most of the times, they already have the cinnamon and/or vanilla already infused. So same recipe, but easier and quicker to do.

[@Syrkyth]

9:30 You could get it refurbished and functional again! Electroplating the inside with silver or copper would make it shiny like new (and food safe)!

[@Dewkeeper]

Tinning would also be an option wouldn't it?

[@ellaisplotting]

That would be wonderful! It's gorgeous and in otherwise good shape, it deserves to be used!

[@marcowen1506]

Re-tinning the inside is a skilled but not difficult job. I'm sure that somewhere in the continental US there is is a tinner. Or Max can wait until he's next in the UK...

[@BRTowe]

Honestly, I'm just filling it with vinegar (which is just a mild acid) for 12-24 hours would probably clean it right up.

[@ValeriePallaoro]

I know!! I sincerely wanted to call him up and say 'do it!' That's a charming little pot and deserves to be renewed and used again!

[@mitspeiler]

My great grandma would mill her own cocoa nibs as recently as the 60s, my mom has anecdotes about helping her work. They used a metate, a volcanic milling stone. You use a rolling motion rather than smashing it down like a mortar and pestle

[@mercurywoodrose]

Just boughtt a giant granite Metate, very smooth interior I think it’ll work great for grinding cacao Nibs Probably still need to be a masochist to do it

[@E.C.Animation]

I have cacao powder with a touch of maple syrup as hot chocolate practically every day. I usually add a little of other things like matcha, moringa, raspberry, slippery elm or spiralina. Sometimes I make it with coconut water without the maple syrup. I find it helps with my chronic illness. Thank you for this classic recipe, I'll have to try it sometime. :)

[@gwenivercall]

Re Pepys: He had a bladder stone removed in 1658, and decided to hold a 'stone feast' every year on that day, to celebrate surviving surgery (without anesthetic or antiseptic) - there are some amazing feasts recorded! I first heard about it in a series called 'Supersizers go . . . Restoration', in which Giles Coren and Sue Perkins spent a week eating only the food of an era, in this case the Restoration (which is the most hilarious as you see them slowly losing it through the lack of vegetables, fruit, water, tea) - they reproduce one of Pepys's stone feasts and it is something else (you can find all the shows on youtube).

[@RobWords]

2024 is not going to get any better than a surprise plug on one of my favourite channels. Thanks Max!

[@ohariana3150]

“Is there anything better than a cup of hot chocolate? No.” This man spits nothing but facts 🙌☕️🍫🙌

[@TastingHistory]

😂

[@Justanotherconsumer]

Hopefully not spitting the chocolate. It does make a mess.

[@AsaM00RE]

I am from Tucson, and I go to Mexico often. Here there is a drink called Champurrado that is made with a Mexican chocolate product like the brick you produced spiced and thicked with corn flower. It's like thick slightly sweet hot coco or thin pudding.

[@joebidenofficialpotus]

There is a similar recipe in the Philippines also called "champorado", but some ingredients I suppose are changed

[@fluidthought42]

You can also make it with maizena too, or cornstarch as it's called in English. Basically any corn stuff that makes it thicker and tastier, the kind of drink that gives you a nice warm hug on the way down.

[@Reshigekko]

Glad you like it.

[@evelyntan5588]

In the Philippines, a country which was colonized by Spain for 300 years, champorrado is made with tableas (pronounced tab-lay-as) which are 1.5” unsweetened cocoa tablets, sugar or condensed milk and glutinous rice. It is typically served at breakfast with salted dried fish for that interesting sweet-savory combination of flavours.

[@oxvendivil442]

Here in the Philippines we also have this too, especially on the cacao growing regions, we call our choco frothers Batirol which is similar to the Mexican one, cacao comes in tablet/disk/lozenge form called Tablea, very thick and dark stuff usually without milk, no spices, has sugar and sometimes some salt as well and for those in the capital usually served with churros or fried dough pastries sometimes with cinnamon sugar or salt, the bread thing is dipped on the cup and the rest is drank, I think the Churros was a Chinese salty pastry that the Spanish copied. Nowadays it is rare to consume it like this, hot choco is either just instant powdered stuff or melted Tablea without the Churro.

