Camp Cocoa Foam
Cocoa and milk powder whipped stiff in the pot before you pour the water in.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 2.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 145
- protein
- 9 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 4 min
- total time
- 6 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Drink
- Dessert
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Whole milk powder | 1/4 cup | whole, not nonfat, the fat is what holds the foam |
|---|---|---|
| Unsweetened cocoa powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Powdered coffee creamer | 1 tbsp | optional, makes the head thicker |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Cinnamon | 1/4 tsp | optional |
Method
- Dump the whole bag of powder into your mug or pot.
- Add about 50 ml of hot water, not boiling. Somewhere around a hard steam, not a rolling boil.
- Whisk hard with a fork or a clean stick for thirty seconds. It goes from paste to a thick foam.
- Pour in the remaining 250 ml of hot water down the side of the mug so the foam floats up instead of collapsing.
- Drink it before the foam falls. It falls in about two minutes.
An electric frother makes foam by beating air into fat and protein at a temperature below boiling. You can do the same thing with a fork if you respect the temperature. Boiling water denatures the milk protein too fast and you get a flat brown drink. Water that has just stopped rattling holds the bubbles.
The trick is the two-stage pour. A small amount of near-boiling water makes a thick paste that whips, because there is enough sugar and milk solids per drop of water to trap air. Diluting to full volume first gives you nothing to beat. Whole milk powder is not optional here; nonfat foams and then dies within seconds.
Packing
Premix the powders into one snack bag per serving at home. Squeeze the air out, or the cocoa dusts everything.
Variations
- Stir in a spoonful of instant coffee for a camp mocha.
- A tablespoon of powdered peanut butter thickens it further, but drops the nut-free claim.
https://instacuppastore.com/products/coffee-frother-machine-4-in-1-hot-cold-foam-maker