The great British summer is upon us and what a week we’ve had this week – blue skies, donkey rides on the beach, and lots of ice cream cones in hands.
We think the drink that captures the essence of a hot summer and makes us feel all nostalgic is the milkshake. We aren’t thinking those powdered versions full of additives, rather we’re thinking a delicious real chocolate version, made from nothing more than flakes of chocolate, a milk or non-dairy alternative and a blob of ice cream or ice cubes. But have you ever considered where the milkshake originally came from? We’ve been looking into it for you, to bring you a snapshot version of the history behind this delicious drink.
A brief history on milkshakes
Back in the late 1800s, milkshake was the name used for a mixture of eggnog and whisky, so not quite what you think of as today’s creamy combo.
Fast forward to 1922, in the US and a small drug store chain was seeking to improve their existing chocolate malt, so decided to add some scoops of ice cream to the malty concoction and voila the milkshake was created! At a similar time, the electric blender was invented which revolutionised how the milkshakes were made making it super easy to combine the ice cream and other ingredients. The inventor had the milkshake in mind when he came up with the idea of putting a spinning blade attached to a motor in the bottom of a container, and he came up with the concept of a blender as we know it today.
Today, you can make a milkshake using a blender or you can make it very simply with our recipe below.
How to make chocolate milkshakes
You can of course use any chocolate you may have in the cupboard but we are a little biased about our Classic milk or dark chocolate to be fair, as their flavours are delicious, palm oil free and sustainably grown. Or why not shake it up (excuse the pun) with one of our flavoured chocolate bars – just break up the bar and use that, it will take a little longer to melt but the results will be the same.
The amount of milk will depend on how much chocolate you have to use, we like 20g of chocolate for about 75ml of milk, but you can tweak it to suit.
Remember when we say milk, you can use dairy-free alternatives along with a dairy-free ice cream, and it’s just as delicious!
Melt the chocolate in short bursts in the microwave, & heat half of your milk until bubbles appear on the surface (scalded), add the hot milk to the chocolate, mixing well to create a smooth chocolate, add the remaining cold milk, pour over some ice cubes in a glass, add a dollop of ice cream, and enjoy.