Tascalate – cacao drink
Tascalate is a refreshing Mexican cacao drink served cool or cold, mostly found in southern Mexico. The red tint comes from the achiote (annato seeds) and is considered to be a natural and energizing drink – and if you remove the sugar … super healthy. Depending where you are in Mexico, the recipes shifts where cacao maybe the dominating flavor and in others the toasted corn or achiote. Before the arrival of the Spanish it was only with water but now you can find it with milk.
Cacao sneaks itself into many meals and drinks, unlike a traditional hot chocolate that is meant for breakfast or a snack, this drink can be accompanied with lunch, like an agua fresca. Below is my meal that accompanied my tascalate at Itanoni Restaurante in Oaxaca. You can even see on their menu that the tascalate is in between the aguas frescas and hot chocolates. It is an in between drink.
Tascalate Drink
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 5 to 10 servings 1x
Description
This pre-prepared mix can be found in most Latin American grocery stores but creating this from scratch is simple and you can store the dry powder up to 2 months.
Tools: food processor or blender, whisk
Ingredients
- 5 corn tortillas toasted and ground to a powder.
- 10 toasted and peeled cacao beans (better if you toast these yourself which means you have to buy them with the husk on).
- 5 grams ceylon cinnamon powder (small cinnamon stick is better, fresher and you are able to toast it).
- 3 grams annatto (achiote) paste
- Sugar to taste- you can used refined white sugar, brown sugar, or panela.
- Ice (optional)
- If you are using a blender, blend the paste with water then sieve into a cup.
You will use 2-3 tablespoons of this mix per cup of water or milk.
Instructions
- Use this as a base recipe, if you don’t want too much cacao then leave some out. Before the Spanish arrived, this recipe was sugar free.
- Toast the cacao beans until they release aromas of chocolate, about 15 minutes on a grill, constantly moving. Remove from heat and let the cacao cool about 15 minutes. ground tortillas, cacao, and cinnamon stick until it releases odor. You can roast the cinnamon stick here a bit as well.
- Remove the husk from the cacao bean with your hands.
- Place the peeled cacao beans, ground tortillas, cinnamon, and achiote in a food processor or blender.
- Grind until fine. This is the base of your drink and you can store it like this up to 2 months in a glass jar to preserve freshness.
- When you are ready to enjoy, place 2 tablespoons of your mix in a cup of room temerature water, add sugar to taste, dissolve with a molinillo or whisk. Strain into a cup if too lumpy or grainy.
- Add ice (optional)
