Warm up winter with hot chocolate
The best hot chocolate comes from high-quality chocolate, according to Go Young-ju, a chocolatier and head of the chocolate cafe Cacao Boom. By Park Sang-moon
But that mug of hot cocoa contains a mere 1 percent of cacao powder - sometimes less than 1 percent - and the rest is made from additives such as sodium caseinate, a milk protein product.
So if you think you’ve had enough fake hot chocolate, how about making some with real chunks of chocolate for yourself and your loved ones?
Valentine’s Day is coming and it’s cold outside, so a cozy concoction can help warm you up. In addition, a cup of well-made, rich and thick chocolat chaud, or hot chocolate, soothes your soul and body.
But in order to make a decent cup of hot chocolate at home, you need to know how to tell the difference between good and bad chocolate, according to Go Young-ju, a chocolatier and head of the chocolate cafe Cacao Boom, which means cacao tree in Dutch.
“I recommend that you use chocolates with at least 50 percent of cacao content, or more. The content of cacao is important, but it’s not the only factor that makes chocolate good,” said Go at the Samcheong-dong branch of Cacao Boom, central Seoul.
“Avoid chocolates that include any type of vegetable oil such as palm oil. It means that the chocolate is artificially made. It is a waste of time and effort making hot chocolate with such ingredients.”
Go Young-ju
The 47-year-old chocolatier began making and selling handmade chocolates in the early 2000s.
After studying chocolate for years in Belgium, Go returned home and worked as a chocolatier at a five-star hotel in Busan from 2001 to 2003. She began her chocolate business the same year after leaving the hotel.
But back then, nobody was willing to pay 2,000 won ($1.90) or 3,000 won for a morsel of chocolate, even though it was made with 100 percent natural cacao butter. Instead, people were buying whole chocolate bars from grocery stores for less than 1,000 won.
In recent years, however, Go said more Koreans have come to appreciate the authentic flavor of cacao instead of fake chocolate flavors made with artificial sweeteners, coloring and additives. Now, she has two Cacao Boom cafes, one in Samcheong-dong and the other near Hongik University in western Seoul.
Cacao Boom serves a wide range of fresh, handmade chocolates and its selection of chocolate drinks is also worth every penny.
“When making hot chocolate at home, choose a chocolate depending on your preference,” said Go, as she demonstrated how to make an original hot chocolate at her Samcheong-dong cafe.
“If you have a sweet tooth, you can use milk chocolate instead of dark. Any chocolate is OK as long as it is natural chocolate with cacao butter in it.”
Some people, especially the health-conscious, often avoid drinking hot chocolate because of cacao butter. But Go says cacao butter contains a healthy fat, which is good for you.
“Never feel guilty about drinking hot chocolate if it is made with real chocolate. When you have a touch of a cold, a cup of hot chocolate even helps you get through the day,” she said.
Sometimes a cup of hot chocolate can wrap up your day, too.
“If you feel like having a relaxed night, add one or two drops of hard liquor such as cognac or whisky to the hot chocolate.”
Two of Go’s chocolate drink recipes included in this article are simple, but you can get a heavenly drink as long as they’re made with real chocolate.
BY SUNG SO-YOUNG [so@joongang.co.kr]
Online chocolate stores
Cake Plaza (www.cakeplaza.co.kr), Bread Garden Ez Baking (www.ezbaking.com), Baking School (www.bakingschool.co.kr)
Offline chocolate stores
Richmond Shopping District, Daechi-dong, southern Seoul, (02) 565-3415, near Daechi Station, line No.3
Bangsan Market, Euljiro, central Seoul, (02) 2266-8765, Jongno 5-ga Station, line No. 1
Recipes
Ingredients: 100 milliliters of milk, 25 grams of chocolate that contains at least 50 percent cacao, but no vegetable oil
1. Chop a thick slab of chocolate into almond-size pieces. The pieces will melt evenly if they’re all the same size. Because dark chocolate is hard to break, use a sharp, sturdy knife.
2. Pour the milk and chocolate into a pot and warm it up on low heat. Keep whisking. The faster you whisk, the foamier the hot chocolate becomes. Do not boil the milk. Otherwise, the milk proteins become denatured and form a skin.
3. You can sprinkle in some cinnamon powder if you like.
People who often bake at home probably have at least one pack of unsweetened, 100 percent cocoa powder. With this cocoa powder, you can make a cup of hot or iced chocolate. Cocoa powder doesn’t contain cocoa butter, so it is suitable for iced chocolate because it tastes lighter and fresher. But because cocoa powder doesn’t mix well with milk, you need to use a shaker or a hand blender.
Ingredients: 20 grams of unsweetened, 100 percent cocoa powder, 17 grams of sugar, 150 milliliters of milk
1. Pour half of the milk, sugar and cocoa powder into a pot and warm it up on low heat by whisking until all the ingredients are mixed well.
2. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the cold milk to the mixture of sugar, milk and cocoa powder.
3. Serve with ice cubes.
4. If you want to drink it hot, warm up all the milk, not half of it, at the beginning of the recipe.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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