Robin Carroll-Mann wrote:

> On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 15:41:00 -0400, "Bob (this one)" >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Gary Jennings (who wrote the novel "Aztec" and others about them) was
>>a friend and a very knowledgeable foodie. He researched the background
>>for those novels for 8 years. Whew. How thorough can you get? That's
>>where I got that spelling for chocolate. The "x" is pronounced like "sh."
>>
>>According to him, the crude (unconched) chocolate they enjoyed often
>>included hot peppers of one sort or another and was considered an
>>aphrodisiac. The Aztecs reserved it for royalty. Moctezuma reportedly
>>drank 50 cups of it a day. I hope they were small cups or he spent his
>>whole day in the potty.
>>
>>Pastorio
>
>
> The part about the hot peppers is true. Father Jose de Acosta wrote
> about chocolate in his 1590 book, _Historia Natural y Moral de las
> Indias_. He said "They are in the habit of adding spices and a lot of
> chili" (usan echarle especias y mucho chili).
> http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/serv...4/p0000002.htm

Gary and I made some to see what it would be like. We used bittersweet
chocolate, poor quality countryside Mexican stuff he brought back, to
more closely approximate what they would have had. It was gritty, but
likely not as much so as the original. We whisked it into hot water,
foaming it up, adding tiny snippets of chile de arbol. No sugar.

It was awful *and* it burned. We didn't know exactly how much pepper
to add. Extremely bitter, gritty, astringent and hot. The Aztecs had
no concentrated sweeteners according to him. We decided it was much
improved by the addition of a fair bit of Kahlua.

All in the interests of science...

Pastorio