As I was perusing cookbooks and blogs for ideas for Hot Chocolate Week, I learned that there is a difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate. I had no idea! On most American menus, hot chocolate is the term used for all chocolate-y drinks, whether or not it is the accurate term.
So what’s the difference?
Quite simply, hot cocoa is made with cocoa powder, whereas hot chocolate is made with actual melted chocolate.
Does that really make a difference, you ask? It certainly does. Cocoa powder has been stripped of the cocoa butter and fat that gives chocolate its rich, creamy texture. Because of this, hot cocoa tends to be thinner and less sweet than hot chocolate.
Not that that’s a bad thing, necessarily. Hot cocoa contains much less fat than hot chocolate, so it is better suited for regular consumption in the cold winter months.
That’s really interesting! Thanks for the clarification.
That photo of the marshmallows is calling my name. I need to try your recipe!
Didn’t know that!
Sweet! Never knew the difference. I agree that if you’re going to make hot chocolate, it better be with actual chocolate.
I never really thought about it but I that really makes sense! Now we need to tell all the restaurants to use the correct definition so we actually know what we’re getting
I guess I never really thought about the difference until now – it seems fairly intuitive, though.
And now I really want to make it with chocolate, not cocoa!
I had no idea – but I guess it makes sense!
In Argentina, they only had hot chocolate-they called it submarine because you dunked a chocolate bar in the glass of warm milk until it melted! mmmm . I didn’t know the difference either!
i always used those two terms interchangeably! thanks for clearing that up, julie!
I had no idea there was a difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate!!! I definitely prefer hot chocolate!!!