Chocolate Tasting using your 5 Senses

Taste is not the only guideline to sampling chocolate. Here are some explanations on how to involve all 5 senses.

Sight

Begin by evaluating the colour of the product : Is it dark brown, black, white, in between? The darker it is, the richer in cocoa. Then assess the density of the colours: one is dark brown, the other is lighter?

Next, observe the gloss, which signals that the cocoa mass has been well-tempered, moulded and cooled. Is the chocolate dull? The cocoa butter may have crystallized badly while cooling. So be careful!

Smell

The aroma of a chocolate conveys something about its life. Is it strong or weak? It is a good indicator of the percentage of cocoa and the quality of the roast. Is it sweet, musky, spicy or neutral? Single origin chocolate have a pronounced smokiness that lesser quality chocolate does not have. Can you detect a slightly unpleasant note? In such cases, the chocolate may have aged badly or has dried out.

Taste

As far as this is concerned, it is important to concentrate on the degree of sweetness. Is it balanced or too strong? Is there an acid taste? Is it perceptible? If yes, to what degree? Too much acidity indicate badly fermented or badly dried cocoa beans. Is there a slight or pronounced bitterness? These are indicators of the percentage of cocoa and the degree of roasting.

Touch

Chocolates are also sampled with the fingers. Is it smooth or slightly rough? Does it begin to melt as soon as you touch it? Does it seem smooth and silky? This will help you to judge the cocoa butter content of a chocolate and the finess of the micro-grains of  cocoa it contains.

Hearing

When you break a block or squares, do you hear a dry, brief snap? Or does it yield gradually and silently? In the first case, chocolate is too cold to be sampled under optimum conditions and in the second, it is probably too warm.

You can conduct an exercise by taking two bars : one dark chocolate containing 70% cocoa and one of white chocolate. Smell and touch them, nothing their differences and then break them.

Repeat it with two chocolates that are dissimilar and note their differences!

Next, we will talk about the tips and tricks when cooking chocolate..