Go ahead, cocoa's good for your soul

By now, we’ve all heard that chocolate is actually good for you. Chocolate and cocoa are full of cancer-fighting antioxidants called flavonoids; and they can lower your blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke.

That’s the good news.

The bad news for cocoa fans: Milk apparently blocks your body’s ability to access all those benefits. That’s, in part, why white chocolate and milk chocolate are not included on the list of health-giving sweets.  (There’s also all that butterfat and sugar, of course.)

Nonetheless, this column will now share a recipe for making hot cocoa. Perverse, yes. But sometimes a soothing, warming cup of cocoa is just what your body needs.

In America, we generally serve our sugary cocoa with other sugary substances: marshmallows, whipped cream, cookies.

In Latin America, cocoa is treated more as an alternative to hot coffee. It is served in the afternoon, “at tea time,� explained Marily McDowd, a native of South America who recently opened Latinos Unidos in the center of North Canaan. The shop caters to transplants from all the Latin nations (especially Mexico and Colombia). And in addition to food, she sells specialized cooking equipment.

Arrayed on one shelf are three sizes of tall aluminum pots designed just for cooking Latin cocoa. These pans are called chocolateras and range in price from $4.99 for 1.5 liters to $6.99 for 5 liters.

They are tall, McDowd explained, so you can first mash the blocks of chocolate and then whisk the cocoa into a froth without spilling any of it over the sides onto your stovetop. The mashing and whisking are done with a tool called a molinillo, which looks a little like a honeydripper with a long wooden handle. You can use a wooden spoon for the mashing, and a whisk for the frothing; but if you make cocoa a lot, you can see how it would be more convenient to have one tool that does both jobs.

At her shop, McDowd carries enticing little towers of hexagonal chocolates from Colombia and Mexico. Some are sweetened, some are not, some have added flavoring such as cloves and cinnamon. There is even sugar-free cocoa powder with Splenda.

“All these cocoas are cholesterol-free and not fatty,� McDowd added.

In the Latin nations, she said, “chocolate time is in the afternoon. And people often put a white cheese into their cocoa. It’s a little like mozzarella, and it melts in the cocoa. People use it the way Americans use marshmallows.�

Instead of cookies, Latinos and Latinas often nibble on salty little cheese biscuits called bunuelos.

The chocolates cost between $2.69 and $3. McDowd warns that they are hard to break off; you have to crack them against the edge of a counter or use a heavy knife to cut them along their seams.

Latinos Unidos is at 10 Railroad St. in North Canaan, 860-824-7457. The hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

                                                                       Cocoa Latino

1 cup milk

2-3 triangles of Latin chocolate

Put the milk and triangles of chocolate in a chocolatera or tall saucepan. The chocolate will begin to dissolve in the milk as it heats up, about 3 minutes. Help it along by crushing it against the sides of the pan with a wooden spoon or a molinillo. Once the chocolate is melted completely, about 5 minutes, use a whisk to make the cocoa frothy. If you use a molinillo, twist it rapidly between your fingertips, as if you were a Boy Scout making a fire in the wild, or as if you were spinning an old-fashioned wooden top.

An older Latina woman once told McDowd that the secret to good cocoa is to froth it three times. Whisk it up once, let the froth settle, repeat twice more and then whisk it one more time for good measure just before serving.

This chocolate stays hot for a very long time, McDowd warned. Be careful you don’t burn your mouth.

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