Review - Potomac Drinking Chocolate

Finally I get to talk about my favorite chocolate maker! Potomac Chocolate has been my favorite since I first tried a bar around 2011, and it's basically just one man, Ben Rasmussen. Originally working out of his basement, he now has a retail shop in Occoquan, VA. He's got single origin bars, milk chocolate bars, flavored bars, cocoa spreads, and even bonbons! It's been a fun adventure watching his small operation grow over the past few years, and his chocolate has remained consistent and absolutely amazing.

You already know I'm a fan of chopping up your favorite chocolate bar and making a drink out of it, but it sure is nice when the chocolate maker does the work for you and offers packets of drink mix. I ordered both the Duarte (Dominican Republic) single origin and the Spiced drinking chocolate.

Also, as I was only enjoying a cup for myself, I cut the directions in half.

First up is the Duarte. You can see what it looks like out of the package. This is real drinking chocolate! I made it with 2% milk. It is, literally, just a cup of bean-to-bar ganache. Very thick, rich, and perfect. The flavors Ben is creating over there in Woodbridge come right through, and are not overpowering or too strong. This is my favorite kind of drinking chocolate, where you can truly taste the artisanal quality.

Sometimes with strong, thick drinking chocolates, when I've finished, I find myself kind of exhausted on sweets for a bit. That's not the case with Potomac. I finished the cup and it was just right.

The ingredients are as pure as the bars - two simple things.

The Duarte has a prominent chocolate fudge flavor, I thought. The tasting notes say "cocoa and red fruit", and I think with the milk preparation, the cocoa really comes through the most. Sometimes when I make a cold chocolate milk, I'll simply use cocoa powder and honey, which really lets the cocoa flavor shine through, unlike the overly sweet, processed flavor of making chocolate milk with store bought syrup. This cup of Duarte reminded me of that, but amplified with the amazing flavor subtleties Potomac is known for. It's definitely got the complexity of a bean-to-bar chocolate, but it's not hitting you over the head with tangy notes or astringent bitterness. This is, of course, why I think Potomac is my favorite maker to begin with. Ben really captures the perfect balance of the specific flavors of the cacao bean while retaining a classic note of dark chocolate.

I wonder if the red fruit will come through more with the water preparation? We'll get to that in a bit.

A couple of years ago I picked up the green mug I'm using here, back before Ben was even making drinking chocolates. The original packaging was a pleasant green wrapper with the now-iconic fish, each bar having a slightly different shade, and this mug matched perfectly. It felt right to still use it, even though the packaging has changed a few times since then. In fact, the packaging has changed yet again since I took these photos! In my memory, I still see Potomac Chocolate as that light shade of green.

Here you can see a variety of Ben's bars: his production line from a few years ago, a few bars of his then-brand-new Cuyagua, Venezuela bar, and a few test bars while he was working out the Cuyagua production. These were a Kickstarter reward!

Now on to the Spiced drinking chocolate!

Again I cut the directions in half, using a digital kitchen scale to measure out half of the 85 grams in the package (well, roughly half). Checking the ingredient list shows you exactly the spices added to the chocolate.

   

It also came out thick like a European drinking chocolate. In my opinion, this means it's a chocolate you should slow down and enjoy, to sip like a dessert. This isn't something you'd grab with a donut, or in a to-go cup as you run out the door. This is an event. This is like opening an expensive bottle of wine (if you're into wine).

I served mine with some rolled wafer cookies and a small variety of Plush Puffs marshmallows, but once I began enjoying it, I savored it by itself. The chocolate needed nothing else.

The Spiced absolutely lived up to expectations. It's wonderful. The package doesn't list the origin of the bean, but I suspect it is the same Duarte bean as the other drinking chocolate. It's fudgey and rich, barely sweetened, and the spice is perfect!


The sea salt, cinnamon, and Aleppo chili pepper, while simple ingredients, add such complexity to this drink. It's got some heat for sure, but it's not the kind of heat that leaves you gasping for cool air afterwards. It's measured and careful, really something different.

