I finally had the opportunity to try Amedei's Chuao chocolate a couple
months ago, and discovered what an amazing thing it is. I'd say it's
become my favorite chocolate. After reading (the PR releases which
claim) how little Chuao chocolate there is each year, I was amazed to
see that Amedei sells 1kg bars of their Chuao, and that they seem to be
marketing it for baking/chocolate making. I could see making a pure
Chuao truffle, but anything more complex than that would be detracting
from perfection.

Anyway, my amazement was only outweighed by my happiness in discovering
that a local retailer had one of these 1kg bars, and that he could sell
it to me for a good price. I've had it for a week now, and I think I'm
starting to understand how the Aztec kings felt, having enough Criollo
chocolate to be able to eat it without feeling a big dent in my
pocketbook with each bite.

On that thought, I was wondering if it would be possible to make a cup
of Criollo (or Chuao) hot chocolate. That seems like another way of
using chocolate of this quality without compromising it. I usually use
a hot chocolate recipe similar to Jeffrey Steingarten's from _It Must've
Been Something I Ate_, which he got from Pierre Herme. It makes a silky
hot cup of frothy chocolate which is rich enough to serve as a potent
dessert by itself. It calls for milk, water, sugar, chocolate, and
cocoa powder; presumably the chocolate adds flavor and cocoa butter
while the cocoa powder increases the punch. But if I were to use Amedei
for the chocolate, I'd want a cocoa powder which would complement, or at
least not get in the way of, the chocolate itself.

Are there any such cocoa powders on the market? Does it even make sense
to make a Criollo cocoa powder - would the processing disturb the flavor
of the flavor bean enough to make it not worth doing? Is there just no
market for such a thing? Or is there still a chance to make a cup of
hot chocolate worthy of a king?

Blake

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