[@salvasaren329]

You could have a jar of sugar, and whenever you have half a vanilla bean left, or whenever a recipe does not call for the skin, you stick it in there. Not only the sugar will take the vanilla taste; eventually the vanilla beans will become dry enough to grind them up and add them back to the sugar.

[@someperson4819]

"Drinking 50 cups" and that's where the term, "Montezuma's Revenge' came from.

[@TastingHistory]

😂

[@windhelmguard5295]

guy probably couldn't shit for a month after that.

[@deniaridley]

LOL

[@kiriaioulia]

This reminds me of a drink my Yia-yia (Greek for Grandma) would make: Salepi. Apparently it was the "coffee" before coffee. Pinch of cloves, 1/4 tsp each: Cardamon, Ginger, Cinnamon and 1 tsp cornstarch. mix together and make a slurry with 1/8 C milk. Set aside. On stove, heat 1 Cup milk with 3 tbsp sugar to a hard simmer, stir in slurry and whisk to froth! I LOVE THIS DRINK! You should give it a try! (I think it's the pre-cursor to chai)

[@StonedtotheBones13]

Maybe I'll actually like cartoo cardamom in this 😂 Isn't chai Indian tho?

[@SingingSealRiana]

​@@StonedtotheBones13yeah, but since there IS No tea in IT IT IS Not a chai

[@kiriaioulia]

@@StonedtotheBones13 Chai is a Hindu word in origin, but each country around the ancient trade routes had their own version of it.

[@kjarakravik4837]

I'm from Macedonia, but I always figured salep was a Turkish drink in origin. Agreed that it's delicious even though I've only ever had the instant salep from packages

[@kiriaioulia]

@@kjarakravik4837 I never knew it other than from what my Yia-yia made! Seems like this would be a perfect topic for our host Mr. Miller to search out for us - plus, it's so good, why not have some to drink, too!!!

[@sparagnino]

In Italy hot chocolate is still very dense, you can eat it with a spoon like a slighty liquid pudding. We often get disappointed when ordering It in other countries 😅

[@jesuscoutofandino6280]

The best ones in Spain are the same, but yea, some places do the watered down thing.

[@krankarvolund7771]

I think to get something like that, you'd need to melt down baker's chocolate in your milk, instead of powder cocoa. Cocoa powder had been extracted of all the cocoa butter, to preserve its shelf life, but it's the butter that gives this very rich and dense texture, and it's kept in baker's chocolate ^^

[@sparagnino]

@@krankarvolund7771 25 gr of powder + 125ml of milk for every person. Simmer it while stirring with a wooden spoon until it boils. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes.

[@jesuscoutofandino6280]

@@krankarvolund7771 There are even specific chocolate tablets for making "chocolate a la taza", cups of chocolate. But yea, baker's chocolate works too.

[@LePetitNuageGris]

I really like chocolate pots de crème, though they are served chilled. But it provides a super silky smooth chocolate custard experience, and with some whipped cream on top… move over hot chocolate. lol But I’d love to try what you’re talking about as a hot addition to my chocolate repertoire. It just reminded me I haven’t made pots de crème in a while. So thank you for that!

[@lilykep]

I like to make my hot chocolate with 60% Ghirardelli chocolate chips. I basically make a ganache then I lighten it with vanilla whipped cream. It is not a cheap drink to make but I *adore* the richness. Plus the chocolate chips means I can make it a cup at a time instead of having to make a whole pot.

[@pinkroses135]

🤤 Another reason to keep chips/chunks on hand

[@la_scrittice_vita]

11:50 "With honey is not the same" but I would give it a go with Hot Honey as a shortcut to adding a little chili burn.

