When is National Hot Chocolate Day?
Tuesday January 31stEach year, National Hot Chocolate Day, the classic cold-weather drink, warms up people around the world.
Hot chocolate is a warm drink made with ground chocolate, heated milk or water, and sugar. We often use the terms hot chocolate and hot cocoa interchangeably in America. However, the two beverages are not similar.
Cocoa vs. hot chocolate: cocoa vs. hot chocolate
We make hot cocoa with cocoa powder, boiled milk or water, and sugar. We're able to do this thanks to a process that was developed by father and son chemists. We make hot chocolate with cocoa butter ground chocolate for the thicker, more flavorful drink. It is also called drinking chocolate. Hot chocolate has also been around longer than hot cocoa. Casparus van Houten Sr. invented a method to distinguish the cocoa solids from the butter in the early 1800s. Coenraad Johannes, his son, made those fats more soluble in water. Cocoa powder was made possible by their processes together.
But before that, everyone drank hot chocolate. During the 19th century, this thicker, creamier drink often had medicinal properties for stomach ailments. In fact, long before the beverage's ubiquity in Victorian times, it served in ceremonial history.
