Apple Cider & Hot Chocolate
(20 posts) (12 voices)-
I'll be interested in what people have to say about cider. I'll probably pick up a jug of the non-pasturized, minimally-processed cider from a local orchard and enjoy in limited quantities.
For hot chocolate, I've been meaning to try coconut milk with a bit of unsweetened chocolate melted into it (slow stirring on stovetop, like making cocoa the old-fashioned way).
Posted 5 months ago # -
Yes, DCKMB, I agree with BarbeyGirl, although, again, the cider will have to be local. My Mennonite (distant) relatives have a festival up in Canada every year and they like to churn fresh cider. It's wonderful. They don't add anything to it or boil it either.
Not sure where to get such an unprocessed product if I wanted to now-a-days....
I also second the coconut milk cocoa.
Posted 5 months ago # -
nina_70
MemberI know not everyone is into dairy here, but for a low-carb hot chocolate I go crazy for raw full cream (mixed with water) together w/ cacao, plus sweetener (e.g. stevia) as needed. If you want to make it more exotic you can add cinnamon, vanilla or any other spice/extract.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Sir Grandma
Memberah, childhood memories. My parents had wild apple trees on the property. The tart, hard, little apples made good cider. Your friends had a press and we would spend a day making cider in the fall. Unpasteurized, filtered just enough to get the bees out (bees loved to hang around the press when it was in operation), it was great stuff. And a couple weeks later we would get a little drunk on the stuff that had turned :)
Posted 5 months ago # -
DiabetesCanKissMyButt
MemberThanks for the tips. I am leaning toward a heavy whipping cream version of hot chocolate since I'm not a huge fan of coconut milk (blasphemy I know). Nina, do you mix equal parts of water with your cream for this?
Cider is gonna be tougher. Alpine makes a powdered version but the ingredients list does not look appetizing:
Ingredients: Maltodextrin, malic acid, apple juice solids, caramel color, aspartame, sodium citrate, tricalcium phosphate, ascorbic acid, natural and artificial flavors, spice extractive.
Here's an article on how to make your own cider: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Apple-Cider
Not sure I have the time or inclination to go to the trouble though. I'm confused as to why anyone would pastuerize it though. Wouldn't it be the same as just eating apples? I mean it's coming from the same product and we don't pastuerize the fruit we eat. Maybe it's a naive question but I don't get it.
Posted 5 months ago # -
DCKMB, I believe the industry's excuse for pasturizing cider is that it's "necessary" to kill the bacteria, particularly since cider is often made from fallen apples and other rejects that can't be sold whole.
Posted 5 months ago # -
I've been using unsweetened almond milk and 100% dark cocoa for hot chocolate. I love it.
Posted 5 months ago # -
hannahc
MemberAha, so it becomes hard cider too soon. Sounds good to me :)
If you have a good farmer's market they might have local cider. I think the stuff I can get is still pasteurized, but at least it's just apples with no added ingredients at all. It's very strong/thick, and subsequently delicious :)
The hot cocoa with a touch of cinnamon and chili powder sounds wonderful too, I might try that one with CM.
Posted 5 months ago # -
nina_70
MemberDCKMB - getting back to you a little late on the cream/water question. I have to admit I go to taste, so not sure how much I mix in. 1/2 cream, 1/2 water sounds good...maybe slightly more water to start say 1/3 cream, 2/3 water. I'd play around w/ it & go w/ how it tastes. More fat/cream is never a problem :)
Posted 5 months ago # -
klcarbaugh
MemberI ski a lot. Uh, like twice a week :) and hot chocolate is a huge thing when you go in for a break or for lunch, etc.
It is cheap if you buy a cup of hot water and bring your own packets of stuff to throw in there. I can bring my own sweetener and my own cocoa powder, but besides powdered milk (yuck) I don't know how to get some low carb, good hot chocolate with good fat instead of lactose and casein, etc.
The almond milk and dark chocolate sounds delicious, Mandy, but I don't know how I could heat that up at a ski resort (most of them do not have microwaves, stupid I know).
Ideas??Posted 5 months ago # -
eva
Memberi ski a lot too and hike and snomobile up in lapland and hot chocolate is a treat i allow myself once in a while - i make it with 100% cocoa powder and raw milk + a dash of something stronger:) , but lately im more into mulled wine - just a couple of sticks of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, staranise, peppercorns and some kind of sweetener....
im just goint to the cottage tomorrow, my hb is already there and it was a snowstorm when he was driving up there... maybe not enough to ski on yet, but about 15 cm still on the ground :)Posted 5 months ago #
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