[@Zahaqiel]

Can confirm: attempting to process cocoa nibs even in a food processor is hell. It takes _a while._

[@molivah]

Dang, I was hopeful that doing it in my food processor would be faster. Thanks for reporting in

[@Electric999999]

I'm surprised it's possible that fast at all, chocolate is usually left in huge grinders for hours or days by modern manufacturers.

[@Zahaqiel]

@@molivah When I tried it in my food processor after the Aztec chocolate video, it took about an hour and I'm not sure I really got it properly liquid. Admittedly it was a food processor, not a blender... some blenders can be quite powerful. But yeah, I was concerned about the motor overheating and had to turn it off several times to give it a break.

[@Juleesuz]

Good to know about the food processor too. I was wondering about that. Thanks!!!

[@amandagreen4332]

Ann Reardon showed how cocoa beans liquify in a grinder- and the grinder takes hours to work. I pity any poor food processor set to the task!

[@ArchArturo]

In Mexico we have Piloncillo, which is unrefined cane sugar, shaped into a cone. It is really good… Also, speaking of the Aztec in how they drinked their chocolate, I did drank a similar chocolate, and… it is bittersweet (they did add some sugar if you wanted) and spicy, but, in a place like Tepoztlan, those are good qualities for the weather 😂.

[@storyspren]

Honestly it wouldn't surprise me at all if I heard that ol' Willy Shakes was using that f/long-s confusion on purpose for that bee line. Like a visual pun, where we get the double meaning from the similarity between letters rather than sounds.

[@counter10r]

Shakespeare wasn't writing for the page (and even with the s, the song is pretty lascivious). But I warrant there were some juvenile pressmen who got a laugh whilst setting type (they didn't call 'em printer's devils for nothing).

[@ellenspear50]

I was thinking about Despina stirring the chocolate in Cosi fan Tutte as soon as I saw this video. I remember well her exclamation of delight after trying it. Thank you, Max.

[@RobinHoodsBarn]

In Santa Fe, NM there is a wonderful shop called Kakawa Chocolate House that makes "drinking chocolates," based on historic recipes -- some 18th-century European or Colonial, and some based on Mesoamerican recipes. They come as a powder that you can mix with water or milk at home. Fascinating to try the different combinations!

[@Mote.]

I love that thumbnail and the "No" to the question at the beginning.

[@elizapi314]

cocoa powder leaves out the cocoa butter, which is where a lot of the richness comes from. Proper unsweetened baking chocolate (100%cacao - not unsweetened milk chocolate) is basically just a smoothly machine processed form of the cocoa that they would have been buying back then.

[@helenscoffield]

Thick chocolate is how the spanish came up with churros y chocolate, for dipping. In Guatemala we have local pan dulce, champurradas and a variety of afternoon breads sold by friendly ladies with enormous baskets of them to their neighbours. Gossip exchange included.

[@christophermeixell4978]

per 8:43, I make hardened blocks of this as well, grate it with a cheese grater, and store in the fridge. Then to make one cup, add a couple spoonfuls to a mug of water/milk and microwave it. The small, grated pieces melt very quickly.

[@anakreyszig303]

Wow! This reminds me of the hot chocolate we used to have at breakfast when I was growing up in Puerto Rico. It was prepared with Menier chocolate, broken up and melted into milk, with a little bit of cinnamon to taste. It looked just like that: thick and velvety, very rich. It was particularly popular around the holidays and (strangely) when hurricanes were threatening.

[@Fluffymonkeyem]

I love the Robs Words mention! That guy's channel is really good. Especially if you like words, linguistics, history, anything in that vein.

[@adeniaflinn6763]

I'm gonna have to check it out, sounds right up our alley

[@theamazingwallymtg]

Put that remaining half of your vanilla bean in some sugar and let it sit so you can use it later to make brulee

[@ulrike9978]

I was about to make the very same suggestion😅 It´s also great for baking!

