The Batirol

By: Noelle Dijamco

As a very young kid, Mama (we call my great grandmother “Mama”) used to make hot chocolate using the batirol. Every new year’s eve, she’d make us one big cup. My family and I would share it among ourselves. Mama has now passed, but we still make her special hot chocolate.

The batirol is used to make hot chocolate. The design is a bit unique. It’s a long wooden tool that has a circular chunk of wood at the bottom. Sometimes it can look a bit like a square, but keeping the circular shape. The wood chunks would have ridges carved into them to make the process of mixing the hot chocolate easier.

Surprisingly, the batirol is used not only in the Philippines, but in Latin American countries and in Mexico. There are also two different names people call it all over the world, the batidor and molinillo. People in Mexico call the batirol, molinillo. But I think us Filipinos call it the batirol. The batirol originated from Spaniard colonists in Mexico in the 1700’s. It was used to assist them with making a hot chocolate like drink. Back then, the Aztecs would make hot chocolate, or rather a chocolate drink made from cocoa beans, seeds, and flavoring. Instead of mixing it, they’d keep pouring their chocolate drink mixture from one pot to another, since the resulting mixture was grainy, thick, and would usually separate. The Spaniards thought that the pouring back and forth of the mixture was uncivilized. So, the batirol was made. I'm guessing that the batirol was passed on to Spain and all the other colonies it had at the time. So that’s probably why we also have it.

Filipinos alike have been making this special kind of hot chocolate using the batirol ever since we’ve gotten our hands on it. There’s even a restaurant dedicated to this hot chocolate made with the batirol. It’s called Choco-late de Batirol and is located in Baguio.

I’m not sure but I think that the batirol that we have was passed down to my Mama. So, she probably continued that with my lola and my mom. Maybe when I grow up, I’ll be using this to make hot chocolate too with my own family. For now though, I’ll be making more hot chocolate with my mom for my family and me to enjoy.