So now to try these out with other styles of preparation, the first being my favorite way for most drinking chocolates. I used a full mug of 2% milk and the remaining 41 grams of the Spiced chocolate, which is a very different ratio of liquid to chocolate from what is advised in the instructions. It made a more traditional American style serving of hot chocolate.

And naturally, it's delightful this way. Not strong and powerful, not a concentrated, thick drinking chocolate. Also not very sweet, and the chocolate flavor is still comes through perfectly, along with all the nuances in flavor from the bean-to-bar process. The spice still hits pretty hard, too, giving it a finish to remember.

If I could change anything about it, I'd actually love for the chocolate to be the more prominent flavor rather than the spices. I just love what Ben does with chocolate so much, I want it to be the star. I could probably create that myself by simply making a mixture of the Duarte and the Spiced, or by chopping up a solid bar and adding some of that in.

 I made my last portion of the Duarte with water as instructed on the package. Wow, it's intense and chocolatey, and there's that sharp red fruit tang I was expecting in the earlier preparations! Not overpowering, though, which is very pleasant. Many water based drinking chocolates are strong and sweet and like a punch of concentrated flavor. This one, while more intense than the milk varieties, is not overly strong or sweet. And the portion size recommended on the instructions is just right.

Also part of Kickstarter rewards from years past were t-shirts emblazoned with the current logos and a little crocheted fish! Ben's wife Cyndi made these as an extra bonus during one of the Kickstarter campaigns, and I had to get the green one! I've also been taking the used wrappers and creating laminated bookmarks from them. I've even made some from the older original green packaging. As an avid reader, I can think of no better way to show off wrappers and share my love of craft chocolate!

      

Overall, Potomac Drinking chocolates are a delight, and in my opinion, one of the best in the world. If you love (or are interested in trying) bean-to-bar hot chocolates, you will love this drink. Go get some at the website, and follow them on Instagram. Send a message to Ben, and tell him Melting Mug sent you!

Recipe - Alton Brown's Reloaded Cocoa Syrup

I very much enjoy making my own chocolate syrup. Much like making homemade marshmallows, it elevates it to a whole new level and makes it extra delicious. I also enjoy basically everything Alton Brown does. His show Good Eats has been one of my favorite shows for years. A year or so ago, Mr. Brown started revisiting certain episodes, updating the recipes and techniques, and calling it Good Eats: Reloaded. He's done a few chocolate episodes, and once I got them on my DVR, I refuse to delete them! One of them is The Art of Darkness II: The Reload. In it, he updated his chocolate syrup recipe, and I just had to give it a try!

Here's the ingredients:

3 cups sugar
1½ cup water
2 tbsp corn syrup
1½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground black cardamom

The tricky part of that ingredient list is the black cardamom. It takes a bit of preparation, but please do it!

It's SO worth it!

And no, the cardamom you already have is probably not black cardamom.

Black cardamom is different from the typical cardamom spice shaker found in most kitchens. Regular cardamom is actually green cardamom. I had to order the black cardamom online from a spice company, I grabbed it HERE.

The black cardamom comes as whole pods, so you have to grind it yourself. You can either throw them in a spice grinder, if you have one, or use a mortar and pestle, which is what I have. First I cracked open the pods and pulled off the fibrous husks, leaving only the little black spheres inside. They kind of look like peppercorns. Once you've got them ground in your device of choice, sift them to make sure you get all the little fibrous bits out.

Put the water, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and get it boiling. While it's heating, in your food processor, put in the cocoa powder and salt. Give it a few pulses to start getting it blended.

Once the sugar mixture is boiling and not cloudy, and with the lid on your food processor, turn the processor on and slowly pour the hot liquid into the feed tube. Once it's all in, add the vanilla and the black cardamom.

Let it cool for 10 or 20 minutes in the food processor bowl, then use a funnel and pour it into squeeze bottles. I was able to fill 3 bottles. You can keep them in the fridge, or even freeze some and thaw them as needed.

