How to make Chocolate-Atole

This is the most prized and valued chocolate drink that is made in Oaxaca. You pronounce it like it is one word chocolateatole. This is not champurrado (an atole made with chocolate). This is an entirely different drink and the most complicated that exists in all of Latin America. It is usually prepared for very special events like weddings and funerals and it is rarely sold at any location – you have to find someone to make it for you. The drink is made up of two different parts, one is the chocolate foam and the other is the sweet atole. The sweet atole goes on the bottom and the foam is placed on top.

Chocolate atole takes months to prepare. Yes, months. The most important ingredient is theobroma bicolor, a cousin to cacao. The bicolor seed, which is also called pataxte or balam, is removed from the fruit, fermented, dried, then buried in the ground and watered for up to 6 months to undergo a second type of fermentation. Once the beans are white and chalky, they are acceptable to begin the recipe.

You begin by grinding the balam, cacao, rice, wheat, and cinnamon. You make a paste that contains no liquid therefore is shelf stable and can be used at anytime in the future.

When you are ready to make the actual drink, take that paste and grind on your metate with a little bit of water until it becomes the consistency of cake batter. You place this batter into a bowl with more water and whisk with your molinillo – every time you amount a lot of foam, scoop it out and then whisk again to create more foam.

For the second part of the recipe you need to boil corn, water and sugar until it becomes a porridge. These creamy, sweet, thick atole will be placed first into you cup then you will cover with the foam. Once you have both components together, you place a wooden stirrer, called an alcahuete, which will be used to mix them together before drinking.

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