[@theresafisher4545]

Oooh yum! 🤤

[@morganalori]

sounds like when making the hard base, use ice cube trays so you have smaller chunks. Love how expressive you are, your face lights up when the taste is good. Your joy of "yes, it's yummy" comes through clearly. As does the less than yum. Thank you for bringing so much joy and yummy history to us.

[@DaniComfort]

Hi Max, I've been watching your videos for a while and love them! I made your hot chocolate a few days ago using Lindt 75% bars because I was NOT going back to stores this close to Christmas and that was what I had on hand. Then I got out my trusty medieval cookbooks (Pleyn Delit, Plenti and Grase, Curye on Inglysch among them) and looked through my spice shelves to see what I could come up with. I ended up with almost the best hot chocolate I have ever had. I should have used less sugar, and maybe more cardamom. I ended up using 85% and 90% Lindt bars, vanilla bean, ground cinnamon, cloves and allspice, long pepper, grains of paradise and cardamom. Ground up the last three in my mortar and pestle and then used that and some sugar to grind up the vanilla bean. It was amazing!!!! On another note, I just made clotted cream for our Christmas morning scones. Turns out you can use UHT pasteurized whipping cream, although I'm Canadian and I know our milk is different. The clotted cream is still good, but not as good. And for New Year's I will be making the Byzantine Honey Fritters. I adore, but fortunately I absolutely despise deep frying, otherwise I would be eating them all the time. Keep up the good work on your channel, I love all the history bits.

[@hanzquejano7112]

A lot of Filipino dishes actually use achoite as coloring. They're also common ornamental plants in Filipino households.

[@m.h.6470]

Fun fact: If you take one of those "long s" next to an old style "z", you end up with something that looks remarkably like "ß", the special German character that makes a hard "ss" sound. Because that is its origin. It is literally just the letters "sz" melted together to form one new letter.

[@phileas007]

more fun fact: the Germans literally call this letter "s-z"

[@m.h.6470]

@@phileas007 *some Germans, not all of them

[@katherinewilson1853]

In Old English it is written: "hlafdige," for example, meaning, "lady." The printed character shifted when the printers were developing new letters in the Middle English period. The final shift occurred during the Early Modern. Shakespeare is considered Early Modern. The pronunciation is not as sharp as the American, "f" and no hard, "Ha," but a softer, "lav-dee."

[@m.h.6470]

@@katherinewilson1853 and what does that have to do with the "long s"? We are not talking about any actual "f" here!

[@katherinewilson1853]

@@m.h.6470 It's part of its English history in the character's history in Old English, which is different than the German history. The fascinating history of OE is intricate. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_English

[@Hatsworthful]

Honestly the sheer amount of time and effort necessary to make the hot chocolate really helps put in perspective how 'instant' instant cocoa really is, though nowhere as rich in flavor as the long-form cocoa.

[@CidVeldoril]

Cone sugar is still a thing here in Germany, although it's mainly associated with christmas things like Feuerzangenbowle and mulled wine.

[@maxredjasper55]

And in parts of Wisconsin. There's a store near my Grandmother where they sell cone sugar for mulled wine. But then again, Wisconsin has a huge German and Polish population.

[@AeriSoondingie]

In Colombia that’s how we bought and make hot chocolate at home, it comes in this big long tablets of the mixture you made, since it’s processed in factory there’s no gritty to it and also we make it directly on a chocolatera, a special jar looking pot you put directly on the stove filled with milk, you drop the amount of tablets you need, usually one tablet per cup of milk, and you stir it with a molinillo as well until the hot chocolate boils. The biggest differences with Mexican hot chocolate is that after it boils we will take out of the heat the chocolate just before it spills then we will repeat that boiling and withdraw at least a couple times, some people (me included) will do this up to 10 times; this will air the hot chocolate and give it an special smooth taste and thick foam, then once serve we pair our hot chocolate with cheese in it, which a lot of foreigners found weird too, including other Latin countries hahaha. It really was interesting to found out through you Max that the old way to bought pre-made chocolate for hot chocolate is the norm even nowadays for us, I mean I’m so used to it that I never questioned before why we don’t bought powdered chocolate or melt chocolate like most countries 👁️👄👁️

