Udderly satisfying

Long before it began asking, "Got Milk?" the Dairy Association used to tout milk as "Mother Nature's most nearly perfect food." Not every nutritionist would agree, but the slogan always made sense to me, especially those days when, after I got home from school, my mother would fix me a tall glass of chocolate milk. Without the chocolate, milk was only nearly perfect. With it, it could not be improved. Ever since, Shakespeare's phrase "the milk of human kindness" has always conjured up in me a vision of that tumbler of bronzed elixir.

I was moved to think back on those memories today because today is National Chocolate Milk Day. What better day to stir up a batch of the stuff and ask if it should really be just for kids? After all, adult coloring books are the rage these days, so why not chocolate milk?

Chocolate made just for drinking has a noble heritage. In fact, chocolate was being enjoyed as a beverage for centuries before anybody ever thought of actually eating it. It can be traced back to the ancient Mayans of Central America, who believed the beans used to make the drink were an offering of the gods. (Makes sense to me.) The Toltecs and the Aztecs who came after the Mayans continued to make the beverage, which was unsweetened and often contained chili peppers. Served cold, this concoction was the first chocolate drink, and Christopher Columbus was the first European to sample it.

Still, the drink was not quite chocolate milk. Though no doubt somebody along the way surely thought of adding milk to chocolate or vice versa, the credit for the invention of chocolate milk is often given to Sir Hans Sloane, who supposedly came up with the idea while visiting, of all places, Jamaica in the late 17th century.

An Irish physician and the founder of the British Museum, Sloane observed while in the Caribbean how malnourished babies could often be rejuvenated with a potion made of cocoa, spices and water. He himself, however, did not find it very tasty. In fact, he thought it nauseating. So he came up with the idea of adding milk, which he knew was nutritional in its own right, to the mixture. He brought the recipe back to England, where the famed Cadbury Brothers eventually bought it and turned it into a popular drink, but for a couple of hundred years beforehand, Sloane's concoction was viewed as chiefly medicinal.

Actually, it's debatable whether Sloane truly invented chocolate milk, but he was responsible for popularizing it. Before long, all kinds of powdered mixes were on the market for making the drink, none more famous, perhaps, than Nestle's Quik, the kind my mother undoubtedly relied on for my chocolate milk and probably the one your mother used often, too.

These days called simply Nesquik, the product, with its iconic bunny named Quicky on the front of the container, is still a big seller, but because it contains as much sugar as chocolate, it has tended to give chocolate milk a bad name.

Yet there are signs that chocolate milk may be making a comeback, and for adults, not children. Long-distance runners, for example, are discovering that chocolate milk may be an even better so-called "recovery drink" than Gatorade. Scientific research backs them up. Perhaps not coincidentally, some manufacturers are putting out gourmet versions of chocolate milk. As always, however, the version you make yourself with premium ingredients will be the most "udderly" satisfying.

n

This recipe will make a far better glass of chocolate milk than anything you might whip up with a prepackaged powdered mix, so it's really worth the extra bit of trouble. Use a high-quality brand of chocolate such as Guittard, Bissinger's or Scharffen Berger, each an all-American product that's perfect for an all-American drink like chocolate milk.

Grown-Up Chocolate Milk

• 6 ounces dark, bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup creme de cacao

Combine chocolate and one cup milk and stir over low heat until combined. Place remaining two cups milk in a blender, add the chocolate mixture and blend until fully incorporated. Stir in crème de cacao. Chill well before serving.