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..

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Appreciating and Choosing Chocolate

Which chocolate to choose must always depend on your purpose: fine desserts or truffles, ganaches and sauces, hot chocolate, decorative molding, or artistic chocolate shape. It is also a matter of personal preference.

Your first step must be learning to read labels. Chocolate makers are increasingly aware that people want to know what is in their chocolate. Not all labels are ideally informative, but several companies are starting to provide data on some crucial matters. The most important facts, beside the origin of the beans, are total cacao content and cacao butter content.

Cacao content is what makes chocolate tastes like chocolate, no matter what its intended purpose. Standard supermarket candy bars typically have extremely low cacao content and are beefed up with fillers and sugars. Good eating bittersweet chocolates have at least the basic 35 percent cacao content. Premium chocolates (for both eating and cooking) will usually have much more, from 41 percent for a first-class milk chocolate to 70-75 percent for an intensely dark chocolate.

The only way to familiarize yourself with the range of possibilities is to buy and taste different chocolates, taking into account the amount of cacao listed. You will soon recognise the different intensities.

It would be easy to think that the best chocolate is the one with the highest cacao content, but it is not that simple. You must take into account factors such as the original beans and the handling they have received.

For example, if you are making hot chocolate, the richest product available may yield a disappointing result with an unsightly film of melted fat on top. This is the result of extra cacao butter added to some premium chocolate to decrease viscosity. The same too-rich chocolate may be perfect for coating truffles, where smoothness and fluidity are everything. A not so-smooth chocolate with great flavour and no added cacao butter might be great for hot chocolate.

A wonderful way to hone your tasting skills is to have a large sampling platter with at least a dozen chocolates made by different manufacturers and representing a wide gamut of flavours, textures and cacao contents. It will be your ultimate education in the subtleties of chocolate with company.

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L'opulenza Decadence is designed to pamper your senses in the most delightful way. It is the ultimate indulgence for that special moment in your life. Luxuriate in the sensations with us and discover how pleasurable these pampering can be. Begin your La Dolce Vita now..

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