Was it you, @jordantcarter, who asked me for the best place to have Italian-style hot chocolate? The answer is "your house". And since I froze to the bone getting my daughter from school (happy first day of spring, Wellington) I thought I& #39;d make it when we got back. Here& #39;s how:

These are your main ingredients. I only recently (finally!) worked out what maizena is called in English. It& #39;s not corn flour, it& #39;s maize starch, but you call it flour to try to confuse me and to be honest it worked. It costs $1.50 a packet and will last you a year.

To that you add milk and sugar and a square or two of dark chocolates if you happen to have it which I did so I did. Quantities for four people: 600 ml milk, 60 g cocoa, 100 g sugar, 20 g maize corn "flour". The hard chocolate if it& #39;s there. Chuck in a thick bottomed steel pot.

Cook on a medium flame, mixing all the time with a whisk. First slowly, then fast as it starts to thicken. When you judge it& #39;s thick enough, turn off the element and mix for another minute or so. You want this kind of consistency.

That& #39;s it. No, wait, here are some thoughts about the possibilities of producing maizena in New Zealand in the early 1880s from the pamphlet collection of sir Robert Stout. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Stout23-t17-body-d1-d5-d18.html">https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/schola...