[@along5925]

I'm so glad you shared your experience with the little antique chocolate pot. When I first saw it, I fell in love with it and had visions of tracking one down and enjoying the hot chocolate on a cold rainy day with a good book and my little cat napping nearby. Saw the view of the pot inside and decided upon a new fantasy. 😢

[@lisahinton9682]

I love spices in hot chocolate. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, next b to Mexico. Many friends have offered me their abueala's (grandmother's) recipe, invariably delicious and delightful. I'm looking forward to this. Thanks, Max!

[@TastingHistory]

I’m from Phoenix!

[@lisahinton9682]

@@TastingHistory Wow, two things! We are neighbors, annnd, I got a reply from @Tasting History with Max Miller - what a thrill!

[@FelisTerras]

Where I live, at times you can still find sugar cones in certain shops. And yes, spiced chocolate is bee's knees; though I love to add ginger a well. And, at times, a dash of rum. Edit: there are two 'confiseries' in my town that serve hot chocolate made from actual chocolate bars/squares. A bit pricey, but well worth the wait and cost.

[@TastingHistory]

That sounds magnificent

[@Immopimmo]

That's how drinking chocolate is sold in Norwegian stores. It's really good. Just break off a piece and melt in in hot milk. ❤

[@lambert801]

Sugar cones were a staple where I live until about 10 years ago. They're still common enough.

[@katarh]

We have a chocolatier in my city that also still sells hot chocolate made in this manner. It's soooooo good!

[@BowserTheSecond]

Sweet, sweet Clodsire. Nothing could be more perfect than him for a comforting cup of hot chocolate.

[@motsuuuu]

SOMEONE SPOTTED IT i was waiting for someone to notice the pokeplush!

[@ladybirdgirl88]

I don't know why but that Clodsire plushie looks so cursed to me 😅😅😅 They did him dirty 😢😢😢

[@erinmcgrathejm4985]

Mild reference to the ambergris from the first recipe?

[@nyratk1]

@@ladybirdgirl88 Looks like one of the recent crane game prize Clodsires from Japan.

[@ericachacon8337]

This is really similar to Mexican drinking chocolate- you can buy it in those dried, pre-sweetened pucks, break pieces off & whisk it w/ hot milk. It's also typically spiced w/ cinnamon, vanilla & dried chili peppers. Delicious!

[@laranaarana]

Catarrh means catarro in Spanish (a cold) and molenillo is used very comonly in the Central American region countryside to mix drinks

[@jaehaspels9607]

When I visited Oaxaca, Mexico, I bought dry cakes of hot chocolate that you melt in hot milk and then froth. It's delicious and I just use a whisk by turning it quickly between the palms of my hands, in the jug. This episode reminded me of that.

[@cyrena65]

Do you know if you can order it online ? A friend brought some chocolate back for me but didn't remember the vendor he got it from. I'm just wondering if anyone knows how to purchase some of that lovely stuff.

[@Little1Ela]

​@@cyrena65There is a pretty famous brand called "abuelita" chocolate that comes in tablets you dissolve in hot milk or water. It's a Mexican brand that is pretty common in the US.

[@katherinewilson1853]

@@Little1Ela yes!

[@Yessica13]

​@@Little1Ela Abuelita not a Mexican brand. It's owned by nestle. One Mexican brand that is common in the USA is Ibarra.

[@Little1Ela]

@@Yessica13 there is actually a lawsuit from nestle because it is a product that was only offered for Mexican markets. This product has been around for ages in Mexico. It was made in Toluca Mexico and has just recently been available in US. It is traditionally a Mexican product.

