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I know this question has been asked before here and here, but none of the provided solutions have made any difference.

Every time I attempt to make hot chocolate, there's a grittiness to it, like there's tiny sand grains or particulate matter suspended in the liquid which just won't melt. The culprit is definitely cocoa, but I've tried numerous experiments and simply cannot get rid of it.

I've tried a couple of different recipes, including this, this, these, and a couple others.

The most frustrating part is that no one seems to mention this grittiness. Everyone promises a "silky smooth" result, but nothing I try gets that result and no one mentions it.

The obvious solution is to lower the amount of cocoa powder per unit of liquid, which is the only solution I've found, but this only works in vastly lower ratios than any of the recipes mentioned above. The first recipe, for example, uses a half litre of milk and 100g of dark chocolate, whereas I can't get the desired result with 1.5 cups and 10g of dark chocolate, a mere third of the amount of chocolate they use, and they also use cocoa powder! The result of mine is still gritty.

I've tried a couple of different techniques:

  • Whisk in the cocoa powder with the milk before heating
  • Lower the heat and add the cocoa powder bit by bit
  • Create a cocoa powder slurry with a 1:1 ratio of water to cocoa powder by volume, smoothing out any graininess with my (clean) finger and drizzling that in slowly
  • Melt a small amount 70% cacao chocolate into the milk instead of cocoa powder
  • Straining with a fine-mesh sieve
  • Adding the cocoa powder at different liquid temperatures (I've tested adding cocoa powder from fridge cold to about 200°F in intervals of about 25°)
  • Pulsing the final mixture in a blender.

For reference, I'm using Fry's cocoa power and Lindt 70% chocolate.

Nothing has worked. This has persisted with different pans and in different kitchens on different burners.

I should also add that it's not merely my own taste: I've had friends try it and confirm that there is a grittiness to it that isn't present in other hot chocolates they've had.

Please! What the HELL is going wrong? I can't believe I'm getting this angry over hot chocolate but I feel like I'm going insane: I cannot get rid of this stupid texture, no matter how many variations I try, and yet it seems like this never happens to anyone else! I've never had so much trouble with a cooking technique before! What sins have I committed to lock me out of the heaven of smooth hot chocolate?

user3002473
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    Slightly confused: the second video link doesn’t use cocoa powder at all? So if that’s still grainy, it would actually exonerate the cocoa powder? And second, have you tried another brand of cocoa powder, just in case? Unlike chocolate, cocoa won’t melt and I would expect at least Lindt to have a fine-enough cocoa grain in their chocolate to exclude them (wild guess based partly on the fact that they invented the conche). And if you tried any recipe without cocoa powder, only chocolate, did you get grittiness? If yes, did you bring the mix up to boiling? – Stephie Dec 11 '22 at 23:15
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    Just to ensure that we are using the same wording (although the terms are often used quite interchangeably): Hot chocolate usually is made by dissolving chocolate in (usually) milk. Hot cocoa is made with cocoa powder (and sugar) in milk. All your videos link to hot chocolate, but in one of your bullet points you write about “Melt a small amount 70% cacao chocolate into the milk instead of cocoa powder”. Are we confusing drinks here? Both are chocolate-flavored concoctions, yet quite different in many aspects, _including mouthfeel_. – Stephie Dec 11 '22 at 23:33
  • Wait, all this time there's been a difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa? I thought the principles were the same this whole time, I mean I swear I've seen both titles applied to recipes involving either cocoa powder or chocolate, but I could be wrong. – user3002473 Dec 12 '22 at 00:01
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    The distinction is not iron-clad, and colloquially terms are used interchangeably, but yes, there is a difference. And if we try to get to the roots of your gritty problem, we should be clear what we’re talking about. – Stephie Dec 12 '22 at 00:07
  • The phenomenon has persisted irrespective of the recipe used (or it's name): chocolate, cocoa powder, or both, it's still there, so I figure there's still some principle I'm missing. I've also tried with a name brand cocoa powder - same result: grittiness (at least in the first three setups; cocoa powder before heat, slowly adding, and slurry). I've also tried just with chocolate (the Lindt) and yes, the result is still grainy with anything more than a small amount of melted chocolate. – user3002473 Dec 12 '22 at 00:21
  • Could it be that the chocolate isn't room temperature when it's added? Or is too cold? I've also tried different "incoproration" methods (small whisk, large whisk, fork, immersion blender) to no avail: grit persists. This has been, single-handedly, the most frustrating culinary experience ever. How something so simple can be so resilient is infuriating. – user3002473 Dec 12 '22 at 00:23
  • @Stephie to be clear, what I've done in the case of *only chocolate* was similar to the first video I linked: bring the milk to a boil, lower the heat, melt in the chocolate gently, whisking frequently. Am I supposed to bring the milk to a boil *again* after that? To be honest, chocolate often does *worse* than other methods in terms of grittiness: the best I've found is the cocoa powder slurry. – user3002473 Dec 12 '22 at 00:33
  • Real cocoa powder is gritty unless you give it time to settle out. There's no avoiding that, it's insoluble. Supermarket hot chocolate, on the other hand, the manufacturer threw the solids away for you before they dried it. There are similarities to this issue - https://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/122613/42066 – Tetsujin Dec 12 '22 at 08:01
  • It is clear that you have put a lot of thought in this and have analyzed it quite thoroughly. This is great; it means that you have eliminated many potential explanations/sources of error. It must be due to something you have not looked into yet - which makes it unlikely that we will be able to answer, because you can only list the information that is salient to you. It is not that I don't want you to get help from us - I would love it if we can find a solution for you - it might simply be the case that it is only solvable in person. You could either watch somebody whose ... – rumtscho Dec 13 '22 at 13:07
  • ... chocolate you like prepare the chocolate, and then try imitating them (not a video - a real person!) or make your chocolate and have that knowledgeable person watching you. As much as I love all opportunities we have for distant learning nowadays, some situations just call for apprenticeship. – rumtscho Dec 13 '22 at 13:09
  • You're not using some sugar substitute that's cut with silicon dioxide by any chance, without mentioning it? *Yes, Virginia, the food industry will put sand in your food if they see the chance...* – Ecnerwal Dec 13 '22 at 13:39
  • Have you explored the possibility that the problem is the milk you're using? – FuzzyChef Dec 15 '22 at 18:14

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