Tag: hot chocolate

I first came across Swiss Miss instant cocoa back when I was a kid. We used to drink chocolate milk every afternoon, after coming home from school, made from Nesquik or Toddy powders and hot or cold milk, depending on the season. My dad would prepare it for us and I can still see us, waiting at the kitchen table, while dad mixed it. I can’t recall exactly when or how, the little packages of Swiss Miss came into our lives, but I know they had mini-marshmallows – something I’d never even heard of before. Perhaps my aunt Grace brought them from America when she came to visit my grandmother before she died. Or perhaps my father bought them in Buenos Aires, circa 1979, when Argentina’s currency was artificially strong (just like right now) and the country opened up to imports. In any case, we liked it – but as we were used to mixing the chocolate mix with milk, rather than water, that’s how we prepared it then and how I’ve prepared Swiss Miss mixtures all my life.

The problem is that Swiss Miss powders already have dry milk inside them, so when you mix them with actual milk, the result is a sweet liquid that has very little chocolate taste. Upping the amount of mix simply makes it too sweet to handle.

Come Swiss Miss Dark Chocolate. It ups the amount of chocolate (or chocolate flavor), and while it’s still too sweet, at least hot chocolate made with it tastes like chocolate. The sweetness makes it a very special occasion treat – just thinking about it most of the time makes my stomach churn -, but perfect for when I actually want a lazy hot chocolate.