[@Getpojke]

Max you can get your chocolate pot re-tinned. I've had some of my copper pans re-tinned here in the UK & when I was looking for someone to do it a couple of places in the States came up on the list. They usually polish up the outside too & the pot will look wonderful & be usable again.

[@ValosiTiamata]

Rob Words is such an underrated treasure, so it's great to see that channel mentioned here. It would be interesting to have a kitchen collab one day with Rob explaining some etymology. Or, better yet, perhaps get together for an episode on the history of alphabet soup! Hand-liquefying chocolate is still done in Japan to this day. They use a special rolling pin that does a better job of crushing and spreading the oils. While no longer done for large scale production, you can often find vendors at certain traditional festivals who will use fresh, hot roasted cacao and liquefy chocolate right there for you.

[@justinwilliams7290]

I have a modern chocolate pot with a frother that I think came from either Williams Sonoma or something like that and I use it ALOT in the winter to make terrys chocolate orange hot chocolate!

[@sylviachown2971]

Thanks

[@erickoontz6835]

Hot chocolate is still sold on the street in Spain at any time of day or night, and is very, very thick. So thick, in fact, that it is sold with several “churros,” something like donut sticks dipped in sugar. It’s particularly popular to go for hot chocolate after you’ve been out clubbing all night. Drinking and dancing lead to chocolate drinking before heading home for a little sleep. I would love to see you prepare chocolate con churros on one of your videos. lovely Max!

[@AwesomizedArmadillo]

I was about to mention this! It's funny going out at 8am on a weekend in Madrid because the majority of foot traffic is people walking back home from the train station after a night of partying instead of going towards the station to go somewhere

[@krankarvolund7771]

I've never wanted to go to Spain, but now I want to try those XD In France, we only sell Churros in fairs or in christmas markets and tehy're served with sugar or nutella ^^

[@nothingruler14All]

Yes, I would love to know the history behind this! Do it, Max!

[@shinyshinythings]

@@AwesomizedArmadilloEven better, for those of us who didn’t party all night, is churros y cafe, grabbed at any little bar on the way to work. ¡Viva España!

[@trenlin]

I buy cacao powder that is in the "superfood" section of the grocery store. The powder sits right beside the nibs. They are exactly the same ingredient.

[@brunodonzelli7912]

As far as I know besides some processing difference that may affect the taste, nibs still contain cocoa butter while the powder does not contain cocoa butter. They are not the same.

[@trenlin]

@@brunodonzelli7912it's not cocoa powder it is pulverized cacao nibs.

[@DH-xw6jp]

​@@trenlinyour comment says "cacao powder" so don't be surprised when people think you are talking about cacao powder and not crushed nibs.

[@trenlin]

@@DH-xw6jpso anyway, I buy pulverized cacao nibs in the superfood section of a grocery store.

[@AshleyOlivia90]

In Ever After the Spanish monks “keep sending bricks of the stuff” and it is “positively divine” 😂🙏🏻

[@katherinewilson1853]

The monastery reports in some cases crack me up.

[@ThisCharmingBat]

One of my favorite films!

[@MamaZapha]

AS TO THE ANTIQUE POT: That interior coloration is actually likely a layer of tin. You can actually still have the plot re-tined and it would be good to go. 😊

[@hfar_in_the_sky]

10:39 I kind of want to find a way to slip “Loathsome to such as are not acquainted with it!” into a conversation somehow

[@jimmypad5501]

In my 20s before grad school I used to work as a historical interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg (about 13 years ago) and while I was there we renovated and re-opened with much fanfare Charlton’s Coffee House, which was a real coffee and hot chocolate house in Williamsburg in the 1760s and 70s that became a hotbed of American revolutionary ideas. CW Visitors who tour Charlton’s get to taste 18th century hot chocolate. I’ll never forget the taste, nor the faces of 21st century people getting to try this old style hot chocolate for the first time. I’m going to have to buy some cacao nibs and try my hand at this recipe (or should I say ‘receipt’ to keep it 18th century lol).

