Mexican Warmed Chocolate Drink: Champurrado

This is a warm chocolate drink thickened with corn flour, which is finely ground just like all purpose flour. It is not the cornmeal used to make American cornbread or Italian polenta. You want to limit the amount of corn flour, or you'll end up with chocolate pudding, which isn't a bad dessert, but this is supposed to be a beverage. If the mixture gets too thick, thin it out with some warm milk. In more recent times, Mexican chocolate is pretty easily found in supermarkets (it may be in the Latino section) and it certainly is available in Latino shops and stores. I'm sure there are several brands, but in the U.S. I've commonly seen "Ibarra" and "Abuelita" (owned by Nestlé). The solid chocolate form comes in a hexagonal box, and the chocolate comes in discs or tablets of about 3 inches in diameter, divided into quarter sections. Piloncillo is whole cane sugar, brown in color, that comes in blocks, rounds or cones. It too is available in some supermarkets, but it is easily found in Latino shops. You can substitute brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar). 

 

Ingredients (2 servings):  

2 cups milk (I use canned evaporated milk, not sweetened condensed milk)

1 whole round of Mexican chocolate 

1 cinnamon stick of about 2 inches

2 tablespoons piloncillo or dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons corn flour

2/3 cup warm water

2 teaspoons grated dark chocolate 

In a heavy-bottomed pan add the milk, the Mexican chocolate, brown sugar/piloncillo and cinnamon stick over medium heat. Keep stirring to prevent any sticking, and you can certainly lower the heat too, if you'd like.When the chocolate and sugar are dissolved and mixed in, remove the cinnamon stick and take the chocolate mixture off of the heat. Whisk together the corn flour and warm water until smooth. Return the chocolate to medium heat, then whisking constantly, add the corn flour/water mixture to the chocolate, then add the vanilla extract and the pinch of cayenne pepper, whisking to mix well. When the mixture begins to lightly boil, reduce the heat to low. Continue whisking and cook over low heat until the chocolate thickens. Top each serving with a teaspoon of grated dark chocolate. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Cranium-This word is related to "corn" (not the noun meaning "grain," but rather the noun meaning "thickened, hardened patch of skin"), a Latin-derived word borrowed by English from French, to "corner," also Latin-derived and borrowed from French, and it is related to "hart" (male deer), "horn" and "hornet," all words from the Germanic roots of English. "Cranium" goes back to Indo European "ker," which meant "horn, head;" thus also, "top." This gave transliterated Greek "kara," meaning "head," also secondarily, "top." This gave Greek "kranion," which reversed the "a" and "r," and meant "upper section of the head, the skull, top of the head." This was borrowed by Latin as "cranium" meaning "skull." English borrowed the word in the early part of the 1400s as "craneum/cranium."