Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay.com -

T'is the season to curl up by the fire, watch a Christmas movie, and enjoy some hot cocoa and popcorn. Friday December 13 gives you the perfect excuse to do just that as National Cocoa Day will be celebrated across the USA. Many people make this popular drink using either hot milk or just hot water.

The chocolate flavor used to make hot chocolate can be either a liquid or a powder. Hot chocolate made with the liquid is made from ground chocolate, cocoa butter and sugar whereas basic hot cocoa made with the powder has the cocoa butter removed.

Due to the extensive process of creating chocolate powder, it’s no wonder that it is a bit pricey at the grocery store. The process involves fermenting, drying, roasting and grinding cocoa beans into a paste known as chocolate liquor. Another process is then used to remove thecocoa butter from the liquor producing the great tasting powder that we all know and use to make hot chocolate.

You can choose to mix the chocolate powder with either hot water or milk – a perfect treat for Santa coming to town. Hot chocolate made this way has fewer calories than using the liquid chocolate being, perhaps, a healthier alternative to cappuccino as noted in the previous post. No offence intended, Santa!

Want to get a little frisky with the drink? Spice it up with cinnamon and/or peppermint. After topping it off with whip cream or marshmallows you too can be living it up more substantially than the Mayans did 2000 years ago when they first created the chocolate beverage! Merry

Christmas and Happy Cocoa!