Soconusco Chocolate Tablets (Tabletas de Chocolate)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Volcanic stone metate y mano, or heavy-duty food processor
• •Dry clay comal or cast-iron comal
• •Palm basket or two wide bowls for winnowing
• •Molcajete or spice grinder for the canela
• •Wooden tablet mold or parchment-lined sheet pan
• •Waxed paper and sealed storage tin
• •Clay chocolatera and molinillo for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Sort the cacao

   Spread the cacao beans on a tray and sort them with your hands. Remove stones, broken shells, flat beans, and anything that smells musty. Good fermented cacao smells bitter, fruity, a little winey. Bad cacao makes bad chocolate. Start at the market, not the stove.

2. 2

   Toast the canela

   Heat a dry comal over medium-low. Toast the canela sticks for 30 to 45 seconds, turning them until they smell sweet and warm. Do not let them darken hard. Canela burns fast and burned cinnamon will bully the cacao. Let it cool, then crush it in a molcajete or spice grinder.

3. 3

   Toast the cacao

   Toast the cacao beans in batches on the dry comal, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Give each batch 18 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of the beans. The skins should loosen, the beans should sound lighter against the comal, and the kitchen should smell like roasted cacao, nuts, and dried fruit. Cut one bean open. The inside should be deep brown, never black.

   If you use roasted cacao nibs because whole Soconusco beans are impossible where you live, warm the nibs on the comal for 2 minutes before grinding. It is a compromise, not an upgrade, but good nibs are better than stale beans.
4. 4

   Peel and winnow

   Let the beans cool until you can handle them. Rub them between your palms or inside a clean towel to crack off the papery husks. Lift the cacao between two bowls, outdoors or in front of a fan, so the light husks blow away and the heavy nibs fall back into the bowl. Do not rinse cacao. Water is not your friend here.

5. 5

   Grind the cacao

   If using a metate, work the nibs in small handfuls, pressing the mano forward until the sandy pieces become a thick, glossy paste. The stone pressure warms the cacao and releases its own butter. If using a food processor, work in two batches, scraping often and resting the motor. After 8 to 12 minutes the nibs should clump and smear against the side of the bowl.

   Use the melted cacao butter only if the food processor cannot move the paste. A metate does not need it. The old method trusts the fat already inside the bean.
6. 6

   Add sugar and canela

   Combine the warm cacao paste with the cane sugar and crushed canela. Grind again until the sugar is fully worked through but still a little grainy under your fingers. Mexican table chocolate is not a European candy bar. It should dissolve into a drink with body, not disappear like instant cocoa. The cacao leads, the sugar follows.

7. 7

   Shape the tablets

   Line a tray with banana leaf or waxed paper. Weigh 2-ounce portions and press each one into a wooden mold, or shape them by hand into firm disks or rectangles about 1/2 inch thick. Pack them hard. If the paste crumbles, knead it while still warm. If it looks oily, let it rest 5 minutes, then press again.

8. 8

   Set and wrap

   Let the tablets firm at cool room temperature for 1 hour. Wrap each tablet in waxed paper and store them in a sealed tin. In a hot Chiapas kitchen, they live in the coolest cupboard. In a humid modern kitchen, refrigerate only inside a tight container, or the chocolate will taste like yesterday's onion.

9. 9

   Whisk for drinking

   For chocolate de agua, bring 2 cups water to a gentle simmer in a clay chocolatera or saucepan. Add one tablet and whisk with a molinillo until the chocolate dissolves and foams. For chocolate de leche, use whole milk and keep the heat lower. A little cacao sediment at the bottom is correct. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for cacao de Soconusco, or beans from Tapachula, Tuxtla Chico, Cacahoatan, or the nearby Pacific corridor. The skins should be dry, the beans should be heavy for their size, and the smell should remind you of dried fruit and earth. If it smells like cardboard, walk away.
• •Mexican canela is true Ceylon cinnamon, thin bark that breaks easily. Cassia is hard, thick, and harsh. If cassia is all you can find, use half the amount. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Do not add chile because you think Mexican chocolate must be hot. Not all Mexican food is chile. These Soconusco tablets are cacao, sugar, and canela. That is enough.
• •Piloncillo is used in some houses, but it carries more moisture and makes a softer tablet. For your first batch, use Mexican cane sugar. Learn the structure before you start arguing with it.
• •A metate gives the best texture because the stone warms the cacao by pressure. A food processor works for a home kitchen, but let the motor rest. Burned machinery smells worse than burned cacao, and both are your fault.

Advance Preparation

• •The cacao can be toasted, peeled, and stored airtight for one day before grinding. Keep it away from moisture and strong smells.
• •Finished tablets keep for 2 months in a cool cupboard. In humid weather, store them wrapped in waxed paper inside a sealed tin in the refrigerator.
• •Shape the tablets in the coolest part of the day if your kitchen is hot. Warm cacao paste listens better than overheated cacao paste.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 57g)