Is Chocolate Gravy Any Different From Chocolate Sauce?

While gravy could technically be considered a type of sauce, the two are hardly synonymous. The same goes for chocolate gravy and chocolate sauce. Most of us are familiar with the famous Hershey's chocolate syrup that we drizzle over scoops of vanilla ice cream, or chocolatey hot fudge sauce on sundaes. Chocolate gravy, however, has a different composition, history, and cultural significance than more widespread chocolate syrups and sauces.

Chocolate gravy is a sweet, chocolatey version of its savory counterpart, made in a similar way, using many overlapping ingredients. You essentially make a chocolate roux by blending cocoa powder, sugar, and flour in a pot or skillet over the stove on a medium to low flame. You'll whisk vigorously as you pour a steady stream of milk until combined. A few minutes of stirring over heat will result in a roux-like consistency. The flour is the starchy thickening agent that provides chocolate gravy with the thickness that distinguishes it from chocolate sauce. The difference between chocolate gravy and a typical sausage or mashed potato gravy is that butter is added at the end not the beginning, giving a silky, smooth pudding-like consistency. Some chocolate gravies also add a dash of vanilla along with the butter for aromatic depth.

Chocolate gravy is a Southern treat, usually served over savory biscuits instead of sausage gravy, so you could swap it out for sausage gravy in this recipe for biscuits and gravy.

Chocolate gravy is a regional Southern tradition, encompassing all of the southern Ozark and Appalachian states, namely Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. While there's no singular inventor, chocolate gravy is theorized to have originated as far back as the 17th century when Spanish colonizers occupying Louisiana brought chocolate from its native Mexico via a trade route up through the Tennessee Valley. Chocolate is from the Mexican crop cacao, first harvested by indigenous peoples who made a drink out of it. So chocolate gravy is thought to be a take on the historic Mexican cacao drink, made with corn, cacao, water, and chilies. Flour is the starchy cornmeal replacement, and ground cacao has been replaced with cocoa powder.

Over the centuries, chocolate gravy has become a special treat to enjoy at leisurely family breakfasts in southern Appalachia. While savory breakfast biscuits are the standard application for chocolate gravy, you can also use this thick rich sauce poured over desserts. An obvious choice would be on strawberry shortcake made with buttermilk biscuits, whipped cream or cool whip, and fresh strawberries. Another tasty dessert that will stand up to chocolate gravy is classic vanilla pound cake or a fluffier vanilla sponge cake. And of course, you can simply pour some over pancakes and waffles. 

The ingredients are readily available in most stores, but if you want to get creative and take your homemade chocolate gravy back to its Mexican roots, try making some with this spiced Mocafe Azteca d'Oro organic chocolate powder, or Ibarra powdered chocolate mix, which states that it works well in that other more savory chocolatey Mexican sauce, mole.