Bu'pu del Istmo de Tehuantepec

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal for toasting cacao and flowers
• •Metate or heavy-duty blender for grinding the paste
• •Wooden molinillo (the traditional Mexican chocolate whisk)
• •Wide ceramic bowl or clay batea for the foaming
• •Small clay jicaras or half-gourds for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the cacao

   Heat a dry comal over medium-low. Add the cacao beans in a single layer and toast them slowly, rolling them with a wooden spoon, for 10 to 12 minutes. The shells will crackle and the kitchen will smell of warm chocolate and earth. Do not rush. Burned cacao turns the bu'pu bitter and there is no recovering from it. When the shells loosen, pull the comal off the heat and let the beans cool until you can handle them. Pinch each one to slip the shell off. Yes, every one. This is the work the senoras of Juchitan do without complaining.

   The cacao for bu'pu should be Mexican criollo if you can find it. Tabasco and Chiapas grow it. Industrial cocoa nibs are not the same thing and will not give you the foam.
2. 2

   Toast the cacalosuchitl

   On the same warm comal, toast the cacalosuchitl petals for about a minute, just until they release their perfume. The flower is the soul of bu'pu. Without it, you have a chocolate drink. With it, you have the wedding cup of the Istmo. The cacalosuchitl, what botanists call plumeria and what the Zapotec call guie' chaachi, is what makes this drink belong to Tehuantepec and nowhere else.

3. 3

   Grind the dry mixture

   On a metate, or in a heavy-duty blender if you do not have one, grind the toasted and peeled cacao together with the soaked and drained rice, the toasted cacalosuchitl petals, the canela broken into pieces, and the salt. Work in batches if your blender is small. The mixture should become a thick, fragrant paste, dark brown flecked with the pale petals of the flower. The metate is how the senoras have done it for centuries. The blender is the compromise we make in modern kitchens. Asi se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Form the cacao paste

   Transfer the paste to a bowl and work in the sugar with your hands until fully incorporated. Press the mixture into a flat disk about half an inch thick on a piece of parchment. Let it rest for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight, so the flavors marry and the paste firms up enough to break into pieces. In Juchitan, women make these disks in large batches and store them wrapped in cloth, ready for the next wedding or the next saint's day.

5. 5

   Build the cold infusion

   Bu'pu is served cold, never hot. This is what most people get wrong about it. Break the cacao disk into pieces and place about a third of it into a wide clay jicara or ceramic bowl. Add 2 cups of cool, room-temperature water. Use a wooden molinillo or a wire whisk and beat with a steady wrist motion for 5 to 8 minutes. The mixture will start thin and slowly transform. You are not making chocolate caliente. You are coaxing foam out of cold water.

6. 6

   Foam by hand

   Keep beating. The foam will rise slowly at first, then suddenly take over the surface of the bowl. The cacao butter, the rice starch, and the saponins in the cacalosuchitl all work together to create a thick, stable foam that can stand up two inches above the rim. This is bu'pu. The foam is not a garnish. The foam is the drink. A senora in Juchitan will beat the molinillo for fifteen minutes if that is what the foam needs. No me vengas con atajos.

   If your foam will not rise, your water is too warm. Cold water is essential. Add an ice cube and keep beating.
7. 7

   Repeat in batches and serve

   Work in batches of 2 cups of water at a time, using a third of the paste each time. Ladle the foamed bu'pu into small clay jicaras, the half-gourds the Istmo uses for ceremonial drinks. Serve immediately, while the foam still stands. The drink underneath is thin and dark; the foam on top is the prize. At a Tehuantepec wedding, the bride's family carries trays of bu'pu through the streets. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •The cacalosuchitl is not optional and there is no substitute. If you cannot find dried plumeria petals, this drink cannot be made. Mexican apothecaries and herbal markets sometimes carry it labeled as flor de mayo. Order from a supplier in Oaxaca if you have to.
• •Use cacao beans, not cocoa powder, not cocoa nibs alone, not chocolate. The whole bean carries the cacao butter that makes the foam stable. Industrial cocoa has been defatted and will give you a flat, sad drink with no crown.
• •The foaming technique takes practice. The first time you make bu'pu, your foam may be thin. The senoras of Juchitan have been doing this since they were children. Be patient. Beat longer than you think you should. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Advance Preparation

• •The cacao paste disk can be made up to one week ahead and stored wrapped in clean cotton cloth at cool room temperature. The flavors deepen as it rests.
• •The bu'pu itself cannot be made ahead. The foam collapses within 20 minutes. Foam each batch immediately before serving.
• •Toasting and peeling the cacao can be done a day in advance to break the work into manageable steps.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)