Review: Hasslacher’s Drinking Chocolate and Colombian Panela *

The cocoa block is literally a sold block of what we would normally see as powdered cocoa. I cook regularly with cocoa, but have never seen it in its solid form. I have always been fascinated by the South American love of chocolate and their passion for its healing and stimulating properties. After reading an article on Sciencenews.org It’s believed that Ancient South Americans were using chocolate 1500 years before anyone else. Archaeologists found artefacts they believed would have been used to either drink or eat cocoa, and therefore they are believed to be the first people to ever domesticate this product. So if you think that this cocoa is pure and from a small farm where it is produced in Colombia you are truly experiencing an authentic product that could well have been first tasted thousands of years ago! Another great fact that I always remind myself when I am raiding chocolate from the cupboard is that it contains a huge amount of antioxidants which are believed to help prevent our cells from outside sources that cause us harm. Did you know that it is believed cocoa can help us against the risk of heart disease, cancer and stroke? Which means we should all have chocolate in our diet! Another plus point is that this cocoa is pure and therefore is suitable for vegans and can be made with water (in the form of a sort of chocolate espresso) or with other types of non-dairy milk.

The panela is described on the Hasslachers website as the perfect sweetener to use in place of conventional refined sugar in the household. Made by their sustainable Colombian family run farm El Salto, it is the only sugar where the sugar stream is not separated from the molasses – this helps it to retain most of its essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Basically, it is simply pure cane juice that is boiled down and reduced into a thick consistency and then poured into solid square moulds. Its unique processing gives it a mild, caramel-like flavour which is superb for sweetening food and drinks and baking and a multitude of other dishes and desserts.

I was fascinated to try this as I have been looking for some time for the perfect substitute to the regular refined sugar we currently use, and due to the fact I don’t like artificial sweeteners, this was the perfect opportunity to see how this type of sugar faired. There is also quite a rise in the want for unrefined sugars in our diets, however, the health benefits of this are still unclear. However, because panela is the juice of the sugar cane and is only heated up once it retains a lot of the vitamins and minerals present in the pure sugar cane juice.

On the back of the block, it states that you need to break off two cubes per cup of hot chocolate. I was worried that there wouldn’t be a lot in the back but it appears to make 16 cups of hot chocolate, which is great as it only costs £5 for the block which I think (considering the cost of cocoa) is quite reasonably priced. The blocks broke off quite easily and I was curious to taste what it was like before I added them to the saucepan. It was smooth and bitter all at the same time, it had the intensity of eating dark chocolate but made your mouth slightly dry just like when you lick your fingers after using cocoa powder. Once I had taste tested – I added in enough milk for two hot chocolates, which I was making or my two eldest Children. The blocks melted as you would imagine regular chocolate to melt, but when combined with the milk they quickly fused together to create a thick dark liquid mmm. I did as they suggested and used my whisk to combine the two ingredients together, and due to the fact that the cocoa isn’t sweetened, I felt this was the ultimate time to try out the panela. As I did with the cocoa I tasted it prior to adding it to the cocoa and milk. It had a crumbly almost biscuity texture, that had a ‘mapely’ caramel taste. It doesn’t make your toes curl like when eating refined sugar and it almost melts in your mouth. Next, I added 4 tsp to the hot chocolate (which I think was enough for our tastes), but you could add more if you like it, extra sweet. When giving the children the hot chocolate I was worried they would find it bitter, but they loved it (they are both fans of dark chocolate). They were both surprised how creamy and thick it was considering we hadn’t added anything to make it thicker. I too was surprised by this when making it. I too had a taste of their drinks and loved how luxurious it was, and what was great about it was that we could put as much or as little of the panela in as we wanted to sweeten it.

The cocoa and panela are more than just a treat, I could easily see this as a total swap to our regular hot chocolate. It is so much healthier and far less processed than the stuff I normally give to my children, and drink myself. If you would like to try out the Hasslachers products, do take a look at their website as you will also find a white chocolate block for those that don’t want something as dark as the pure cacao. You can also find tea made from the cacao fruit, which I find fascinating, and would love to try at some point!

Here’s a little bit of our story, it was while visiting Colombia in 2012 that we were struck by the irony that the preferred beverage of the great coffee exporting nation was actually hot chocolate; nearly half a million hot chocolate bars are sold by Hasslacher’s Colombian supplier every month. We wanted to bring the amazing quality of Colombian hot chocolate to the UK market and so Hasslacher’s was born.