Ancient Mayan Hot Chocolate

Indigenous Maya people still drink the following ancient hot chocolate recipe. In ancient times, Maya never mixed the cacao bean paste with milk, instead they used hot water; it was the Spaniards in Colonial times that began to add milk, cream, and sugar to the cacao paste to create a soft creamy taste similar to current hot cocoa. Aurelio Haz Kub, Consulting Chef at Hacienda Chichen was happy to share his family ancient Mayan Hot Chocolate with you and us. - Yucatan Adventure

Ingredients:

3 cups boiling water
1 to 2 cinnamon sticks
8 ounces bittersweet Maya Kakaw or Xocoalt (chocolate paste) or
3 tablets Mexican unsweetened chocolate, cut into small pieces*
2 tablespoons of wild pure honey, or raw sugar to taste
1 pinch of dried red chili; this is what makes the difference so try it!
1 dried organic grown vanilla bean, split lengthwise*
l tablespoon roasted peanuts, ground extra fine (optional Aztec hot chocolate taste)

How to Prepare:

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the cinnamon sticks to boiling water.
Cook until liquid is reduced to 2 1/2 cups.
Remove cinnamon sticks.
Add the vanilla bean and lower the heat a bit.
Wait until bubbles appear around the edge to reduce heat to low and drop the chocolate pieces and wild pure honey.
Mix well and whisk occasionally until chocolate is melted.
Turn off heat, remove vanilla bean.
Whisk vigorously to create a light foam effect.
Sprinkle the dried chili pepper and serve.
for an Aztec hot chocolate taste, sprinkle the roasted peanut powder*

"If chocolate is too rich and you prefer to thin it, do so with a little milk to smooth its taste, but remember doing so will change the chocolate from Maya to a European style hot chocolate!" advices local Maya chocolatier Saturnino Noh Uc.

* I did not have Mexican chocolate, so substituted 3 large tablespoons of Hershey's extra dark cacao (unsweetened)
* you can substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* I added a little Xtabentun (Mayan honey liquor)