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How to Taste
Chocolate
Look
Observe the visual characteristics of the chocolate.
A high shine indicates a well tempered chocolate.
Dark chocolate will naturally have a higher shine than milk chocolate.
Smell
Just like fine wine, use all of your senses to enjoy chocolate.
There are more than 600 different natural aromas in a piece of chocolate.
Listen
Hear the snap of the chocolate when you break it.
Chocolate high in cacao content will break cleanly with a sharper sound,
whereas chocolate with lower levels will tend to break more softly.
Taste
Place only a small piece in the middle of your tongue.
Close your mouth and wait for the chocolate to begin to melt on your
tongue.
Then, place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and swirl the melting
chocolate all over each area of your mouth. Not the early flavors, the
smoothness, the "mouthfeel", and the finish and lingering flavor notes.
Tips:
Taste chocolate at room temperature.
Use water or plain crackers to cleanse the palate between tastes.
Compare and contrast other tasters’ impressions.
Take notes or create a chocolate tasting journal.
Explore the differences in flavors and regions.
Variations in the soil influence the cacao bean just as they do
grapes harvested for wine.
Cacao: (ka-kow’)n.
The Mayans traded it as currency and for a moment in time,
money really did equal happiness. The central ingredient in
cocoa and chocolate, Cacao was in use as early as 1000 B.C.
.for its medicinal qualities and as a food of the gods.
Cacao beans grow within the pod-like fruit of the cacao tree.
There are three main types of tropical cacao plants, each with
a unique set of characteristics.
Once its finer details are known, chocolate becomes very complex
and must be considered in the same vein as Wines, Cheeses,
Beers and the other "living" foods.
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You can put all
this great information
to use by trying some of Mardi's recipes
in her
TidBits column this month! |
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