A little short story before we talk about this featured food. I was just at home the whole 2 days because of the coronavirus scare. My uncle came by the house and asked if I'd like to help roll the chocolate cacao that he just ground. He had cacao seeds dried for weeks now, then he had it roasted and ground to make pure cacao chocolates or as we call it, tableya. He had ground it using an ancient grinder that my great grandfather used to own. I said, sure, I can help roll the chocolates and turn them into tableya balls. He had somewhere important to go to, so I had to do it alone. I did not realize he made a kilo of chocolates, which was a bit many. It took a while for me to finish rolling them into balls.
Ground Cacao Seeds, already roasted
Tableya or cacao chocolate is often homemade here in the provinces of the Philippines. Cacao, the tree which it comes from is a tropical plant and it grows well in our soil. It blooms year-round and kids love to pick the fruit. The pulp of the fruit it sweet and kids suck on that and leave the seeds. We wash the seeds and sundry them for days then have them roasted. After roasting, we grind them in a small hand grinder. After that, we roll them into balls and put them in a jar and it lasts for months. Tableya is basically a native pure cacao chocolate.
Tableya balls, rolled by the noob me
We use them for champorado or chocolate rice porridge or a hot chocolate drink called tsokolate. Tonight, we had hot chocolate or tsokolate during dinner time. We just add pure coconut milk to the tableya and mix it while it's being cooked until it boils. It's creamier than any hot chocolate that's commercially available in any restaurants.
Tsokolate, hot chocolate
knowfilipino is a tag I started to use to showcase posts about Filipino food, tradition, values and culture.
I own the pictures in this post.