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Living Earth Festival 2017 - Cooking Demonstration with Julio Saqui

265 views · Published 19 July 2017 · 32:58 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: SmithsonianNMAI · 2017 · Education

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The museum's eighth annual Living Earth Festival features programs and activities on environmental issues, active lifestyles and the importance of Native foods in our diets. The festival features music, daily cooking demonstrations, artist demonstrators and traditional Native dance.  Julio Saqui (Mopan Maya), a master chocolate maker from Belize, demonstrates the preparation of chocolate pinnole, a soup-like dish made from finely ground corn flour.

Chocolate Pinnole Recipe courtesy of Chef Julio Saqui (Mopan Maya)

INGREDIENTS: 16 oz. finely ground corn flour, 3 1/2 c. water, 1 c. brown or white sugar, 1 pinch ground allspice seed, 1/2 lb. roasted cacao beans or nibs (unshelled and finely ground), 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, 1 pinch ground cloves

METHOD - Serves 6
Mix the finely ground corn flour and cacao nibs and set aside. In a medium-sized cooking pot place 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the corn flour and ground cacao mixture, along with the sugar, black pepper, cloves, and allspice to the pot and stir until ail ingredients are mixed well. Bring back to a boil and cook while stirring for 5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Add the remaining water and lower heat, stir for one more minute. Let cool and serve.

The Chocolate Pinnole will be a thick liquid when served hot. It can be chilled and served cold with a consistency of pudding.

This cooking demonstration was webcast and recorded in the Rasmuson Theater of the National Museum of the American Indian on July 15, 2017.

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