Atole is a rich, thick, calorically dense beverage made from corn masa (ground corn dough) and water. It is available in markets and restaurants throughout Mexico and can be flavoured with ingredients such as pecans, blackberries, or regular chocolate. In Mexico, this rich chocolate drink is served at Day of the Dead celebrations and Christmas posadas (festivals). Atole de chocolate, or champurrado in Oaxaca, is an atole flavoured with regular chocolate. The atole portion on the bottom of a chocolate-atole is unflavored—this is known as an atole blanco (white). The ceremonial drink contains cacao but is only used to make the foam. Chocolate-atole can be described as two drinks in one. The warm atole is on the bottom, and the cool foam is on top.
The fermented pataxte is ground into a powder and combined with ground cinnamon, toasted and ground corn or wheat, and regular ground cacao to make chocolate foam. To make the foam, water is added to the mixture, which is then vigorously whisked with a wooden tool called a molinillo. Chocolate-atole is always served with an alcahuete, which is a flat wooden stick shaped like a bookmark. They are frequently carved into animal shapes at the top and brightly painted, and they serve as the ideal tool for picking up but not deflating the foam, which can be eaten alone or mixed into the atole.
What makes this drink unique is that it is unusual in that it does not taste like chocolate. The flavour is delicate, not sweet, has notes of nuts like almonds, and is thick and buttery.
Importance Of Cacao Tree
Chocolate, which is abstracted from the cacao tree, or Theobroma Cacao, has a lesser-known relative, Theobroma Bicolor, also known as pataxte or jaguar tree. Although it is rarely seen outside of its native South and Central America, pataxte is an essential ingredient in the ceremonial Oaxacan drink chocolate-atole.
Oaxacans harvest pataxte seeds all year and bury them underground to ferment for one or two years for preservation. The beans become white, delicate, and chalk-like after being dug up, washed, and sun-dried on woven palm bedrolls. As a result, pataxte is also known as cacao blanco, or white cacao, even though the raw cacao is green with a light-brown pulp.
Pataxte is difficult to obtain and expensive due to the manufacturing process. Traditionally, they have only been used for foamy drinks like chocolate-atole. Pataxte contains less caffeine than chocolate, but its high-fat content, combined with the fermentation process, results in a large amount of long-lasting foam.
History Of Cacao
Cacao has been culturally and culinarily significant since pre-Hispanic times. Both cacao trees (Theobroma Cacao and Theobroma Bicolor) are mentioned in the Popol Vuh, the Mayan people's foundational, sacred book, and the foamy beverages made from their beans were reserved for religious events or ceremonies. The foam is associated with fertility, and an image of a woman pouring hot chocolate to create a foam can be found in the Aztec Codex Tudela (The Codex Tudela is a lavishly illustrated manuscript that documents religious ceremonies, customs, rituals, and festivals of the Aztecs of Mexico's Valley) as early as the 1500s.
Chocolate-atole is still a ceremonial drink in Oaxaca's central valleys for events such as weddings, mayordomia (when a local mayor is named), or to commemorate a patron saint. It's also a popular treat that parents buy for their children at Sunday markets.