Chocolate is a food product made from roasted and ground cacao pods, that is available as a liquid, solid or paste, on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civilization, and the majority of Mesoamerican people - including the Maya and Aztecs - made chocolate beverages.
Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of central and western Africa, and most parts of China, there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.
Mexican cuisine consists of the cooking cuisines and traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its roots lie in Mesoamerican cuisine. Its ingredients and methods begin with the first agricultural communities such as the Maya who domesticated maize, created the standard process of maize nixtamalization, and established their foodways. Successive waves of other Mesoamerican groups brought with them their own cooking methods. These included: the Olmec, Teotihuacanos, Toltec, Huastec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Otomi, Purépecha, Totonac, Mazatec, Mazahua, and Nahua. With the Mexica formation of the multi-ethnic Triple Alliance, culinary foodways became infused. Today's food staples are native to the land and include: corn (maize), beans, squash, amaranth, chia, avocados, tomatoes, tomatillos, cacao, vanilla, agave, turkey, spirulina, sweet potato, cactus, and chili pepper. Its history over the centuries has resulted in regional cuisines based on local conditions, including Baja Med, Chiapas, Veracruz, Oaxacan, and the American cuisines of New Mexican and Tex-Mex.
Cake is a form of sweet food made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, that is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, and that share features with other desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.
Porridge is a food commonly eaten as a breakfast cereal dish, made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, or it can be mixed with spices, meat or vegetables to make a savoury dish. It is usually served hot in a bowl, depending on its consistency. Oat porridge, or oatmeal, is one of the most common types of porridge. Gruel is a thinner version of porridge.
Gravy is a sauce, often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavored with gravy salt or gravy browning or ready-made cubes and powders can be used as a substitute for natural meat or vegetable extracts. Canned and instant gravies are also available. Gravy is commonly served with biscuits, roasts, meatloaf, rice, noodles, chips(fries) and mashed potatoes.
A chocolate bar or candy bar is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A wide variety of chocolate bar brands are sold. A popular example is a Snickers bar, which consists of nougat mixed with caramel and peanuts, covered in milk chocolate.
Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking chocolate, is a heated drink consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener. Hot chocolate may be topped with whipped cream or marshmallows. Hot chocolate made with melted chocolate is sometimes called drinking chocolate, characterized by less sweetness and a thicker consistency.
Champurrado is a chocolate-based atole, a warm and thick Mexican beverage, prepared with either masa de maíz , masa harina, or corn flour ; piloncillo; water or milk; and occasionally containing cinnamon, anise seed, or vanilla. Ground nuts, orange zest, and egg can also be employed to thicken and enrich the drink. Atole drinks are whipped up using a wooden whisk called a molinillo. The whisk is rolled between the palms of the hands, then moved back and forth in the mixture until it is aerated and frothy; a blender may also be used.
Abuelita is a brand of chocolate tablets, syrup, or powdered mix in individual packets, made by Nestlé and used to make Mexican-style hot chocolate, also known as chocolate para mesa. It was originally invented and commercialized in Mexico since 1939, by Fábrica de Chocolates La Azteca. The name is an affectionate Spanish word for "grandma". Since 1973, Mexican actress Sara García has been the image for the brand before it was acquired by the Swiss company in the 1990s.
A field ration is a canned or pre-packaged meal, easily prepared and consumed by military troops. They are distinguished from regular military garrison rations by virtue of being designed for minimal preparation in the field, using canned, vacuum-sealed, pre-cooked or freeze-dried foods, powdered beverage mixes and concentrated food bars, as well as for long shelf life. Most field rations typically contains meat as one of its main course. The iron ration is a soldier's dry emergency rations.
Colombian cuisine is a compound of the culinary traditions of the six main regions within the country. Colombian cuisine varies regionally and is particularly influenced by Indigenous Colombian, Spanish, and African cuisines, with slight Arab influence in some regions. Furthermore, being one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Colombia has one of the widest variety of available ingredients depending on the region.
Champorado or tsampurado is a sweet chocolate rice porridge in Philippine cuisine.
Chocolate is a range of foods derived from cocoa (cacao), mixed with fat and finely powdered sugar to produce a solid confectionery. There are several types of chocolate, classified according to the proportion of cocoa used in a particular formulation.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chocolate:
Mayordomo or Chocolate Mayordomo is a brand of Mexican chocolate para mesa produced by the company Chocolate Mayordomo De Oaxaca, S. De R.L. De C.V., and based in Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. The company manufactures mole sauce in addition to table chocolate.
Oaxacan cuisine is a regional cuisine of Mexico, centered on the city of Oaxaca, the capital of the state of the same name located in southern Mexico. Oaxaca is one of Mexico's major gastronomic, historical, and gastro-historical centers whose cuisine is known internationally. Like the rest of Mexican cuisine, Oaxacan food is based on staples such as corn, beans and chile peppers, but there is a great variety of other ingredients and food preparations due to the influence of the state's varied geography and indigenous cultures. Corn and many beans were first cultivated in Oaxaca. Well known features of the cuisine include ingredients such as chocolate, Oaxaca cheese, mezcal and grasshoppers (chapulines) with dishes such as tlayudas, Oaxacan style tamales and seven notable varieties of mole sauce. The cuisine has been praised and promoted by food experts such as Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless and is part of the state's appeal for tourists.
The Cioccolato di Modica is an Italian P.G.I. specialty chocolate, typical of the municipality of Modica in Sicily, characterized by an ancient and original recipe using manual grinding which gives the chocolate a peculiar grainy texture and aromatic flavor.
Tsokolate, also spelled chocolate, is a native Filipino thick hot chocolate drink. It is made from tabliya or tablea, tablets of pure ground roasted cacao beans, dissolved in water and milk. Like in Spanish and Mexican versions of hot chocolate, the drink is traditionally made in a tsokolatera and briskly mixed with a wooden baton called the molinillo, causing the drink to be characteristically frothy. Tsokolate is typically sweetened with a bit of muscovado sugar, and has a distinctive grainy texture.
