Become a Chocolate Connoisseur in 5 Min. or Less - Tasting Chocolate Like a Pro!
Tracy Wallace
March 05, 2007
Tasting chocolate is similar to tasting wine. The more you pay attention to what you are looking at, smelling and tasting, the more enjoyment you will reap. Let’s get started…
Step 1 - Look
Look at the chocolate you are about to taste and characterize its appearance. Professional chocolate tasters (yes, my friends there is such a job) prefer tasting chocolate bars opposed to chocolate made into other forms such as mousse or truffles. Make a mental note that the color and shape of the piece of chocolate isn’t important. Key points to look for when viewing chocolate is that the bar is both glossy and dry. This demonstrates that the chocolate has been made using proper tempering methods. Tempering is a process where chocolate has been properly heated and cooled resulting in a shiny chocolate that when broken produces a clean break. Untemperd or poorly tempered results in a grainy, dull and lifeless looking chocolate.
Step 2 – Touch
Break the chocolate bar and rub a small piece between your fingers. Feeling the chocolate will help you to identify quality. The smoother the texture, the greater the aromas. Now, hold the warm chocolate up to your nose and inhale.
Step 3 – Smell
Believe it or not taste is ninety per cent smell. Have you ever noticed that when you have a cold or a stuffed up nose, food is tasteless and unappealing? That is because smell plays a huge part in what we taste. The aroma given off by the chocolate when you smell it triggers a sensory receptor known as the olfactory (the olfactory is found at the entrance to the respiratory tract). That cavern behind the goggly thing in the back of your throat allows the vapors to warm and travel into your nasal passage. Smell occurs through the nose and through the mouth so, when eating these treats, allow them to warm in your mouth and savor them don’t gobble.
Step 4 – Taste
Now, go ahead and put the first small piece in your mouth. Analyze the texture on your tongue. What are your first impressions? Now try to pick out some familiar flavors found in chocolate. Typical flavors detected include:
red berries cream
rose bread
orange blossom toast
tropical fruits honey
preserves wood
dried raisins mushrooms
dried plums fresh grass
tobacco leather
tea coffee
caramel roasted almonds
vanilla licorice
licorice milk/butter
Resources:
Try some of these interesting chocolates…
Newman’s Own Milk Chocolate Bar
The organic cacao that is used to make milk chocolate bar comes from small farmers on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica. Newman, as in Paul also uses organic sugar (Mexico), organic vanilla (Madagascar) and organic milk powder (Colorado) to make this creamy bar. www.newmansownorganics.com
Vosges - d’Olivia Bar
This bar isn’t technically chocolate it is actually a bar made with small bits of dried Kalamata Olives and Venezuelan white chocolate. White chocolate isn’t legally considered chocolate because it is not made with cocao beans. White chocolate is made with cocoa butter (33% in this bar), sugar and milk powder. www.vosgeschocolate.com
Chuao Chocolatier - Chinita Nibs
This dark chocolate bar is laden with cacao nibs. Cacao nibs are bits of roasted cocoa beans that have had their shells removed and broken into little pieces. In this bar the nibs have been sprinkled with fresh nutmeg giving this bar glorious aroma. www.chuaochocolatier.com
Theo – Ghana 84% Cacao
Theo (short for Theobroma, chocolate’s botanical name) Chocolate Company is located in Seattle, Washington but the cacao beans used to make this bar are from Ghana. Theo’s processing techniques allows the distinctive cacao bean flavor unique to Ghana to be revealed. Professional chocolate tasters due to extensive practice can detect where the cacao beans have been grown. Similar to wine tasting, through practice wine tasters can tell what region and country wine grapes have been grown.www.kettenchops.com
Step 1 - Look
Look at the chocolate you are about to taste and characterize its appearance. Professional chocolate tasters (yes, my friends there is such a job) prefer tasting chocolate bars opposed to chocolate made into other forms such as mousse or truffles. Make a mental note that the color and shape of the piece of chocolate isn’t important. Key points to look for when viewing chocolate is that the bar is both glossy and dry. This demonstrates that the chocolate has been made using proper tempering methods. Tempering is a process where chocolate has been properly heated and cooled resulting in a shiny chocolate that when broken produces a clean break. Untemperd or poorly tempered results in a grainy, dull and lifeless looking chocolate.
Step 2 – Touch
Break the chocolate bar and rub a small piece between your fingers. Feeling the chocolate will help you to identify quality. The smoother the texture, the greater the aromas. Now, hold the warm chocolate up to your nose and inhale.
Step 3 – Smell
Believe it or not taste is ninety per cent smell. Have you ever noticed that when you have a cold or a stuffed up nose, food is tasteless and unappealing? That is because smell plays a huge part in what we taste. The aroma given off by the chocolate when you smell it triggers a sensory receptor known as the olfactory (the olfactory is found at the entrance to the respiratory tract). That cavern behind the goggly thing in the back of your throat allows the vapors to warm and travel into your nasal passage. Smell occurs through the nose and through the mouth so, when eating these treats, allow them to warm in your mouth and savor them don’t gobble.
Step 4 – Taste
Now, go ahead and put the first small piece in your mouth. Analyze the texture on your tongue. What are your first impressions? Now try to pick out some familiar flavors found in chocolate. Typical flavors detected include:
red berries cream
rose bread
orange blossom toast
tropical fruits honey
preserves wood
dried raisins mushrooms
dried plums fresh grass
tobacco leather
tea coffee
caramel roasted almonds
vanilla licorice
licorice milk/butter
Resources:
Try some of these interesting chocolates…
Newman’s Own Milk Chocolate Bar
The organic cacao that is used to make milk chocolate bar comes from small farmers on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica. Newman, as in Paul also uses organic sugar (Mexico), organic vanilla (Madagascar) and organic milk powder (Colorado) to make this creamy bar. www.newmansownorganics.com
Vosges - d’Olivia Bar
This bar isn’t technically chocolate it is actually a bar made with small bits of dried Kalamata Olives and Venezuelan white chocolate. White chocolate isn’t legally considered chocolate because it is not made with cocao beans. White chocolate is made with cocoa butter (33% in this bar), sugar and milk powder. www.vosgeschocolate.com
Chuao Chocolatier - Chinita Nibs
This dark chocolate bar is laden with cacao nibs. Cacao nibs are bits of roasted cocoa beans that have had their shells removed and broken into little pieces. In this bar the nibs have been sprinkled with fresh nutmeg giving this bar glorious aroma. www.chuaochocolatier.com
Theo – Ghana 84% Cacao
Theo (short for Theobroma, chocolate’s botanical name) Chocolate Company is located in Seattle, Washington but the cacao beans used to make this bar are from Ghana. Theo’s processing techniques allows the distinctive cacao bean flavor unique to Ghana to be revealed. Professional chocolate tasters due to extensive practice can detect where the cacao beans have been grown. Similar to wine tasting, through practice wine tasters can tell what region and country wine grapes have been grown.www.kettenchops.com
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