Celebrating Un-American Chocolate this week

Today, Sunday March 20, 2011 begins the 20th annual celebration of American Chocolate Week. To be honest, I've hemmed and hawed about how to celebrate this year. Last year, I blogged about my chocolate study breaks with chocolate reviews and recipes. This year, I've not been so inspired.

My difficulty is simple: I've not been inspired by any AMERICAN chocolate this entire year. Though I've been incredibly infrequent in blogging about chocolate, I've been anything but infrequent in sampling chocolate. But unfortunately, most of my experiences, especially when it came to American-style chocolate, have left me longing for something more refined, namely European-style chocolate.

Thus, I've decided to be very un-American this year and to celebrate 2011 American Chocolate Week blogging about the most non-American chocolate I've come to love - that is, European Drinking Chocolate. For me, drinking chocolate, especially cioccolata calda (Italian Style Drinking Chocolate), is the ultimate form of chocolate enjoyment, and finding an excellent cup here in America has become a secondary chocolate pursuit (next to my search for the perfect chocolate cake, that is).

This week you'll learn more about my growing passion for drinking chocolate and how I now get my fix here in America.

My obsession with drinking chocolate all began in Italy in the summer of 2009 in the mountain hermitage of La Verna. (You can read the full story here.) I was on a Franciscan pilgrimage, and during our long bus ride from Assisi to La Verna, Brother Joe, one of our pilgrimage leaders, mentioned that when we stop, we should each try a cup of "drinking chocolate."

Up to that time, "drinking chocolate" was simply "hot chocolate," namely, a packet of instant powder and water, and often too sweet for my chocolate tastes. Brother Joe said that Italian-style drinking chocolate is nothing like anything you find in America. It's actually good. My curiosity was piqued, and when the bus stopped, I was the first one at the counter, ready to order, with Brother Joe's assistance in translation, of course.

For 2 euros, I was given an espresso cup filled with thick, warmed chocolate. I gently stirred the cocoa brown potion with the small spoon that was provided, and breathed in the rich, inviting chocolate aroma. It was heavenly. The chocolate itself was thick, not watery or even creamy, but instead, like a smooth melted chocolate bar or a velvety liquid pudding. Though it is hard to describe its consistency in words, as I lifted the spoon and slowly sipped, I knew I was hooked.

Though this cup of drinking chocolate did not have the dark bitter bite (or color) that I appreciate in a chocolate cake, it had a deep, semi-sweet flavor that was very smooth, in spite its thick liquid consistency. Though I do not know the La Verna recipe, the drinking chocolate I enjoyed had a chocolate profile very similar to the 53% cacao bar I brought home as a souvenir.

Very simply, the warmth of the drinking chocolate, its evocative smell, and its luscious taste were intoxicating. I licked the inside of the cup clean.

Returning home, I began a new quest: to find an Italian-style drinking chocolate here in the USA. Over the coming days, you'll read in this blog what I discovered, and you'll learn that it took trip to Australia and another trip to Italy before I discovered that what I was looking for was literally right in my own backyard here in America!

Happy American Chocolate Week.