Chocolate Goodness

Scharffen Berger, Ghirardelli and Mocafe Mexican Spiced Cocoa mixes. (SHNS photo by Owen Brewer / Sacramento Bee)

So which is it, hot chocolate or hot cocoa?

If the cup is brewed from a chocolate bar or chocolate chips, it's hot chocolate.

If it's brewed from cocoa powder, it's hot cocoa.

Both chocolate and cocoa originate with the beans of the cacao tree, which thrives in Latin America.

As the beans are roasted and ground, they yield the thick, dark paste called chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor doesn't include any liquor, but it does include the vegetable fat cocoa butter. Ultimately, the more cocoa butter remaining in the final chocolate, the richer it is.

Bitter or unsweetened chocolate, often called for in recipes for hot chocolate made from scratch, is straight chocolate liquor. Bittersweet, semisweet and sweet chocolates, which also can be used to make hot chocolate, have sugar added.

Unsweetened cocoa powder is solidified chocolate liquor that has been pulverized after much of its cocoa butter is removed. Thus, hot cocoa tends to be lower in fat than hot chocolate.

Cocoa powder is marketed as sweetened or unsweetened, and either can be used for hot cocoa, though unsweetened versions need to have sugar or honey added during the brewing.

Cocoa labeled "Dutch processed" or "alkalized" means its acidity has been treated to make it mellower.

Measuring cups and spoons, a microwave oven, a pot or two and a wooden spoon or wire whisk are about all the kitchen utensils anyone generally needs to produce a couple of cups of hot chocolate, and chances are you won't need all of them for any one version.

Several recipes, however, warn that hot chocolate not only not be boiled, but that the temperature not exceed 180 degrees, and to gauge that, an instant-read thermometer comes in handy.

When working with cocoa powder, a sifter helps break up bits and clumps to hasten absorption, but a fine-mesh screen and a spoon also will do the trick.

For some people, a cup of hot chocolate isn't complete without a frothy head, a presentation perfected in Mexico, where an intricately carved wooden whisk called a molinillo long has been used to foment the chocolate.

Molinillos can be found in Mexican grocery stores. Easier to use to the same effect is a hand immersion blender, which can be found in hardware and kitchenware stores for around $15.

For conversation and drama, prepare and pour cups of hot chocolate from a white porcelain replica of a chocolate pot favored by the court of Louis XVIII in the 19th century. The Web site www.gourmetsleuth.com has them for $140.

Even more extravagant is the Minilux Chocolate Machine, made for commercial food service but also available for the home kitchen.

It's just the appliance to assure chocoholics of a continuously stirred and consistently thick, creamy and hot cup of Italian cioccolata whenever they want it. The chocolate maker costs $980 and is available through the online store CyberItalia (cyberitaliaonline.com).

Chocolate syrups, chocolate chips, chocolate bars and cocoa powders all can be used to make cups of hot chocolate.

Based on their variety and the amount of shelf space they occupy, powders look to be the most popular source for hot cocoa drinks. Some are cocoa powder alone, and some are mixes also apt to include artificial flavors, nonfat dry milk, preservatives, soy lecithin, vanilla and sugar, to which only water or milk need be added.

We tested 10 brands. For the most part, cups of hot cocoa from packaged mixes tended to be light on chocolate flavor, very sweet and thin, with artificial tastes in the finish. Straight cocoa powders usually produced richer and more complex drinks and provided more opportunities to tailor the results to the preferences of individual palates.

We found three cocoas to be especially enjoyable:

• Mocafe Mexican Spiced Cocoa Azteca D'Oro 1519: Just add one scoop of cocoa to 8 ounces of hot milk for a reasonable, pleasant and lightly complex version of cinnamon-spiced Mexican hot chocolate made from scratch. (frontporchcoffee.com)

• Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa: The Ghirardelli yielded the sweetest, thickest, creamiest, richest drink from a packaged mix we tasted. (www.coffeeam.com)

• Scharffen Berger Natural Cocoa Powder: Don't panic for the lack of directions on the package. They're tucked inside. Without any sugar, alkali or powdered milk added to the cocoa powder, in contrast to many others, the Scharffen Berger yielded a cup of hot chocolate more for grownups than children. Its straightforward and mature richness just begged for whipped cream or marshmallows. (www.scharffenberger.com)