Paul.a.Young Fine Chocolates

A member Merkel's international network of chocolate connoisseurs was able to procure hot chocolate from Paul.a.Young in the UK.  This is was presented to Merkel on Christmas day.  The mix was Aztec spiced hot chocolate using 70% dark chocolate.

The instructions required adding 4 teaspoons of chocolate powder to a small amount of boiling water to make a paste.  Then it was to topped up with more hot water.  Merkel to chose to add milk because he likes a creamy hot chocolate.

The drink rich and spicy.  The spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamon) were evident because some floated on the top which was a decorative touch.  The spice was stronger than some spiced hot chocolates and had a good chocolate flavour.

Ciobar Gusto Classico

Merkel visited Rio Coffee in Stepney recently to do some Christmas shopping and found a packet of Cameo Ciobar hot chocolate. The writing on the packaging was in Italian, but the photo on the front and the phrase "denso e cremoso" suggested this was the thick Italian hot chocolate that Merkel enjoys at Cibo and some other good cafes. The packet was $4.95 and included 5 sachets.

To make the hot chocolate just add the sachet contents to 125ml of milk and heat. This makes a fairly small cup of chocolate but the result is a good viscous hot chocolate. The flavour is good and similar to the Cibo Cioccolato Italiana.

Hot Can

Merkel got a self-heating can of hot chocolate for Christmas. This was a great present for someone on the leading-edge of hot chocolate drinking. The can was made by the hot-can company and is distributed through BP Reliance, IGA, Foodworks, Lucky Seven and Freedom fuels. This can however, was purchased from a specialty shop in Hahndorf.

The can heats up using an exothermic reaction in an inner chamber of the can. The drinker pushes a button on the bottom of the can which breaks a barrier between two chemicals inside the can and shakes up the can. It gets hot in about 3 minutes. A temperature setting on the outside of the can indicates when it is hot enough. To see this in action you can see the marketing video or a more true-to-life You Tube video. All this technology makes this an expensive drink for the serving of 210ml.

The chocolate is hot and the can comes with a plastic top so you can drink the hot chocolate straight out of the can without burning your lips. The drink however is too sweet and made with non-dairy creamer which makes it taste similar to the hot chocolates in the USA. There is no frothing of this hot chocolate. The can is great technology but the drink is a disappointment for a hot chocolate connoisseur.

The Real Hot Chocolate

Anyone claiming to be The Real Hot Chocolate will attract the attention of Merkel Marmaduke. A friend found these instant hot chocolates at Wheel & Barrow in Norwood. They are simply a block of chocolate on the end of a spoon much like the concept of Chau Colat. You just warm up the milk and put your chocolate on a stick, or a spoon in this case, in the milk and wait for it melt.

The Real Hot Chocolate is made in New South Wales and available in flavours of milk, lime, dark, white, orange, caramel and strawberry. I went for the Dark which produced a good flavoured dark hot chocolate. The chocolate softens and mixes reasonably quickly but some restraint is required to avoid eating the chocolate off the end of the spoon before it has fully melted.

Other places that apparently stock "The Real Hot Chocolate" are Jones the Grocer, Alfonso's Continental, Wild Thyme, Shankers Authentic Indian Cuisine and Udder Delights Cheese Cellar in Hahndorf.

Old Gold Kitchen Adventure

It has been a while since I reported any experiences in the kitchen making hot chocolate. There are just too many places to find hot chocolates that I drink at home infrequently. However recently Myrtle made a good hot chocolate using 8 squares of Cadbury Old Gold 70% cocoa chocolate. The chocolate was melted in the microwave and then blended with a cup of warm milk. It was not quite as smooth as the Mexique chocolate at Chocolate @ No 5 but it had a similar dark chocolate flavour and bitterness.

