HISTORY OF CHOCOLATE & SUMMER RECIPES

From cacao pod to one of the world's most treasured desserts...

Chocolate has been a mesoamerican staple for millennia and continues to flavor the region and the globe. The earliest evidence of chocolate production begins 2,000 years ago at the border of modern-day Mexico and Guatemala, the heart of the Olmec civilization. The word "Cacao" coming from the Olmec-Mayan word "Kakawa", though the pods themselves were likely acquired through trade from South America – namely, Ecuador. 

While the first evidence of cacao cultivation begins in South America, chocolate-making – as in the act of fermenting, roasting, and grinding cacao into a paste – began with the Olmecs. Spanning throughout the southern region of Mexico and into Guatemala, the Olmec and Maya are credited as the first "chocolatiers". The first chocolate was served as a bitter ceremonial drink, which could be flavored with achiote, chili, vanilla, honey, and a number of other native spices. 

A few hundred years later, the formation of the Aztec Empire and the prevalence of the widely-spoken Nahuatl would finally give the name "Chocolate" – the hispanicized form of the Nahuatl "Xocolatl/Chicolatl". Translated, the name means "Bitter water", or as some have debated "water made with a chicol (a tool used to make chocolate)". 

SUMMER DIY RECIPES

Blended Mexican Chocolate: Large (20 oz)

1. Add Ice -1.5 cups
2. Add La Monarca Bakery Chocolate Mexicano Mix, measure according to tin 
3. Add  4oz. Half & Half
4. Add all of the ingredients into the blender. 
5. Once blended, place the beverage in a cup 
6. Add toppings such as Whipped cream with 2 shakes of chocolate powder

Blended Champurrado/ * Blended Champurrado latte: Large (20 oz)

1. Add Ice -1.5 cups
2. Add 1 Shot of espresso (for Latte version)
3. Add 2 Vanillas Pumps
4. Add La Monarca Bakery Champurrado Mix, measure according to tin
5.  Add  4oz. Half & Half
6. Add all of the ingredients into the blender. 
7. Once blended, place the beverage in a cup 
8. Add toppings such as whipped cream with 2 shakes of ground cinnamon