Who doesn’t love chocolates? We love it in whatever form it comes from. We’ve seen how versatile chocolates are because we use them not only for desserts but for any type of dish actually. In fact, if you haven’t heard about chocolates with bacon, well, welcome to earth! Some people have even gotten so creative that they conceptualized and put up restaurants that serve all types of dishes using chocolates (Chocolate Fire for instance, which I shall write about in a future post).
However, at this age where we’ve become so advanced and creativity on chocolates has been raised to a higher level, wouldn’t it be nice to re-visit tradition and enjoy the simple pleasure of sipping a good cup of hot tsokolate de batirol?
It would not only satisfy your curiosity and craving. It will actually heal your soul. Ah, the power of chocolates! 🙂
In a previous post, I mentioned about going to Mercato Centrale @ BGC where I got a tsokolate tablea batirol set for only P850. Here, I’m gonna show you how to make a perfect cup of hot chocolate using the batirol set.
Tablea is the Spanish word for tablet and tsokolate is the Filipino translation of chocolate. Tsokolate Tablea is a thick and rich hot chocolate drink made from cacao balls. Some of our history books would say the the Spaniards introduced the growing of cacao trees and developing the beans into cacao tablets in mid 17th century. During this era, hot chocolate made from the tableas was served during breakfast on very special occasions only.
The traditional way of making hot chocolate in the Philippines was through the use of batirol. It is actually a stirrer or whisk made of wood with a long solid handle and a spiky head. It’s the spiky head that does the extensive whisking action.
Sewing all the words together, what we actually mean by tsokolate de batirol is a hot chocolate drink made from real cacao balls using a wooden whisk 🙂
My family hails from the blessed Province of Batangas, our country’s pride when it comes to locally-produced organic Liberica and cacao beans. Our province produces some of the best cacaos in the Philippines owing to its suitable tropic weather. But having such familiarity with our own tsokolate, I am now more inclined towards discovering tsokolate from other parts of the Philippines like Davao.
If you read my posts, you’d remember that I blogged about Askinosie Chocolates, a small batch bean-to-bar chocolate maker based in Springfield, Missouri founded by Shawn Askinosie, a criminal defense lawyer. Their chocolates are sourced from three places: Mexico, Ecuador, and yes, Davao.
Let me now show you how to make tsokolate de batirol:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 piece tsokolate tablea (I used Davao chocolates)
- condensed milk
For those in the United States, you can find tsokolate tablea at Filipino stores near you. Alternatively, you can use any real ground cacao, preferably those that came from at least 3 hours of grinding as this gives a good amount of cocoa butter that oozed out of the cocoa beans.
Drop your tsokolate tablea in a pot with 1/2 cup water. I used a pot made of brass.
Place the pot over medium heat and allow it to boil. Before it boils, do not stir the mixture. Just allow the tsokolate tablea to melt. When the mixture is already boiling, turn the heat to low and start stirring. The batirol or wooden stirrer is rubbed vigorously between the palms of the hand to foam the chocolate mix. As you do it, you will hear some swish-swoosh sound coming from the mixture. Hearing that sound alone is already therapeutic! 😛
Stir for a good 2 minutes. Add condensed milk depending on how sweet you like it to be. You can drink it as is for a dark to semi-sweet hot chocolate drink. In my case, I like it milky and sweet so I add 2 tablespoons of condensed milk. If you don’t have condensed milk, you can add about 1/3 cup of whole milk and some brown sugar to taste. If you add milk, you have to stir again for another 2 minutes.
You may already consume it at this point or if you’re like me who want it smooth, you may use a fine strainer or improvise one using cheese cloth.
Pour over the hot drink on the strainer but be careful if you’re using an all-brass pot because you might forget that the handle is hot 😛 *guilty look*
You can also use your tsokolate tablea with glutinous rice and make chocolate rice porridge or champorado. Actually, I should do that one time and post it here.
For now, that’s my tsokolate de batirol. I hope you can try it at home too.
Enjoy! 🙂
Hi! May I ask where you bought your batirol or the wooden stirrer? Thanks!
Hi Rhea, I got it from one of the vendors in Mercato Centrale 🙂
hi janis, do you have a contact number of the store where you bought the batirol set? i have a requirement of batirol & that metal pitcher for my upcoming tv commercial shoot, thanks in advance, have a good day 🙂
emilio, this my number 0917 8793099
Hi Jan. My family had just been to Chico-Late Batirol in Baguio City, Philippines), in Camp John Hay I think. Is that the same place like yours? I’ve been searching for a thick bronze or brass jar (pitcher shaped) all my life! But I couldn’t find one! Til I was directed to your Pintetedt post. Then saw yours as silver? Is it! Where did you get it? Was it made to order? I hope you can share that info to us. Thanks!
That, sure looks yummy! 😉
I sell pure cacao tablea.
Please visit and like my page http://www.facebook.com/sikwatedecacao for more info.
Pm me for orders. Thanks much guys,
Where can I buy some set of materials for making Tsokolate de batirol?
my favorite for Christmas and New Year. I wasn’t able to find our batirol :((
i love tsokalate de batirol.
when my sister and i would spend summer here in laguna,
my lola would make tablea for us to bring back to mindanao.
us kids would gather around her to sip cacao seeds which
my lola would dry and make into tablea.
your post brings back memories… thanks
hi ela, nostalgic pala ang effect sa yo 🙂 glad it brought you good memories!
Great post…I really would love to try this. I will have to try and find these chocolate 🙂
thank you!
You know I can’t tell you how many times I have picked that jar up in the store and wondered how the heck to proceed. I always end up putting the jar down cuz it ain’t cheap and I’d hate to ruin it. You make me feel like I could do this. But where ever did you get that metal pitcher? It is the finishing touch! GREG
thanks for dropping by, Greg. it’s really easy to make. the pitcher is a simple one made out of brass. you can actually use any small pot for it as long as there’s not enough room for the whisk to dance around because you’d like to be able to simulate the extensive whisking/stirring action if done in the brass pitcher 🙂
So it is made of. Brass. Where did you get it? Did you order it from somewhere?
Hi June. I bought it a long time ago in Mercato Central when it was just starting out in its very first location in Bonifacio Global City. I’m not sure if there are local chocolatiers selling the same brass pitcher for tablea cooking.
Wow, I had no idea the Spanish had spread the Mexican way of making chocolate to your country too. Have you ever looked up Mexican hot chocolate? We use a similar tool and the chocolate is in round tablets. Yours looks delicious too 🙂 This brings back good memories of Mom making us chocolate caliente (hot) for breakfast.
hi Nancy! i haven’t looked up on Mexican hot chocolate but now that you mentioned it, i’m going to give it a try 🙂
Thank you for sharing this great post. I’ve never try Tsokolate de batirol before but it looks delicious and interesting.
it sure is delicious 🙂 thanks for dropping by
looks delicious perfect for this cold weather
thanks 🙂
That looks really interesting! For the chocolate lovers like us… it is so tempting 🙂
thanks!
This is fascinating!!! 😀 Great great post.
thank you! 🙂