Chocolate with chilli: what it is, origin and how to make it

What is it?

Hot chocolate with chilli is one of the oldest and most symbolic drinks of Mexico: ground cacao dissolved in hot water or milk, flavoured with cinnamon, vanilla and especially with chilli powder (chipotle, ancho, piquin or de arbol) that provides moderate heat and smoky depth. It is the original pre-Hispanic drink, consumed by the Maya and Mexica for more than 3,000 years before the conquest, when cacao was currency and the sacred drink of the nobility. Today it is preserved especially in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco, cacao-growing regions where artisanal table chocolate keeps the tradition alive. Its flavour combines the bitterness of pure cacao, the sweetness of sugar or piloncillo, the fragrance of cinnamon and the spicy spark of chilli, making up a complex, ancestral and deeply identity-bearing drink.

Origin and history

Chocolate with chilli is the original Mesoamerican cacao recipe, documented in Maya codices (Madrid Codex, Dresden Codex) and Mexica ones (Sahagún's Florentine Codex, Mendoza Codex). The Olmecs (1500-400 BC) were the first to domesticate cacao (Theobroma cacao); the Maya and Mexica refined its ritual and everyday use. Bernardino de Sahagún documented in the 16th century that cacao was ground on a metate with chilli, vanilla, achiote and aromatic flowers, mixed with water and frothed by pouring it from one vessel to another from a great height. Cacao was a medium of exchange (a slave cost 100 cacao beans), a drink of the elite, a ritual offering and a medicine. Larousse Cocina notes that the version with sugar and milk is a colonial European invention (the Spanish added sugar and removed the chilli in their exported version). México Desconocido records that in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco the pre-Hispanic tradition of chocolate with chilli was kept alive in indigenous communities (Zapotec, Tzotzil, Chol), where it remains an everyday and ceremonial drink.

Characteristic ingredients

The cacao used is preferably Mexican criollo cacao (Theobroma cacao subsp. cacao), a variety endemic to Mesoamerica with a floral flavour and less bitterness than the commercial forastero varieties. It is harvested in pods, fermented, sun-dried and roasted over a low heat. Traditionally it is ground on a metate with almonds, a cinnamon stick, sugar (the colonial substitute for the original pre-Hispanic honey) and sometimes piloncillo, forming round tablets of table chocolate. For the chilli version, chilli powder of de arbol, chipotle, piquin or ancho is added during grinding. Commercial brands such as Mayordomo, La Soledad, Guelaguetza (Oaxacan) and Tabasco Chocolates offer versions with chilli. To prepare the drink, the tablet is dissolved in hot water or milk and whisked with a molinillo (a carved wooden pre-Hispanic utensil) until frothy. Regional variants: in Oaxaca with almonds and cinnamon; in Chiapas with achiote; in Tabasco with pure Mexican vanilla; in modern versions with habanero chilli, mole or organic cacao from Comalcalco.

Cultural significance

Chocolate with chilli is one of the drinks most deeply rooted in Mesoamerican culture, linked to the Maya and Mexica worldview in which cacao was currency, ceremonial food, funerary offering and the drink of the nobility. Moctezuma's phrase 'it is a drink for men of war', recorded by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, reflects its ritual importance. After the conquest, chocolate with chilli was maintained in indigenous communities of south-east Mexico (the Zapotec of Oaxaca, the Tzotzil and Tzeltal of Chiapas, the Chol of Tabasco) as a ceremonial drink in funeral rites, weddings, baptisms and festivities. Today Mexican cacao is living a second life with artisanal cacao cultivation in Comalcalco (Tabasco), Pichucalco and Tapilula (Chiapas), and Pluma Hidalgo (Oaxaca), where chocolate producers are recovering criollo varieties and pre-Hispanic techniques. Traditional Mexican cuisine was recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010, with chocolate as one of its pillars. The Mexican table-chocolate industry (Mayordomo, La Soledad, Abuelita, Ibarra) sustains regional cacao-growing economies.

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