Cocoa Camino

It is the festive season and a couple of his relatives gave Merkel hot chocolate mixes for Christmas. Cocoa Camino is an organic fair-trade hot chocolate powder made in Canada which comes in a resealable can. Merkel received the Chilli & Spice variety of the drink which includes chilli, cinnamon, ginger and vanilla. This made a nice warming combination with a good chocolate flavour.

Chau Colat

This is Belgian hot chocolate on a stick. Chau Colat comes in a small plastic packet and it looks like a lollipop. I expect the name is a French pun as Chaud is French for hot. The chocolate on a stick looks impressive with a little drink cup rendered in light and white chocolate.

To turn Chau Colat into hot chocolate requires the drinker dip it into a cup of hot milk (heated to 75 degrees) and stir it. For a similar review see Chocablog. Kath at Chocablog probably does a better photo.

Your reviewer purchased this treat from Chocolates on Parade in Norwood. Chau Colat cost $4.30 for a single hot chocolate so this is pretty expensive for a home made drink but the taste was good, dark and Belgian.

Lucia's Hot Chocolate

Lucia's has a store as well as a coffee shop in their Central Market location. Lucia's sell their powdered hot chocolate in the store. There were no directions on how to make the hot chocolate on the pack so your reviewer added about four teaspoons of hot chocolate powder to some hot milk and then added a couple more until the taste was right. It was a good chocolaty taste.

Orange Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

Merkel attempted the recipe on the outside of the can of the Ghirardelli Premium Hot Cocoa Chocolate Hazelnut the other night. Regular readers may be aware that Merkel did not particularly enjoy this hazelnut hot chocolate so the attempt at a recipe would both help use up the chocolate powder and provide and opportunity to try a new taste sensation. Generally the mixture of orange and chocolate works well especially in dark chocolate.

The recipe called for the making the hot chocolate with the peel of one orange and then disposing of the peel before drinking. In this case it did not impart enough orange flavour in the hot chocolate and did not really help the sweet taste of the hazelnut hot chocolate.

Ghirardelli, Premium Hot Cocoa, Chocolate Hazelnut

I bought a can of the Ghirardelli hot chocolate from Kaffeehaus in Hahndorf. This was $10.50 for a 450g can. I eagerly made myself a mug of the drink when I got home. Unfortunately the hazelnut drink is too sweet for my taste. There is vanilla added to this cocoa and the hazelnut flavours tasted artificial.

I believe the double chocolate flavour that I sampled at the Kaffeehaus was Ghiradelli, so I was disappointed at this kitchen adventure. There was some evidence that the creamy hot chocolate was the same brand as I sampled in the shop but I think I will give the hazelnut flavour a miss in the future.

Super Premium Sipping Chocolate

I had a friend bring over some Super Premium Sipping Chocolate from the Gingerelli Chocolate Company recently. This company does not seem to have much of a web presence. The chocolate powder was purchased from the Lobethal Bakery in the Adelaide Hills. I added the powder to some hot milk to make a smooth and rich drink. It is not sweet, but has good complex taste including a piquant after-taste. This was a class above your normal hot chocolate powder.

Hot Chocolate Haiku Continues

Dear readers, you may have thought you had seen the last of hot chocolate Haiku after the previous postings on this poetry form. I have to draw your attention to a website which includes a seven verse Haiku and a recipe for French Hot Chocolate. The Haiku verse includes

Back at the cottage
Steaming hot choc'late awaits
The fire ablaze

Myrtle points out that the last line has only four syllables unless you pronounce "fire" with two. This did not stop her trying to deliver the recipe on the website with some variations.

The recipe called for 2 ½ squares of chocolate. We were not sure how much 2 ½ squares of chocolate was. Different chocolates have different sized squares. We checked out some other internet recipes and figured that 100g of chocolate should be enough and we added vanilla essence to taste. In the end we were in too much of a hurry to whip the cream. So it probably was not much like the original recipe after those variations but it produced a creamy, chocolate drink with a pleasant sweetness.

