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| Photo by the Author. |
It
is snowing outside, and it is about 25o F (-4o C), not
especially cold, but not very warm either.
I am sitting here typing and drinking a cup of hot drinking chocolate
that I made out of half a bar of Taza Chocolate® and I realized that when I was
done researching and writing the first three articles (found HERE, HERE and
HERE), I had a lot of really interesting stuff left over that just didn’t seem
to quite fit anywhere and I didn’t want the information to be lost. So, periodically I will post these tidbits as
a continuation of this series.
 |
| Notice the cocoa butter floating on the surface, this is why hot drinking chocolate was thought to be as much a food as a drink. Photo by the Author. |
Perhaps
you are a modern adventurer and want a tasty, filling cup of energy or maybe you
are an experimental archaeologist and you want to take a bar of drinking
chocolate, that is as close to late 18th and early 19th
century authentic as possible, on your next trek. But you can’t find either Taza Chocolate® or American Heritage Chocolate® at a
store near you and you don’t want to wait for an internet order to arrive. Can you make something that will be close to
what they would have experienced? Yes,
yes you can and here is how!
 |
| Photo by the Author. |
To
make a chocolate bar that is 95% cacao and is like Taza Chocolate® in
sweetness, which is not that sweet at all, you will need unsweetened, 100%
cacao, also known as baking chocolate and raw or turbinado cane sugar1.
 |
| Photos by the Author. |
First
you must buy or make a mold to pour the melted chocolate into to harden. What I did to create a mold, was to use a razor
knife to slice the back off the box that the baking chocolate came in. I found that I had to reinforce the corners
with scotch tape, before I lined the box with aluminum foil. Lining the box with aluminum foil was
trickier than you would think, because as you fit the foil into the corners of
the box, you have to be careful not to tear it.
 |
| Photos by the Author. |
For
every ounce (30 grams) of unsweetened baking chocolate add between 1/3
to ½ teaspoon (1.5 to 2.0 grams) of raw sugar.
I used a 4 oz. box of Baker’s brand unsweetened chocolate and 2
teaspoons (8.0 grams) of Sugar In The Raw, Turbinado Cane Sugar.
 |
| Photos by the Author. |
First
you must melt the chocolate, and to do that you can use either a double boiler
or a microwave. If you use a double
boiler (for instructions go HERE), don’t let the water boil and don’t allow any
water to get into the chocolate or it will stiffen or become grainy: so, don’t
cover the double boiler. I used a
microwave (for instructions go HERE), but if you do, you have to be very
careful not to burn the chocolate as burnt chocolate is apparently pretty
awful, so don’t microwave for more than 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring each
time the microwave turns off. I found
that it took about 30 seconds for the chocolate to begin to melt and another 40
seconds for it to melt all the way.
 |
| Photos by the Author. |
Once
the chocolate is melted, stir in the turbinado cane sugar. Now if you want a flavor like that of
American Heritage Chocolate®, you can also add cinnamon, anise, nutmeg, salt, or
red pepper, to taste.
 |
| Photos by the Author. |
The
last step is to pour it into a mold and set it to one side to harden: I left
mine to sit overnight.
 |
| Photo by the Author. |
And
you are done, you have an authentic late 18th to early 19th
century chocolate bar that can still do solid duty in the 21st
century
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.
Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube,
and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either
site. I announce new articles on
Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at
Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1
If you are a modern adventure and are just looking for a hot beverage that is
as much food as drink, you can use plain granulated sugar, instead of going to
the trouble to get raw sugar.
Sources
LeafTV Team; “How to Melt
Chocolate in a Double Boiler” [© 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Well+Good] https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-melt-chocolate-in-a-double-boiler/,
accessed 1/13/20
Nice, Miriam; “How to
melt chocolate in the microwave”, [© Immediate Media Company Limited, 2020] https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-melt-chocolate-microwave,
accessed 1/13/20
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