Now that the days are chilly, Recycla and her children have revived their tradition of having a hot cup of cocoa after school. This gives them a chance to warm up a bit and talk about the day’s events.
When Recycla and her children first started drinking cocoa, they went to the grocery store and bought those ubiquitous boxes of hot chocolate with the individual packets inside. The resulting product tasted a bit, um, flat. And fake. Definitely not chocolatey. So Recycla tried adding milk instead of water. Marginally better, but still not good enough.
Thus began the Great Cocoa Experiment. Recycla tried a variety of cocoas in an attempt to find the one that would result in a yummy thick chocolate drink. It was a difficult task, but she persevered.
After many attempts, including trying cocoas made by various major chocolate companies, Recycla and her daughters decided that their favorite was made by Lake Champlain Chocolates. They make several flavors, including Mocha Hot Chocolate and Aztec Hot Chocolate, but the family’s favorite is Traditional Hot Chocolate. It’s thick and chocolatey and utterly delish.
Lake Champlain Chocolate hot chocolates are labelled as “all natural,” which Recycla assumes does not mean organic. Since chocolate is second only to cotton in pesticide use on the crops, Recycla realizes that she should look for a good organic cocoa. Luckily Ideal Bite recently did a post on organic hot chocolates, which she plans to use as a basis for further taste testing.
On a related note, Recycla would like to mention that while regular marshmallows taste excellent in hot chocolate, old fashioned marshmallows are DIVINE. Her family buys them at Whole Foods and could eat them all in one sitting. Old fashioned marshmallows are made in pans and then cut into small squares. The ingredients are high quality and, in the ones that Recycla’s family buys, you can taste the vanilla bean. Yum!
What about you fellow Eco Warriors? What is your favorite hot chocolate and why?
The Eco Women are not employed by Lake Champlain Chocolates, nor were they paid to do this review. Image credits: Top, Flickr. Bottom, Lake Champlain Chocolates.
Hi there,
Thanks for the inclusion of Lake Champlain Chocolates Hot Chocolate in your post. I just wanted to let you know in case you didn’t see it on our web site, we have an organic hot chocolate as well as an organic unsweetened cocoa available. Both are also Fair Trade. Look for them in an upcoming issue of Martha Stewart’s Body + Soul Magazine. Thanks again for mentioning us. Glad you enjoyed them.
Sincerely,
Leann
I don’t usually make hot chocolate at home so I can’t suggest one but what you described sounds wonderful!
You should so make homemade marshmallows with your girls! They’re so easy and so fun! I made some peppermint ones last year for gifts. Including adding some red food coloring to make swirls. Your girls would have an absolute ball. Talk about some yummy damn gifts. (I gave them away with some of that nomnom Frango Hot Chocolate. Mmmmm.)
I used to buy Green & Blacks hot chocolate but at Brownie camp I discovered Sainsbury’s Be Good To Yourself hot chocolate. It should taste horrid what with being low fat and all but it tastes amazingly good.
Oh my, homemade marshmallows–I wondered if they were worth the trouble. I love me some cocoa…now I am craving some.
Alas, I lost my recipe for the best hot chocolate. I know it involved a combination of milk, half-and-half, cocoa powder, sugar, melted chocolate chips and a dash of cinnamon. I tried to make marshmallows at home, once, but it turned into a sticky mess that was so unappetizing, I couldn’t even pay my kids to eat them.