Winter 2025 | Feature

A Warm Cup of Comfort

A brief history of hot chocolate and how it is consumed around the world.

Maybe, like me, you grew up with the flavor pack of hot chocolate by some national brand, six to a box, ready to be stirred into hot water or (for a creamy variation) hot milk. Hot chocolate symbolized cold weather — in the Midwest of my youth, snow days were a real thing — and toes toasted over the floor heater. After I moved to the valleys of California, where snow on the tops of distant mountains is the winter view for hardly more than a minute, hot chocolate became just a comfort food to sip on the occasional cool night.

I didn’t come close to knowing the history of hot chocolate, or even how to properly make it, until well into my adulthood, and never would have thought that the drink of sweet memory could have such a storied legacy.

Bittersweet History
Chocolate, in its earliest known processed form, appeared as an unsweetened drink, probably primarily used as medicine or in ceremony, in the Mayan and Aztec cultures. It was likely not served hot, was made with water and local spices, and was frothed by pouring back and forth between cups. According to some sources, the indigenous people used chocolate as a form of currency as well as offerings in religious rituals.

It was not a global phenomenon until after the Spanish conquest of South America, and would likely have been disregarded as too bitter by the Spaniards but for the importance chocolate played in the culture of the natives. Eventually, in the late 1500s or early 1600s, the unsweetened chocolate drink was sent to Western Europe, where Spanish monks are credited as being the first to add sugar. From there, through trade, time, and experimentation, it took on a variety of iterations, each a reflection of the culture that adopted it. 

Latin American Hot Chocolates
In Latin America, chocolate consists of a wide variety of hot and iced chocolate drinks, with hundreds of recipes dependent on region or even family. According to the Smithsonian and Mission Chocolate, in Mexico, Central America, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru, the drinks are usually made from unrefined cacao; cracking, hulling, and using grinding and frothing tools are part of the process. Though the historic drink was just ground cacao beans with lukewarm water and achiote (ground annatto seed), ground corn, or vanilla, the most common drink in those regions now — generally known in North America as Mexican Hot Chocolate — refers to a hot sugar-sweetened version with milk and spices such as Ceylon cinnamon, anise, nuts, and seeds ground with the cacao and frothed with a molinillo (a wooden whisk made specifically for frothing the chocolate drink). 

The version more common in countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay doesn’t use the unrefined cacao, but instead incorporates melted chocolate chips or chocolate bars, making it a smoother texture. 

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Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, native to the tropics of the Americas, grown now around the world in tropical climate zones 11 to 13. The scientific name, Theobroma, means “food of the gods” and has been seen as such for centuries. Cacao beans grow inside large pods covered by a white, sticky, sweet pulp that can be eaten fresh. The beans are harvested, fermented, and then dried (in the sun for the best results) before being roasted and ground into chocolate. 

Chocolate can be made at home from unroasted bean to bar with minimal equipment, but if sourcing raw cacao, it is important to buy from reputable vendors such as Meridian Cacao Co. (Meridiancacao.com) or The Chocolate Alchemy (Chocolatealchemy.com), who buy direct and pay the farmers well. 

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VENTURA COUNTY HOT CHOCOLATE

This recipe creates a creamy dark chocolate drink that serves as the base for endless variation. Make it your own by adding more or less shaved chocolate; sugar substitutes such as maple syrup, molasses, or granulated sugar; and your favorite nondairy milk.

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa
• 3 cups whole milk or nondairy milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 4-inch cinnamon stick
• ½ cup cream plus 1 cup for whipping
• 3- or 4-ounce local chocolate bar at least 60 percent dark, flavor of choice, chopped finely or grated
• Optional: 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa
• 3 cups whole milk or nondairy milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 4-inch cinnamon stick
• ½ cup cream plus 1 cup for whipping
• 3- or 4-ounce local chocolate bar at least 60 percent dark, flavor of choice, chopped finely or grated
• Optional: 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Instructions

• In a 3-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, stir sugar, cocoa, milk, water, and cinnamon stick until it comes to a simmer. Add cream and chopped or shaved chocolate and stir continuously until the chocolate is completely melted. Immediately remove from heat.
• In a small mixing bowl, with a wire whisk or hand-held mixer, whip 1 cup cream with the maple syrup (if desired) until stiff peaks form.
• To serve, remove cinnamon stick and pour hot chocolate into 4 mugs and add a generous dollop of whipped cream to the top.

Notes

Variations: 

1. Try changing up the sugar, chocolate bar flavor, and milk for different consistencies or flavors. 
2. At the simmer stage, add any combination of a teaspoon of vanilla extract, whole cloves, whole anise, a dash of ground nutmeg, or a hearty pinch of ground cayenne. Pour hot chocolate through a sieve when serving.
3. For a peppermint or fruity hot chocolate, add a teaspoon of extract (peppermint or orange) when removed from heat. Stir to incorporate. 
4. Sweeten the whipped cream with sugar or caramel. 
5. Add orange zest to the whipped cream.
6. Use marshmallows or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream instead of whipped cream.
7. Add 1 ounce of rum, whiskey, or brandy to each serving mug before pouring in chocolate.