Mexican chocolate
Coarsely ground chocolate made from cacao, sugar and usually cinnamon, pressed into tablets or discs with a noticeably gritty texture.
Mexican chocolate is made from roasted cacao ground on stone and pressed with sugar and usually cinnamon, sometimes also almonds or vanilla, into round tablets. Unlike European chocolate it is not conched, so the sugar crystals remain perceptible and it neither snaps nor melts smoothly. It is meant mainly for cooking: dissolved in hot water or milk and whisked to a froth it becomes a drinking chocolate, and in small amounts it gives mole and braises depth and a faint sweetness. It is sold in Latin American grocery shops, occasionally in well-stocked delicatessens, and reliably by mail order.
Substitute:
Dark chocolate with about 60 to 70 percent cacao, supplemented with a little sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and, if you like, some ground almonds, comes close in flavour; for mole, unsweetened cocoa powder with sugar and cinnamon also works. Neither reproduces the gritty texture or rustic character, and drinking chocolate made this way turns out smoother and heavier.