“Love is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time.”
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| Traditionally, a chocolatera (aluminum pitcher placed directly on stove) and a molinillo (wooden mixer) are used for the process |
This summer, I had the awesome opportunity to travel to Colombia with family friends from my congregation in Lynbrook, New York, who were headed back to their country for the first time in ten years.
It was an awesome time. I learned how to shower with cold water (it's actually not all that difficult to learn, just takes some manuevering); observed bargaining between my friend and the people selling bags, key chains, and odds and ends on the streets; and ate tremendously well - empanadas, pan de bono, strange tropical fruit.
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| A bread you can dip in hot chocolate - Buñuelos |
But the best part of the food was breakfast.
Every morning, we would wake up to the smell of Marta, this family's good friend, making Colombian hot chocolate, and if you've never had Colombian hot chocolate, it is something you should do. It is most definitely a piece of folk knowledge that should be continued to pass down. See here for a recipe.
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| Milking a cow at Panaca, a petting zoo (just thought it was kind of appropriate) |
Colombian hot chocolate brought families from the local congregation in Palmira, the town where we were staying, together at our house there. I remember one occasion, sitting around the dining room table with little boys flying around the room chasing a puppy and adults in laughing conversations, all of us sipping Colombian hot chocolate and eating flaky, cheesy, fresh Colombian bread. It was late at night, and everyone was ready to be genial (from the people I met, it seems Colombians are pretty much always genial).
The wife of the head of the congregation there, who has two little boys and is learning English, was sitting at the table talking to my sister and I. "How do you say to learn?" she asked in Spanish, and as we laughed over how strange the words "to learn" sounded after so much Spanish, I realized the magic of this magical moment - one combined with really good, dark hot chocolate.
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| A depiction of Aztecs drinking xocoatl |
As you've probably heard before, the beginning of hot chocolate was a drink made by the Aztecs from the cacao pod of the Mayans, together with wine, peppers, and spices. It was called xocoatl (travel here for more hot chocolate history). The following video is a version of hot chocolate (not Colombian), but illustrates one of the various ways to make it. The traditional way to make Colombian hot chocolate goes like this - heat the milk or water in the chocolatera or in a saucepan until almost simmering; add in the chocolate pieces (a bar of chocolate like the brand Sol was created for just this purpose; when melted, add in the cinnamon; and then use a molinillo for maximum frothiness. Molinillos have been used to foam the chocolate since the time that the Spaniards brought the drink over to Europe in the 1500's. Hot chocolate, especially made traditionally, gives us the opportunity to pass down folk knowledge through the generations. Besides providing all those wonderful antioxidants, which are even more apparent in dark chocolate than in tea or wine ;) (you can read about the health benefits here), hot chocolate enables people to come together, to eat, to talk, and sometimes to share cultures. There is something magical about hot chocolate in the way it comforts and connects us. And it has been used to do so for centuries. As Montezuma may have once said, "[Chocolate is] the divine drink, which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this permits a man to walk a whole day without food." |
There have been many posts about food, but I think that's because of the power it has to bring people together. We all need to eat, we all need to nourished. This reminds me of an ongoing discussion we had in my English class junior year. We were talking about symbols in literature, and we came to the importance of communion, not in the sense of a Catholic sacrament, but in the case of coming together and eating. Almost always in literature, and in other forms of art, eating brings people together and unites them. We can see this even in the Bible where Christ has the Last Supper as a form of communion with his beloved apostles. Like Rachelsaid, making hot chocolate creates more than just a great drink.
ReplyDeleteI think hot chocolate is an especially interesting topic because of its connotations. When I think of hot chocolate, I think of those cold days in winter when snow litters the ground. I am also reminded of my 5th grade class in elementary school where everyday in the winter, we would drink hot chocolate during class. While our stomachs were being fed, so were our minds.
The history also adds depth that proves hot chocolate not only as a delicacy but as a medicine, a gift to be shared down through generations.
I will be reading this post once the snow hits! I like how Summer mentioned connotations assocaited with hot chocolate. I would like to add how symbolic hot chocolate is as well. Its best when its not too hot, but just hot enough to create a burning sensation inside your chest so much that it relaxes the soul. The most common description for feeling the spirit is described as a candle being lit inside one's chest. Sipping hot chocolate is a special representation of that spirit of love, confirmation and friendship that we all feel even in the dreary winter.
ReplyDeleteYes! Thanks for these comments! They are great. :) I am a super-chocolate lover, and I really do believe it does good things for the soul. It's interesting how something we do every day, just eating, can at some points be done just for survival, and at others bring people together. In terms of early civilization, maybe even eating together WAS a form of survival. I know with my roommates eating together means I get a really awesome meal when I might not otherwise have it. Also, in my Spanish class today we talked and read about the culture of food in Spanish-speaking countries, and how meals are a much more social thing. Afterward, people will sit at the table for a long time, for after-dinner chit-chat about everything - popular headlines, daily schedules, family stories, DEFINITELY a place for the sharing of folk knowledge. How cool is that?
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