The ancient people of Mesoamerica used kakawa (a Nahuatl word, translated as cacao) in elixirs. They believed that it was food from the gods and only those of high-status were allowed to consume it. Cortez discovered chocolate when visiting the great Aztec Emperor, Montezuma, and brought it back to Europe where sweetened versions of the elixirs were formulated.
There are two types of recipes for the elixirs brewed here. Mesoamerican and European. The Mesoamerican elixirs are brewed to recipes thousands of years old and are for those who prefer a bittersweet, spicy experience. Throughout mesoamerica, chocolate was primarily mixed with water and made into highly spiced aromatic unsweetened drinks and considered to be the sacred and favorite elixir of the rulers and warriors.
Among the list are Atole, Acuyo, Aztec Warrior, Chili, Mayan full spice, pepper allspice, rose almond and zapoteca. Only a few of each are offered each day.
I opted for the Atole, which had a kick of an after taste that lingered in my mouth. It combines the staff of life, roasted blue corn with chocolate. Ingredients include purified water, blue corn atole, unsweetened chocolate, honey, chili and salt.
Fodors recommended the Aztec Warrior Chocolate Elixir, which after a sampling was such a unique concoction -- but far to potent for me. It had unsweetened chocolate, herbs, flowers, nuts, spices, pasilla de oaxaca chili and mexican vanilla.
Mom chose from the European list: "Chocolate will never be the same for me after sampling the Marie Antoinette elixir and the gluten free chocolate torte. For a common chocolatier like me, the decision was easy - non-dairy please. The torte defined decadent. Imagine chocolate the texture of butter, trimmed in raspberry compote. It's true, the shared slice was far too rich for me... "
Mom chose from the European list: "Chocolate will never be the same for me after sampling the Marie Antoinette elixir and the gluten free chocolate torte. For a common chocolatier like me, the decision was easy - non-dairy please. The torte defined decadent. Imagine chocolate the texture of butter, trimmed in raspberry compote. It's true, the shared slice was far too rich for me... "
The Marie Antoinette is one of the European chocolate elixirs brewed for those they are named after. This recipe of course comes from the french court of Versailles during the reign of Marie Antoinette in the 1770s. Marie brought her own liking and recipe from drinking chocolate with her from Vienna to the Royal Court of France. The drink had 70% chocolate, almond milk, orange blossom water, raw unprocessed cane sugar, ceylon cinnamon, mexican vanilla and culinary orange blossom essential oil.
We went back for a second time today, both mom and I trying European elixirs. I had the Italian Citrus that harkens back to the Italian court of Tuscany in the 1660s. It had a deep, mysterious and bright chocolate flavor made from Chocolate, lemon and orange peel, raw cane sugar, ceylon cinnamon, mexican vanilla and Ambergris essential oil.
While there, we also sampled some coconut milk and a raspberry peach pie that had the best crust known to man.
The owner of Kakawa, Peter Wolf, will delight you in the history of chocolate and its health benefits. He is more than happy to sample all of his flavors with you, educating you on their recipe. He reminded me of a bohemian version of Carrie-Anne Moss character from the 2000 movie Chocolat. He's been operating this shop for the past 5 years.
The shop itself is convenient to all the beautiful galleries of Santa Fe and a great place to stop for a morning or afternoon libation. It's a cozy place with local art displayed on the walls where one is inspired to linger over chocolate for hours.
I should also mention that the elixirs are not the only thing on the menu. Mark has a full case of truffles and other chocolates available with unique flavors such as Rosemary or Basil truffles. I tried both of these. The basil being the more savory of the two. I also had a smoked rock salt caramel, which had the "Ohmygod" factor to it... taking in the smokey smell of the salt as I bit into it.
I asked the proprietor for a recipe book to bring to my friend Mark Hare, an accomplished chocolate maker himself to share these elixir recipes, but alas, no such book exists yet. He's working on it though.
www.kakawachocolates.com
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