Fräus Hot Chocolate

During a trip to Hahndorf with Lady Marmaduke we wandered into the Just Chocolate shop and was delighted to find a large selection of the Fräus range of European hot chocolates mixes. Avid readers may recall that I first encountered this range at Cocolat, Hyde Park. Cocolat were selling this only by the box and as you may imagine the Marmaduke household pantry is already full of hot chocolate. Just Chocolate sold this product by the sachet. So for a minimal investment I was able to purchase a sample of the different Fräus flavours on offer.

The first I tried was the "Classic Classico" hot chocolate. The sachet cost $2.80 and it is simply mixed with 150ml of milk. This makes the hot chocolate a small drink but it is rich and thick and it is unlikely you will feel unsatisfied consuming your hot chocolate. The style is clearly Italian hot chocolate, almost as good as the one I had at the Adelaide Coffee Bar. I note that the product, packed in Australia by the German-named Fräus, is still labeled as "Product of Italy" so the reader can have some comfort that this is authentic Italian hot chocolate.

The next flavour I tried was "Mela Cannella Apple Cinnamon". This had the same richness but the apple and cinnamon flavour was not particularly appealing. The "Peperoncino Chilli" hot chocolate on the other hand packed a punch but could have done with the sweetness a bit of cinnamon would have provided. The last one I tried was "Fondente Extra Dark" which had a darker chocolate flavour and a slightly bitter after-taste.

It was great to be able to sample these different flavours but for me the Classic was my favourite.

Some time later I tried the Fraus banana hot chocolate. This was a taste reminiscient of a banana split and was a pleasant variation on the Classic. The orange and cinnamon was not quite so tasty but it was still a nice drink.

Lindt Hot Chocolate Flakes

Afer Lady Myrtle's successful experiment with the Spanish Chocolate your reviewer attempted his own Hot Chocolate in the kitchen. Being fairly inept at following recipes he chose to purchase a tin of Lindt Hot Chocolate Flakes. The flakes seemed to promise a drinking experience superior to powdered chocolate drinks because it was real chocolate.

The instructions required melting 6 teaspoons of chocolate flakes in a small amount of hot milk and then topping it up with further milk. The result was pretty disappointing in comparison with the Spanish Hot Chocolate. The milk chocolate did not taste rich enough. Still all was not lost as the flakes tasted delicious by themselves. Next time Merkel will add more Chocolate.

Spanish Chocolate

My dear Lady Myrtle Marmaduke decided she would make me a hot chocolate using a Spanish hot chocolate recipe she found on the net. This was a fairly basic recipe and it can be varied to taste. The key ingredient is a large amount of good chocolate melted into a milky concoction. She used Cadbury dark cooking chocolate. The result was rich and pleasurable despite not worrying about the froth and presentation.

Which Powdered Hot Chocolate?

I found a sachet of Nestle Double Blend Hot Chocolate in my pantry. I thought I would try it out. I was sceptical because it was a water based mixture and I hate watery hot chocolate. I followed the advice on the packet to "surrender to the instructions" and "indulge in this smooth hot chocolate". Full marks for adding advertising spin to those usually prosaic instructions. There was a good quantity of powder in this sachet (20g). I added hot water and a bit of milk to it and it made quite a frothy chocolate which I thought was an interesting achievement in food engineering. I am not sure whether it was the Maltodextrin, Anti-Caking agent or Phenylalanine on the ingredients list that created that froth.

The result was not too bad. Better than dispensing machine chocolate but not as good as the Café chocolates I have had. In comparison with my normal Cadbury's chocolate made with milk, I found it had a plausible dark chocolate flavour but I still preferred the natural creaminess of the Cadbury's. It was not too rich and did not have chocolate sediment at the bottom.

I worry a bit about those chemicals. The ingredients for the Cadbury chocolate all look a lot more recognisable (Sugar, Cocoa, Mineral Salt, Flavour – which of course could be anything).