Chocolate of the Day
Hijita
Original - Mexican Cacao Para Beber with cinnamon, vanilla bean, piloncillo
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) package
Calories: 165 calories (estimate) in 1/2 package
Cost: $11.00 for 1 package
Purchased from: Hijita.com, online order
Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Mexico Theme Week.
Today's Original - Mexican Cacao Para Beber (for drinking) with cinnamon, vanilla bean, piloncillo was made by
Hijita, LLC (Austin, TX).
This drinking chocolate came packaged as an attractively shaped (hexagonal, floral, multi-dimensional) dark chocolate sculpture and was made using cacao from Chinantla, Oaxaca, Mexico. The cacao producer was Dona Dionisia Garcia.
I started today's tasting by learning more about washed cacao (cacao lavado)...where freshly harvested cacao beans are washed off (lavado), removing the surrounding fruit pulp, and not put through a fermentation process.* Skipping this step yields a different flavor profile. (Most cacao is fermented with the pulp--that provides sugars and aids in the fermentation process and develops certain flavors.)
Aroma and flavor notes (for the chocolate before it was prepared) included: cacao with slightly bitter, herbal (faint evergreen/citrus/pine sap/bark, chicle) and spice notes (star anise, faint cinnamon) and barely there chewing gum (tropical fruit, cardamom). (Note: I taste drinking chocolates before and after liquid is added for a full dose of texture and flavors.)
After preparation as a hot beverage with milk: the aroma notes included: light cacao, light cinnamon, faint fresh bread, and vanilla bean. There was still a slight bitterness (and very faint herbal, bubble gum notes), but the hot milk made these notes considerably gentler and it was quite enjoyable with likeable and exotic (to a North American) complexity.
Texture: The unprepared (solid) chocolate was slightly granular (stoneground) with (piloncillo) sugar crystals that slowly dissolved in my mouth. After being prepared, the hot chocolate was smooth and satisfying.
The base (unprepared) chocolate had complex and interesting flavors, including balanced, light pine (terpenes) and light citrus notes that were initially more noticeable than the cinnamon and vanilla bean. When made into a hot beverage, the slight bitterness faded and I enjoyed savoring the complexity. Once stirred into hot water or milk, it transformed and the herbal/pine notes disappeared, while the vanilla bean really blossomed in a lovely way.
I enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to try this unique chocolate, and learning more about the traditions associated with washed cacao.
Ingredients: "Cacao*, Piloncillo*, Cinnamon*, Vanilla Bean*, Sea Salt*, Cacao Butter* (*sourced direct from small family-owned agroforestry farms in mexico)"
Allergen-related information: "Produced in a facility that also uses Peanuts & Tree Nuts"
*After careful manually harvesting cacao pods, cacao beans are removed from the outer husk. However, instead of fermenting pulp-covered beans, the cacao beans are washed (lavado)--removing the pulp (aka mucilage) that surrounds the beans. The washed beans are then sun-dried--yielding a different flavor profile than a fermented cacao. This can result in slightly bitter, citrus or earth notes; but results will vary depending on many factors.
Washed cacao has been used for thousands of years, and is still relatively common in Mexico. Cacao lavado is most frequently used in drinking chocolates and moles (rich chili sauces that contain cacao as one of many ingredients) in Mexico especially in Chiapas and Oaxaca. Less processing also helps preserve polyphenols/flavanoids.
