Staffordshires Food and Drink Scene.

Tag: Chocao

The perfect hot chocolate

Comfort food doesn’t come in many more comforting forms than hot chocolate. For best results you should always use good quality dark chocolate with 70% cocoa solids – or more,…

Comfort food doesn’t come in many more comforting forms than hot chocolate.

For best results you should always use good quality dark chocolate with 70% cocoa solids – or more, depending on your personal taste. Treating yourself to the perfect hot chocolate is no time to be overly health conscious, and the use of a mixture of milk and cream as in this version gives the finished drink a delightfully silky mouthfeel. You can easily replace the milk and cream with coconut, almond, soy or rice milk for a vegan alternative. 

Use cinnamon, vanilla, chilli, cardamom or virtually any other flavour you can imagine to change things up, or keep it simple by adding just a pinch of salt. This will tone down any bitterness from the dark chocolate and enhance the sweetness of your drink. 

You could top your hot chocolate with marshmallows if you’re feeling extra decadent. Alternatively, add a dash of a dark spirit or cream liqueur as a grown up treat. Chocao, a cacao gin liqueur made in Staffordshire, would be the perfect partner. 

Serves 2

450ml whole milk
70g dark chocolate, finely chopped or grated
30g milk chocolate, finely chopped or grated
75ml single cream
Pinch of salt

  1. Warm a third of the milk in a saucepan over a medium heat and stir the chocolate through.
  2. Stir until the chocolate has melted into the milk, then whisk in the rest of the milk and the single cream.
  3. Continue to heat until the mixture is hot (but not boiling)  before adding the salt.
  4. Add any additional flavouring, then serve in your favourite mug.

Share photos of your chocolatey creations with us over on Instagram by tagging @staffordshiresauce or #staffordshiresauce!

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Get your tickets for the launch of Chocao

An award winning chocolatier, an award winning gin distiller and an award winning food marketer walk into a pub… It might sound like the start of a joke, but in…

An award winning chocolatier, an award winning gin distiller and an award winning food marketer walk into a pub… It might sound like the start of a joke, but in fact it was the start of Chocao.

A cacao gin liqueur designed to be enjoyed neat as an after dinner drink, Chocao is the result of a creative collaboration between three independent Staffordshire businesses: Staffordshire Gin founders Jason Davies and Claire Gibbs, award-winning chocolatier James Walter of Seed Chocolate, and food and drink marketing specialist Daren Bach from Provoke.

To celebrate the launch, there will be tasting events this February at Ten Green Bottles in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stone. Ticket holders will have the chance to meet the distillers and to sample Chocao, along with gin-soaked cacao nibs and delicious Seed Chocolate. Afterwards, there will be specially crafted Chocao cocktails on offer as created by Ten Green Bottles’ in-house mixologist, Ben.

The gin-based liqueur is infused with ultra-premium, single origin Peruvian cacao beans, which are more commonly used to make chocolate. The cacao beans are bought via direct trade from an agricultural collective in northern Peru. Every batch is directly traceable to the community where it was grown, thus ensuring there is no child slavery in the production process.The drink is also suitable for vegans.

Jason and Claire distil each batch of cacao gin at Staffordshire Gin HQ in Silverdale. Their popular Black Violet gin recently won bronze at the World Gin Awards.

The cacao beans are sourced and prepared by James Walter of Seed Chocolate, who has received recognition for his bean-to-bar chocolate from The Academy of Chocolate, The International Chocolate Awards and The Guild of Fine Foods’ Great Taste Awards.

Daren Bach, a food and drink marketing specialist, founder of Provoke Marketing & Design and editor of Sauce magazine, is responsible for the branding, packaging and website design as well as marketing activity for Chocao.

Tickets for the launch events are priced at £5 per person.
Book here for Ten Green Bottles Stone on Thursday 6 February.
Book here for Ten Green Bottles Newcastle-under-Lyme on Thursday 13 February.

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