[@moonbeam8438]

This recipe reminds me of a Mexican hot chocolate brand that my mom would buy as a treat every now and the when I was a kid, it was called Abulita's and it was hardened, spiced, chocolate, kind of like what this turned into after it the cacao dried but shaped into wafers that were pre-scored for individual servings. Heat up some milk and use this and it was so rich and delicious, the spice flavors were very unique and different then what you would normally find in an American or western drink

[@honeybadger1847]

Yes! This is available even at Walmart. The aroma is heavenly.

[@perfumistaful]

Hello... you can use ambrette seeds for musk, they are seeds of the hibiscus plant but smell just like musk and are totally edible. They are often ground into coffee in certain middle eastern countries. They are used all the time natural perfumery for a musk note.

[@sndgo1]

Molinillos aren't used only in México. We use them in Colombia also to make our hot chocolate. And we also use hard sugar, except ours isn't in cone shape, but usually squares that is called panela. We also make hot or cold agua de panela, literally panela water.

[@dominiqueferate532]

I'm missing some agua de panela con limón.

[@dominiqueferate532]

Max, another wonderful episode. I've been watching since mid 2020. A Colombian panela block is a block of unrefined sugar and it's color is sort of an orange-ish tan. To make Colombian style chocolate, you boil the unrefined panela in water and then the chocolate tablet (some of which already have granulated sugar in them) in the panela solution. In the US if you cannot find panela or a Colombian brand of chocolate tablets you can borrow some Mexican ingredients, instead of panela you can use piloncillo (unrefined sugar) and for the chocolate bar you can use Ibarra or La Abuelita, two brands found in everyday supermarkets. I also like Mexican champurrado. I made some Mexican chocolate during the holidays- we don't have a lot of shops with Colombian ingredients in the US Pacific Northwest. I have been interested in the manufacture of chocolate since high school when we had to read a short passage from colonial-era Mexico in making the chocolate bars and they mentioned also using red wine in addition to cinnamon and warming spices so I watched with interest both chocolate episodes. Maybe I'll also try the European-style chocolate some have commented on and melt some baking chocolate and then add the spices. Churros with chocolate sounds wonderful.

[@Matt-jc5zm]

When I'm fasting; I always forget to refuse to watch these videos. I always want whatever it is Max shows off. Every single time.

[@Matt-jc5zm]

Also, there are Indian (From India between Europe and China) stone grinders, who's entire purpose is to slowly grind spices into pastes. This same device can be used for cacao nibs. Even though it's not cheap enough for anyone to buy- I'd like Max to show it off and maybe it'll get popular enough to be more mass produced and more affordable.

[@CJNine]

I am so very amazed at the amount of historical research you do Max. Thanks for the thoroughness. Love your channel.

[@fridocalifornia6276]

Suger Cone also called Sugarloaf is the mountain peak in Rio de Janeiro , Pão de Açúcar.

[@theresamc4578]

There is a Sugarloaf mountain in Maryland, I had thought it had been named for a type of bread, but this is much more likely, and show how old some of the place names in the US could be.

[@dongcampbell]

Mars makes American Heritage Chocolate which is very similar to this and can be used in baking or drinking. It can be hard to find but has become a favorite in our house. We were first introduced to it at Colonial Williamsburg.

[@OverlordMaggie]

Max! Long-term watcher. I usually *do* make hot chocolate by melting a chocolate bar in milk, and I do add some spices - mostly cardamom, nutmeg, and a pinch of clove and dried ginger, and I add the spices while the milk is heating to steep!

[@pierre6625]

Max, you are so good at reporting History to us. You obviously put a lot of time into finding the information about the recipes that used to be back in history. So much information on every topic you present. Much appreciated, Best Regards.

