"Alex Rast" > wrote in message
...
> at Sat, 25 Feb 2006 01:31:57 GMT in
> >,
> (Dr. Edward Warren) wrote :
>
> >Recently I have experimented with hot cocoa made from cocoa powder and
> >whole milk. Many of the recipes warn not to boil the milk, but I have
> >found that it tastes more chocolaty if it all boils for a short time.
> >If I boil it while stirring well and none of it burns onto the bottom of
> >the pan, is this a problem? Is that what is meant by scorching? Do
> >some really think it is better totally unboiled but just heated up?
>
> I'm curious - do you eat and enjoy a lot of Hershey's milk chocolate? If
> so, this is why you might interpret the flavour as "more chocolatey".
> Hershey's milk chocolate departs from almost every other manufacturer -
> they use liquid milk instead of powdered when making their chocolate.
> Because of the process involved, the net result is that Hershey's milk
> chocolate always has a very distinct "cooked-milk" taste to it. If you eat
> a lot of Hershey's, you may associate that with the taste of chocolate and
> believe it's an aspect of chocolate's basic flavour.
>
> It's also true that chocolate, when heated, tastes stronger than it does
at
> room temperature (because the heat evaporates volatiles). However, once
> heated and cooled, of course, it tastes less strong because you've
> evaporated off those flavour components.
>
> In addition, with continued heating and stirring, the chocolate flavour
> will infuse into the milk. The net flavour isn't really any more intense,
> but it's more evenly distributed and will therefore have a mellower,
richer
> quality to it.
>
> Scorching, BTW, is instantly recognisable once you've done it. The
> chocolate takes on a decidedly bitter tone and will certainly taste a
> little burnt. Scorched chocolate might not be completely burnt but it's
> certainly at least a little burnt.
>
> You can successfully make a really great, super-cocoa-ey hot chocolate
> without boiling the milk, but you have to heat it *slowly* and keep it
warm
> with the cocoa stirred in for some time. This slow process yields good
> results but you need to be prepared to set aside 30 minutes or so. Not so
> good given the usual situation - you want it right away.
>
> --
> Alex Rast
>
> (remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)
Thank you for that information. I do like Hersheys milk chocolate actually.
I
will try cooking the hot cocoa longer and slower to see how that works. My
preference in cocoa is for Dutch processed. I find that Hersheys has an
acidic quality that is unpleasant and I like the taste of Droste and
Valrhona which have had that acidity neutralized. It also seems that a
preference for scalded or
unscalded milk may be an individual preference. I may actually be a person
who likes his milk scalded.
Thank you,
Edward Warren