Difference between Hot Chocolate and Hot Cocoa

If you ask Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, they’ll say..

You like potato and I like potahto.
You like tomato and I like tomahto.
Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto.
Let's call the whole thing off!

Since we are not ready to call this one off just yet, lets explore the difference.

Hot chocolate and Hot Cocoa are often and mistakenly used interchangeably.  They are made differently, their ingredients are different and of course the taste is different.

Simply put, Hot Chocolate (a.k.a. Drinking Chocolate) is made from scratch. It ideally has no artificial ingredients in it. The original taste of Cacao bean continues to carry itself all the way through as it is not masked by any additives or processes.

How is Hot Chocolate Made?

• Its starts with Cacao pods that grow on the Cacao trees in tropical areas. The pods contain cacao beans.
  
• These beans are fermented, dried and roasted.
  
• The beans can be roasted at different temperatures and for different lengths of time, depending on different variables such as humidity, size of the beans, and the desired flavor.
  
• For Raw Cacao skips the roasting process and is made by simply cold-pressing unroasted beans.
  
• Then comes the winnowing process whereby the shell covering the bean is removed and what you get is cacao nibs.
  
• Cacao nibs are ground with stone grinders until they become a paste. It is known as Cacao Mass or Cacao Paste or Chocolate Liquor (Sorry hopeful, there is no alcohol in there). Mass is the purest form of chocolate with two principal components: Cacao Solid + Cacao Butter (the natural fat content of the fruit).
  
• This paste when mixed with water, becomes Hot Chocolate or Drinking Chocolate.

How is Hot Cocoa Made then?

• Hot Cocoa starts with cacao powder.
  
• Many a times, the nibs from which the powder is extracted are processed beforehand with alkaline salts to subdue its flavor, reduce the acidic properties and increase solubility when added to a beverage.
  
• Cacao powder is mixed with other ingredients like sugar, milk solids, corn syrup, hydrogenated fats and preservatives.
  

Long story short, the Hot Chocolate is pure. The Hot Cocoa’s got stuff that you can’t even spell. Carrageenan? Acesulfame Pottasium? Ugh..

See ingredient panels below for a few popular brands of Hot Cocoa on the market. (You know who you are!)          

Source: Amazon.com

At Elements Truffles, we care about what goes in our products. We swear by purity and minimalism of ingredients – something that we learned from practicing Ayurveda – the ancient science of life that focuses on nutrition to balance the elements in physical body. After a lot of mixing and tasting, we have created the most decadent and pure Hot Chocolate (not Hot Cocoa!) for you. Entire product is Vegan and free from any processed or refined elements or preservatives.

It is lightly sweetened with coconut palm sugar – a low glycemic index sweetener.

Elements Truffles Hot Chocolate is also infused with adaptogen Turmeric. This golden spice has tonnes of health benefits. It is infused just enough to give you the benefits but not so much as to over power the flavor profile of ethically sourced Peruvian Cacao.

Here is what the nutrition panel for Elements Truffles Hot Chocolate looks like:

Chef’s recommendation on how to enjoy Elements Truffles Hot Chocolate:

1.     Add 4 Tea Spoons of powder in ¼ cup of water

2.     Put the mix on a slow flame and bring the water to a slow boil. Adding hot water to powder also works but giving it a boil takes it to completely another level. So boil it!

3.     Whisk until smooth.

4.     You can also add your favorite Non-dairy alternative like Coconut Milk or Almond Milk to make it even more scrumptious.

5.     It is very lightly sweetened so if you have a sweet tooth like me, add some more coconut palm sugar or maple syrup.

This prepares Barcelona style thick drinking chocolate. Guess what, we saved you some corn starch J

Enjoy it caliente!

What experts say about Elements Truffles Hot Chocolate.

Would you like to try some? For a limited time, we are offering  free shipping. 

And just like every product with Elements Truffles, 25% of net-profits are given back towards underprivileged children’s’ education. For more info visit www.careforchildren.org