In Good Taste….. Some Tips on How To Enjoy Chocolate
Enjoying chocolate is a very personal experience as everyone’s pallet differs. Some enjoy sour flavors while others enjoy very earthy accents of various cuisine. Chocolate is no different.
While you may enjoy many flavors, some flavors are more enjoyable because of the way the flavor translates across your pallet. Each chocolate flavor profile will taste slightly different to each person. No pallet experience is exactly the same. One’s choice also has to do with sight and smell, as well as, textural preferences. As with peanut butter, do you like smooth or crunchy?
As you are trying different flavors profiles, here are some things to think about….
- Similar to wine, each bar has its own distinct flavor profile whether – Nutty, Fruity, Spicy, Smokey, Floral, Herbaceous or other – that comes through when savoring a piece of chocolate. Burnt caramel can have a slightly earthy smokey back note depending on the chocolate percentage its paired with.
- Depending on the chocolate percentage and the accompanying flavor profile, the chocolate acidity can be very subtle for some, but can also vary to one’s own pallet and while not as extreme as a lemon or lime, it can be sometimes more similar to the lower acidity of a watermelon.
- Enjoying the mouth feel is also important. How it melts on the tongue… the smoothness of a well-tempered milk bars will softly melt and a darker bar with a high cacao percentage and acidity level will unfold more slowly as you taste the flavor accents. The inclusions or filing will also be a factor here, but again should all melt together fluidly.
- When looking at a bar it should have a nice sheen and with a dark chocolate bar a good snap when breaking indicating proper tempering which stabilizes the crystal formations needed to
