Tag: Hot

Hot chocolate: light and lactose-free – Italian Cuisine

A greedy cuddle, but without too many feelings of guilt. As good and creamy as a real hot chocolate, but much lighter

Did you know that to prepare a state-of-the-art hot chocolate, the secret is to use a large amount of excellent chocolate simply dissolved in a little hot milk?
But we want to offer you an equally delicious, but much lighter alternative based on cocoa, also suitable as vegan recipe.

Light hot chocolate recipe

Ingrediants

200 g of oat milk or other vegetable milk
8 g of unsweetened cocoa
10 g of potato starch

Method

Mix the milk with the well sieved cocoa and then add the starch, obviously sifted.
No sugar and no sweeteners because the Avena's milk it is naturally sweet. Otherwise, use a sweetened almond milk, or a teaspoon of erythritol (natural sugar without calories).
Put everything on low heat and, stirring slowly and continuously with a wooden spoon, wait for the drink to take on consistency.
In about two minutes the hot chocolate will be ready, thick and creamy like the one made with chocolate.

Maizena or flour?

You can replace the starch with cornstarch and you will get the same result.
We do not recommend flour instead because both the taste and the texture would be affected.

No to sugar, yes to spices

For a light hot chocolate we suggest you not to use sugar, also because, as we said, the vegetable milk it is already very often sweetened.
If you want to add aroma and taste, use spices, like a stick of cinnamon to mix everything as if it were a teaspoon, or a few drops of vanilla, or some berries of cardamom if you like the aroma of this spice.

Coconut whipped cream

If you really can't help but enrich your hot chocolate with whipped cream, try this alternative.
Leave for one night can of coconut milk in the refrigerator.
The following day, take the part that has solidified and whisk it as if to make whipped cream.
You will get a soft cloud of coconut, which will not be light because it is still rich in vegetable fats, but it will be lactose-free and a delicious vegan recipe!
Coconut and cocoa then go very well together so you absolutely have to taste this variant because you will fall in love with it.
You can garnish it with coconut flakes or with a sprinkling of cinnamon or bitter cocoa.

Scroll through the gallery above to see how light hot chocolate is prepared

Herbal teas, the pleasure of hot water – Italian Cuisine

To warm up or relax, to purify or detoxify, to fight anxiety or insomnia, to digest better or stimulate a sluggish intestine, but also to lose weight or deflate, strengthen the immune system or fight colds: there are many reasons that push Italians to turn more and more often to herbal teas, whose sales continue to grow year after year.

That infusions of herbs, flowers, plants and roots help you feel better is out of the question, but that they are a universal remedy, with therapeutic properties and without side effects, to be taken without worries is false. Here, then, are the tips to take only the best from herbal teas.

Don't expect miracles

Herbal teas are an excellent solution for maintaining the right degree of hydration in the body, especially in those who do not feel thirsty and struggle to drink regularly. They also allow you to take advantage of the advantages of heat, which is a vasodilator, and to take plant extracts that could have positive effects, but you shouldn't expect them to lose weight, burn fat or have detox powers: these are all properties that scientific research does not has yet ascertained.

Do not overdo it

Good and hot, herbal teas are often a cuddle that we allow ourselves during the day. A good habit, certainly, as long as you don't overdo it. The fact that they are "natural" preparations, ie based on herbs or flowers, does not mean that they cannot have unpleasant effects. Thousands of chemicals of natural origin are taken with a herbal tea, which in any case can have effects on the human body. In addition, there are plants that can be allergenic, and therefore cause unwelcome reactions (for example, in the skin or intestine), or that can interfere with the intake of drugs. In particular moments of life (such as pregnancy) or if you have health problems it is good to consult your doctor before taking herbal teas on a regular and frequent basis. A classic case is that of those with low blood pressure to whom herbal teas (especially draining ones) are not recommended because they promote diuresis and, therefore, further lower the pressure. While those who take statins to lower cholesterol must give up those based on tea, even decaffeinated.

Packaged ones are better

Do-it-yourself can be risky: it is better to rely on herbal teas sold at the supermarket or those prepared by a graduate herbalist or an expert pharmacist. In any case, it is preferable to purchase products packaged in sachets as they carry information on their composition, suggestions for use and the name of the packer, which certifies their origin, on the label. And then on the packages there is the date by which it is preferable to consume them: an important information given that, with the passage of time, herbal teas "age" and gradually lose their properties.

Better the simple ones

It is difficult to resist herbal teas made up of several "ingredients", because they are those with the richest bouquet in taste and aroma. However, in these mixtures the individual components are present in low doses and, therefore, the bioavailability of their active ingredients is lower. So, if you drink the herbal tea just for the pleasure of it, no problem choosing a mix. To reach higher concentrations of the active ingredient, the infusion times can be increased (from 5 to 10 minutes), or two filters can be placed in the same cup, but in this case it is advisable not to exceed two cups a day.

But if you want to get all the benefits of herbal teas, it is better to choose those that do not contain more than five different medicinal plants. The ideal are those based on a single plant: cumin, anise or fennel to digest, lime, mint or lemon balm to relax, dandelion, birch or nettle to purify.

Never boiling water

Hot, yes, but not hot: herbal teas should be drunk this way both to get the best out of their active ingredients and to avoid health risks, as reported by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Warm yes, then, but not very hot (never above the temperature of 65 °).

December 2021
Manuela Soressi

How to get thick hot chocolate – Italian Cuisine

Other than cocoa powder, to get a cup of hot chocolate like the ones that appear in advertisements, you need to follow the teaching that comes from Belgium

The idea that the hot chocolate it can be prepared in a minute, by pouring a sachet of powder into a saucepan and after a stir it is "ready" was dictated by the fashion of "everything and immediately". While like any self-respecting good thing, that of hot chocolate should be a ritual to which you can devote the right time, without haste and approximation.

How to get thick hot chocolate

As taught by the greatest Italian master chocolatiers, from Gobino to Pistocchi, until'Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, to prepare the real thick and creamy hot chocolate cocoa powder is not used, if not minimally possibly, but dark chocolate.

The tablet must be chopped and then poured, depending on your taste, into the water or milk. There are those who then add a little sugar, some also a pinch of salt, some wheat starch or starch to thicken. In Belgium the famous Pierre Marcolini has created a ready-to-use preparation with a captivating name, "primitive chocolate".

Hot chocolate on a stick, that's how it's done in Belgium

And it is precisely in Belgium, where they know a lot about chocolate, so much so that there is also a museum in Brussels, that they have invented a nice and original way to prepare hot chocolate. In the hundreds of sparkling shops of pralines in the shop window, it is now customary to see wooden sticks sticking into a chocolate cube soaring. We are talking about the Hot Chocolate on a Stick, a way to obtain a dense hot chocolate that respects tradition by shortening the execution times. Unless you want to try your hand at making your own favorite stick. The advantage is that there are many variations, not only in shops but also at home.

And it can also be prepared at home

They are enough few ingredients and a silicone popsicle mold. First you need to melt the chocolate, milk or dark as long as it is of quality, in the microwave or in a bain-marie. Once this is done, add the sugar and a pinch of salt, cinnamon, chilli or another flavor of your choice. After having mixed everything, put the mixture in a pastry bag to pour it into the mold. At this point, skewer the stick and put it in the freezer for about ten minutes. After that yours Hot Chocolate on a Stick it is ready to be dissolved in a nice cup of hot milk.