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Coffee/Tea German Chocolate

german chocolate
512px-Becher_Kakao_mit_Sahneh%C3%A4ubchen.jpg
(from The Housekeeper's Encyclopedia of Useful Information for the Housekeeper, by E. F. Haskell, 1861)

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. fine grated chocolate​
2 quarts rich milk​
the whites of 4 eggs​
the yolks of 2 eggs​
1 gill of cold milk​
1 coffee cup of chocolate​
flavor with nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon​
sugar​

Instructions:

Four large table-spoons of the best chocolate grated fine, two quarts rich milk added gradually to the chocolate, the whites of four and yolks of two eggs beaten light, but not separated; add one gill of cold milk to the eggs, beat well; add gradually a coffee-cup of the chocolate to the milk and eggs while hot, beating constantly. Take the chocolate to the milk and egg while hot, beating constantly. Take the chocolate from the fire, keep it hot but not boiling, and add the egg and milk gradually; stir constantly, or it will curdle; flavor with nutmeg, vanilla, or cinnamon, as desired; sugar it to suit the taste. The Germans use no sugar. The egg is to be added just before serving. This makes a very delicious drink. Serve in Chocolate bowls.​


Interpretated for today:

Take four large tablespoons of grated chocolate with two quarts of milk. While that heats, in another bowl, beat the whites of four eggs with the yolks of two and add one "gill" of milk. When the chocolate mixture is hot enough, remove from the fire and slowly mix in the egg/milk mixture, stirring the whole time to prevent curdling. Add vanilla, cinnamon or nutmeg and serve in mugs. You can still add sugar to taste.​

Photo by Becher Kakao mit Sahnehäubchen - CC BY-SA 3.0
 
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This article reminds me of the first time I had a taste of “Shrub” on Mackinac Island..wowsers! Tart would be kind..and as I recall, chocolate as a drink was served in those small demitasse cups.(there were whole sets of chocolate severs and cups). And it was bitter. I’m guessing some Nanny somewhere decided to stretch the ration by adding cream...and a new drink was born.
 
I approached this recipe differently than most people upthread. During the Civil War, Baker's sold two kinds of chocolate; unsweetened (100% cacao), and German Sweet Chocolate (48% cacao). Since this recipes is called "German Chocolate," and since I know hot chocolate back then was commonly made with sugar (hot chocolate in the 1600s was more like a mole sauce -- no milk, no sugar, lots of chili), I went with German chocolate. Actually, I didn't have any on hand, so I used semi-sweet and added some sugar. But I was aiming for German's!

I've also made hot chocolate with Baker's chocolate before, and 4 heaping tablespoons (about 1/2 cup in modern measurements) to two quarts of milk is about half what modern recipes call for -- if that's even what she means by "large tablespoon" (4 modern Tablespoon measuring spoons, leveled, would be 1/4 cup). Unsweetened chocolate would essentially double the chocolate in it, but, wow! would that be sharp without sugar! I'd heard that hot chocolate in the mid-1800s was thicker and more chocolate-y than we drink it, which certainly isn't true of this one, but maybe that's a myth.

The Wilbur Museum (mostly just a room at the back of the Wilbur Chocolates Factory store), in Lititz, PA, has the biggest collection of chocolate pots I've seen. It's about an hour and ten minutes from Gettysburg, but if you're staying in Harrison or Hershey, it's much closer. The Wilbur Chocolate Factory is beside (or was beside, since it looiks like they've moved across the street) a tiny park that goes back to the 1700s. Then, in downtown Lititz, is the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, which was established in 1861, and still offers soft pretzels that my kids judged as "pretty good, for storebought." Sturgis Pretzels are right near the Moravian Church Square, which has a little museum and store and whatnot (limited hours on that, at least when we were there, so requires more planning than the other two).

This article has some photos of the Wilbur Museum, including some chocolate pots:

http://lilbitbrit.blogspot.com/2016/09/wilbur-chocolate-factory-lititz-pa.html
 
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