Have you tasted it yet? I was tasting it right out of the processor bowl! Wow, it's SO GOOD! The first taste, I was a little surprised at the flavor the black cardamom brought to it, but then I just couldn't stop tasting it. I still can't! Every time I'm in the kitchen, I have a spoonful.

I'm not sure how to describe it. Try to imagine allspice but with hints of mint and clove. I guess that might be close, although it's a bit more complex than that.

I've been making cold chocolate milk with this, the same way I would make chocolate milk with any other syrup. Wow, what a wonderful, spiced flavor! It's also very aromatic, which is a delight when mixing up a simple glass of chocolate milk. Definitely let's you know you've got something special happening. 

This recipe has me so excited, I want to do all kinds of variations on it. I'd like to try one where the cocoa powder ratio is 50% of the other ingredients. I'd like to try one where I reduce the black cardamom by half, and one where I add a touch of cinnamon, or maybe allspice, ginger, or nutmeg. So much to explore!

If you give it a try, please let me know what you think! And thanks, Alton! 

Recipe - Chocolate Frog Mini-Cauldron

Well, potions class didn't start very well today. I was late - again. Professor Snape has warned me a bunch of times, but between the Weasley twins having flooded the east corridors and Peeves throwing rotten pumpkins at everyone trying to go down the main stairway, I had no choice but to take the long way around to the dungeons.

Professor Snape was already angry before I even arrived. His hatred of all things Muggle is well known, so when Professor Dumbledore announced that the next couple weeks would be dedicated to Muggle studies across all classes, we all dreaded potions.

We sat down to find chocolate frogs at our desks. Was this some kind of joke, Professor Snape leaving treats out for every student in class? Not a chance. Today's assignment was to create a popular Muggle hot drink that uses chocolate, and since students bringing sweets into Snape's classroom is strictly forbidden, he was forced to provide them for us.

This drink is apparently just thinned, melted chocolate. Professor Snape could barely bring himself to discuss it, instead letting Millicent Bulstrode talk about it to the class. Hermione and the few other students who were raised by Muggles all seemed really happy that the entire class was dedicated to this chocolate drink.

Opening my chocolate frog, I quickly used a simple stun spell to keep it from hopping away. Neville's frog jumped into one of the old dungeon runoff drains, so Ron and Harry both gave him bits of their frogs.

While some of the other students were chasing their frogs around the room, Susan Bones told us that someone in her family owns a chocolate shop in London, and that Muggles like chocolates in a variety of strengths, meaning the amount of actual cocoa bean in the chocolate. Apparently our chocolate frogs are 70% croakoa, which is similar to cocoa and gives the frogs their magical abilities. More importantly, I got a Salazar Slytherin card! So cool, I needed one! Although Ron got a Herpo the Foul card, which is really rare and even cooler!

Chopping up the chocolate frog felt a bit... umm... gross, I guess. I know we usually eat them anyway, but this kind of felt like torture, even though I know they're not really alive. But there was no way I was going to miss this! Parvati felt bad chopping hers up, so Snape charmed it back to pseudo-life and made her do it while it was squirming around on the table! She was in tears. He's so horrible!

We heated milk in our cauldrons, and just before the milk boiled, added the bits of chocolate frog. They melted quickly and smoothly. Seamus Finnegan somehow managed to catch his hair on fire, and Harry, Ron, and Neville had to cut their recipes by a third, which of course confused Ron to no end. Two students from Ravenclaw somehow caused their frogs to puff up like balloons until they popped! We’ve made things much more complex than this, I don’t know how they managed to screw this up.

Mine turned out pretty good! If I had to complain about any of it, I'd maybe say it was a bit too sweet. It was easy to see why Professor Snape hates it, as bitter as he is. Harry and Hermione also complained that theirs were too sweet, and Hermione instructed us all to add a spoonful of cocoa powder too them, which balanced them out nicely. Apparently she's been to Paris and told us about how the chocolate drinks there are darker and stronger. Naturally, Hermione made the best in class, but Professor Snape still took points from Gryffndor for her attitude when she presented it to him.

Off to History of Magic now. I think we’re learning about some Muggle named Houdini.

(Photography by Kristen Kennedy)