Liza talks Hot Cocoa
The Mayans are believed to be the first hot cocoa drinkers 2000 years ago.
Then the Spanish arrived and said “Hello, mind if we kill you and take your Cocoa back to Europe.” The Mayans replied,” Keep your uncivilized paws off our cocoa.” So the Spanish shared their guns, bullets first, and took the hot cocoa back to Europe along with a great deal of gold and artifacts.
[Liza’s historical depiction of the Spanish Conquest may be slightly oversimplified.
Thus, Coco arrived in Europe in the 16th century, no doubt traumatized by the Mayan massacre and then the stop off in Mexico where some crazy person added chili peppers to the recipe.
The 16th century version wasn’t initially sweetened and was dreadfully bitter. However, it was valued for medicinal purposes. (We now know cocoa is extremely rich in antioxidants, far more than either red wine or green tea.)
When someone in the 17th century said, “E’Gad’s this is bitter, let’s mix some sugar with it, the future of cocoa changed forever. The nobility went crazy for the sweet drink, despite its outrageous price of 10-15 shillings a pound.
To give you a sense how much that was, a laborer would have to work 60 hours a week for about a month to buy one pound of chocolate. And when he brought home the chocolate and said, “Look what I bought with a month’s earnings”, his wife would kill him and find a new husband.
Back in the 17th century their recipes for hot cocoa were different from the Victorian era (which is close to what we have now.) Back then, they put hot chili peppers in the drink. Other ingredients they used included vanilla, cinnamon, and of course: SUGAR. One recipe also added anise, while another added cloves.
By the 18th century most everyone had dropped the chili peppers from their cocoa, while increasing the sugar content. (I call this the Coming of Their Senses.)
Early in the 19th century, a Dutchman, invented a machine that could separate the cocoa butter from the seed and grind the cocoa seed into a fine powder. If you wonder why a Dutchman invented this, then you’ve not traveled to Nederlands in the winter. It is damp, cold, and windy. You really need hot cocoa! (I speak from personal experience.)
Back to the invention. Having separated the cocoa butter from the chocolate powder, now chocolate bars could be made by adding some, but not all the cocoa butter back into the mix. Also, the powder could be mixed with water and milk to create a hot cocoa (then, once poured, you would add the necessary amount of sugar to suit your tastebuds, just as you did for coffee or tea. The cocoa pot had a short spout because a) it didn’t need a long spout to filter out errant leaves & stuff necessary when drinking tea or coffee, and b) because you had to constantly stir the cocoa mixture or all the particles of chocolate would sink to the bottom. For some reason they preferred to stir it from the spout instead of removing the lid. (I presume they did not wish it to cool down too fast). I blame this high maintenance serving issue for the reason cocoa never became as popular as tea and coffee in the 19thcentury.
Without question, it was better health-wise for you than either tea or coffee, or at least should have been. The milk industry had problems in the Late Victorian era often selling contaminated milk. If your milk is contaminated, it would probably undo hot coco’s heath attributes, but the same could be said if you put milk in your tea or coffee.
Like tea and coffee, cocoa has caffeine. The amount depends on how much chocolate seed you have in your mix, and that remains a mystery even today. When they give the content of chocolate it includes the cocoa butter (which has neither caffeine nor antioxidants). The amount of cocoa butter can vary greatly. However, milk chocolate and white chocolate will have more cocoa butter, less caffeine and less antioxidants than dark chocolate.
The difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate is simple: Cocoa butter. Hot cocoa is made from cocoa powder (which has most of the cocoa butter removed) while hot chocolate is chocolate (which has some cocoa butter returned to it) melted into a liquid, normally mixed with an equal mix of milk and water.
While writing this, I decided I needed a bit of cocoa, or in my case, hot chocolate, since I poured two handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate drops into my mug of very hot tea. Then I stirred, and stirred, and kept stirring between every sip. Between the caffeine in the chocolate and the caffeine in the tea, I am quite buzzed right now.
In the Troublesome Apprentice, Vic is constantly drinking hot cocoa. Xavier hates the stuff. Davy likes rum added to his hot cocoa, but then he has a cold.
The Adventures of
Xavier & Vic
–
Book 1
The Troublesome Apprentice
By Liza O’Connor
The Key to Aunt Maddy’s Death
The Missing Husband of Mrs. Wimple
The Disappearing Scarlet Nun
The Clever Butcher’s Wife
The Rescue of Lady Anne
While investigating the death of a friend and client, Maddy Hamilton, Xavier Thorn (reputed to be the greatest sleuth in England) is greatly impressed with Maddy’s nephew, Victor, and offers him a job as his secretary. Aware of Xavier’s history of firing secretaries, Victor garners a promise that for three months he cannot be fired. Vic then proceeds, in Xavier’s view, to be cheeky and impertinent at every turn. Xavier endures the impudent pup because Victor is most skilled in extracting the truth from clients and intuiting facts with little evidence to assist.
As they solve a string of cases, Xavier discovers a few more important details about his troublesome apprentice, such as her true gender, and the realization that she has awakened his long dormant heart.
When they arrived in the alley behind the office and made their way into the back of the house, Xavier ordered Davy to warm some milk for hot chocolate and bring it to his room.
“I’d like some as, well,” Vic admitted.
Xavier gruffly pushed her onto the dressing chair. “Good to know, since I cannot abide sweet drinks.”
Vic smiled. Not only was she to get a cup of hot chocolate, but Xavier had returned to his normal bossy, gruff manners. She patiently endured his efforts to scrub the first layer of skin off her face while removing the makeup he had applied. By the time his torture was done, Davy had arrived with two cups of cocoa.
“Did I tell you to bring me a damnable drink?” Xavier demanded.
“This is for me, sir,” Davy replied. “I was hoping you might loan me a bit of rum to go in it.”
“First Victor demands cocoa and now you want rum. I don’t understand why I cannot find decent help that isn’t so troublesome.” He returned with a glass of black liquid and poured a spot into Davy’s chocolate before taking his first sip.
The Troublesome Apprentice
I’m tired of telling my proper bio. So you get the improper bio.
Liza O’Connor was raised by feral cats, which explains a great deal, such as why she has no manners, is always getting in trouble, and doesn’t behave like a proper author and give you a proper bio.
She is highly unpredictable, both in real life and her stories, and presently is writing humorous romances. Please buy these books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels instead. They will likely traumatize you.
Mostly humorous books by Liza:
Saving Casey – Old woman reincarnates into troubled teen’s body. (Half funny/half traumatizing)
Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral ghost is called in to fix the situation. There’s a ghost cat too. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)
A Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)
Worst Week Ever — Laugh out loud week of disasters of Epic proportions.
Oh Stupid Heart — The heart wants what it wants, even if it’s impossible.
Coming to Reason — There is a breaking point when even a saint comes to reason.
Climbing out of Hell — The reconstruction of a terrible man into a great one.
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