raw chocolate milk (with a boost!)

I’ve always enjoyed cheese, yogurt, kefir, and ice cream. But not since childhood have I been able to embrace the drinking of large glasses of milk. Even as we began getting fresh unpasteurized cow and goat milk I resisted. Instead, I liked my raw milk cultured, especially in the form of milk kefir.

But one thing I have always embraced fully and lovingly is chocolate milk. Recently I’ve been making it by the pint when a craving strikes. Cocoa powder does not easily dissolve in ice cold raw milk, though, and we don’t keep chocolate syrup on hand, so I’ve devised a little work around using raw milk and (raw, if you wish) cocoa powder.

And sometimes, when I need a little boost, I add a few extra ingredients for added nutrition.

You’ll need…

Water and cocoa powder. This is your run of the mill grocery powder. I recently ordered this raw cacao powder and I’m looking forward to giving it a try.

Raw honey… preferably poured from a completely filthy bottle.

Raw milk. This is raw goat milk, but any raw milk should do.

Raw Chocolate Milk

Scroll down for optional “boost” ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon room temperature water
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder (raw, if desired)
• 2 teaspoons raw honey (or to taste)
• 1.5 cups cold raw milk

Directions

1. In a pint jar combine the water, cocoa powder, raw honey, and any of the optional “boost” ingredients from below. Stir with a fork until the cocoa powder dissolves and the mixture is a chocolate syrup-like slurry.
2. Add milk while stirring with the fork. Place a canning lid on your jar and shake vigorously.
3. Enjoy immediately or chill again before drinking.

Now, for the boost!

Unless our garden is firing on all cylinders, which it usually isn’t, I’m always worried that we aren’t getting enough vegetable goodness into us. Primarily this includes root vegetables like beets and carrots and greens. My solution to our lack of homegrown food, and our lack of refrigeration to hold store-bought produce, is dehydrated vegetables.

I recently purchased a dehydrated greens powder and this beet powder for adding to shakes, soups, and this chocolate milk. Adding 1/2 teaspoon each of these powders gives the milk a very subtle change in flavor and a pleasant pink hue. Adding more is definitely an option, but I would work your way up.

Other optional boosts include:

• Raw egg yolk from our hens.
• Switching out a bit of the milk for kefir.

Do you drink milk? Have you tried raw chocolate milk before?