In another dedication to my love of cacao and chocolate, I introduce you to Nicaraguan Pinolillo. This sweetened cacao and cornmeal drink starts with roasted cacao beans and stone ground cornmeal paired with earthy spices like cinnamon, clove, all-spice. Next the mixture is ground until a fine powder and combined with water or milk. Once sweetened, Nicaraguan Pinolillo is a nutritious drink that is perfect on a hot summer day.
Roasted Cacao
Similar to my Nicaraguan Cacao drink recipe, (I’ll link it below, just in case you haven’t seen it.) Nicaraguan Pinolillo starts with roasted cacao. The key in this recipe is to use raw cacao beans or nibs. Even though cacao/cocoa powder is available and a worse-case scenario ingredient, it is not raw which means it’s processed. A traditional Nicaraguan Pinolillo is famous for highlighting the unprocessed flavor of chocolate.
To enhance the flavor of the cacao, toasting/roasting them is extremely important. Cacao is a fragrant ingredient, so you’ll want to toast the beans until you start smelling those lovely chocolate flavors. The color of the cacao will also change as it releases its scent. The desired color you want to achieve is a dark auburn, almost chocolately black color.
Roasted Maiz or Cornmeal
The second key ingredient in Nicaraguan Pinolillo is roasted maiz (aka corn). The traditional method for this recipe includes boiling corn kernels and then slow roasting them in the oven, however for simplicity reason, I edited the recipe to use cornmeal instead.
Stone ground cornmeal is the best quality, since it still has a gritty texture similar to the traditional roasted maiz. After testing this recipe with both white and yellow cornmeal, I find that either option works well, as long as it’s stone ground.
Spice It Up and Blend It
I like my Nicaraguan Pinolillo with cinnamon, cloves and all-spice, but I know some adventurous people who also add cayenne pepper. Whatever spices soot your tastebuds, add them in the mixture. For a bolder spice flavor, I also recommend toasting the spices along with the raw cacao beans and the cornmeal. It’s a great hack for boosting the spice aroma. I also think it allows the spices and cacao to begin infusing their oils together, like a hot friendship of sorts.
Once all the toasting and roasting is all done, the final step in this Pinolillo recipe is to blend the spices, along with the cornmeal and cacao until the mixture resembles a fine powder. This pinolillo powder then gets a nice mixing with some water, milk and of course plenty of sugar.
And that’s all mi gente. Serve the Nicaraguan Pinolillo over ice and enjoy!
Recipes and More
- Ready to try Refresco de Cacao? Here you go: https://www.nataknowsbest.com/nicaraguan-cacao-drink-refresco-de-cacao/
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Nicaraguan Pinolillo – Cacao Cornmeal Drink
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of stone ground cornmeal (yellow or white)
- 1/2 cup of raw cacao beans/nibs
- 2 sticks of cinnamon
- Pinch of cloves
- Pinch of all-spice
- 2 cups of milk
- 2 cups of water
- 1/2 cup of sugar or desired amount
Instructions
- In a clean pan, on low heat, roast the raw cacao, cornmeal, along with the spices. Roast until the spices are fragrant and the cacao beans resemble a dark auburn, almost dark chocolate color.
- Next, add the roasted ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until mixture resembles a fine powder.
- Now, add the milk, water and mix with the pinolillo powder.
- Sweeten with the sugar and serve over ice.
