The best hot chocolate in the world? One Chicago chef says yes!
How does a grandmother show her love? For Chicago chef and caterer Ursula Adduci it was Grandmother Lucia’s kitchen, warmth and chocolate.
From her Costa Rican grandmother, Ursula learned how to make hot chocolate, so easy that even when she grew up and had a family, career and catering business, her very busy life never meant she had to resort to instant hot chocolate mix. To this day, when Ursula makes her grandmother’s hot chocolate for her son or good friends, she describes the drink as a big hug of warmth and love.
Ursula also remembers her Great Aunt Carmen, who was Venezuela‘s First Lady in 1945 and again in 1959, introducing her to the “world’s best chocolate” called chuao. Chuao comes from the rare Criollo cacao tree, grown only in Venezuela. It’s the darkest of dark chocolates and expensive.
What is not a big surprise is that most people describe chocolate in addictive terms. We’re not embarrassed to call ourselves chocoholics; we give in to that urge to have one more piece of chocolate candy; we don’t like it if someone finds our private stash. The reason? There are chemicals in chocolate that do two things: one affects the part of our brains that increases our impulse to eat, while the other chemical boosts our mood and ability to concentrate.
But even as your brain is responding to those chemicals, your body is welcoming the “health food” side of chocolate. Scientists have found a bit of chocolate can lower blood pressure, relieve stress and even lower the risk for heart disease. Ursula calls it the “happy food of gods.”
Ursula showed me how to pick the chocolate that works for each of us. The percentage you see on the bar tells you how much cocoa solids are in the bar. The higher the percentage, the less sweet. The darker the chocolate, the healthier the benefits. With her catering company, Sazon Chicago, Ursula happily adds plenty of chocolate options. You could ask her about Decadence Chocolate Cake with orange, currants and wine caramel. Should we have a bit of chocolate every day? Ursula says that’s her 3 p.m. daily ritual.
Together, we also sampled a number of chocolates including Amedei from Northern Italy (which Ursula uses in her hot chocolate recipe) and a rare chuao from Venezuela. I took a little bite and three seconds in my mouth, I got a little surprise! To see what that surprise was, and watch Ursula make her “big hug” hot chocolate, go to