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

It’s funny because we commonly mix spices into chocolate baking recipes and know how delicious that can be but we’ve made “spiced” hot chocolate seem more like a specialty, that it’s for some reason not the norm (at least that’s what big name brands and chains will have you thinking) I think we’re often lead to believe something is a new combo when it’s actually got a long history, I love reading everyone’s comments about what their favourite combo is and that they grew up doing it😊 I’ve been known to add a pinch of cayenne to mine to give it a subtle kick😉

[@hollish196]

I would love to see you do a show with the Townsends--cooking over a fire, with time period ingredients. The info about cocoa nibs is completely fascinating!

[@daviddebroux4708]

4:48 I only just noticed the Clodsire Sir Max Miller you are a man of culture.

[@lyndaniel3369]

Cinnamon has one of the strongest smells in the spice family, although I think cloves is stronger. Cardamom is one of my favorite spices. Thank you so much, Max, for all your work to recreate the 18th Century Spiced Hot Chocolate. Thank goodness the lady printed the recipe! (What a shame---only recently do we find that sugar is highly addictive---not that it ever stopped anyone from enjoying it---but it is important to know why it is hard to stop consuming sugar.)

[@amandafletcher4379]

It blows my mind that I found your channel years ago, and now I see how many views/followers you have. The video quality is SO good. You're so talented and every video just makes me so happy for you! I bought your cookbook but my kids take up all my time (that and being an E.Chef). Someday I'll get to read the whole thing! Either way great video and I just had to tell you how happy i am for you and how proud of you I am for your channel taking off the way it has!

[@Danny.._]

the long s being used at the same time as the short s (as well as just one type of uppercase s) comes from the way the greek letter sigma had two forms and they were used on the same way: only one form for uppercase, one lowercase form (long s) for an s that appears at the beginning of a word or anywhere within it, and a different lowercase form (short s) only for when s is the last letter of a sentence, or sometimes as the second s when two are in a row in the middle of a word. there's also a german letter, eszett (ß), that used to just be a long s followed by a short s, that first got its own combined ligature for printing, then eventually graduated to being its own letter.

[@froddobaggins]

Dang that looks absolutely scrumptious. We only have Swiss Miss at the office, I guess that'll do for now.

[@TastingHistory]

Nothing wrong with Swiss Miss!

[@Chocobo0Scribe]

I like to mix my Swiss Miss with coffee!

[@EthanDyTioco]

@@TastingHistory Sam O'Nella 's video about it would politely disagree lol

[@bryan314]

Nothing stopping you from adding a touch of cinnamon, some cardamom and maybe a drop of vanilla extract...make your co-workers wonder what you're up to. :)

[@TDAEON]

Gotta have the wee dehydrated "marshmallows " in it, though.

[@cindy7733]

This was so fascinating! Thank you for posting and sharing! The hardened form of chocolate that you said would've been sold back then reminds me of the Corte bar of chocolate used to make Cuban Hot Chocolate today.

[@tsaehtron]

Wow This is my first time to this channel and I love it! History AND cooking AND old texts! subscribed already :)

[@georgepattersonruinskyIII.]

7:17 KITTY!

[@johannapyle-carter8223]

I love how you can do a second episode on the same dish. It’s so cool to see cacao’s transformation after it crossed the Atlantic.

[@tmmle7]

Buy an electric spice or coffee grinder, it save a lot of time when grinding in bulk. They are found in major department grocery stores, give a little shake while grinding to even out the ground.

[@lunondisposable5382]

I first heard of cinnamon in hot chocolate as a kid reading A Series of Unfortunate Events, and ever since it's been my absolute favorite way of drinking it. Just adding a cinnamon stick to a packet of Swiss Miss makes it 10x better.

[@pamsobaski537]

Martha Washington drank cacao tea, George acquired roasted cacao shells from the apothecary and she brewed tea from them, they had to drink something after they dumped it in the harbor not only in Boston but also in South Carolina!! You can still purchase it today. I drink it all the time and prefer it with honey!

[@therongjr]

Holy smokes, you made Abuelita!