Tasting Journal A Guide to Chocolate Tasting Chocolate Buying Guide. istorically, our choice of onfectionery is enjoyed. Great chocolate was mainly limited Chocolate is experienced. to milk, dark, white and ruby. Chocolate can be mistaken H C More recently there has been an to mean just one flavour and the explosion of interest in new and only difference between good more sophisticated chocolate with and bad chocolate is the price. more refined origins and everything But, just like a fine wine, chocolate that come with it. Our fascination boasts a symphony of delicate and with where our food has come from intricate aromas and flavours that has brought a wealth of single origin build to deliver a complete sensory chocolate bars into the market and experience. with the web there is now more This guide isn’t meant to change information available to us than ever the way you eat chocolate, it is before. designed to take you on a food adventure and develop your So, before you splash out and buy your palate and therefore your chocolate chocolate, look at the label. This will experience allowing you to appreciate tell you a number of things about the chocolate on another level using all bar. My advice is to treat your chocolate your senses completely. There are many purchasing with the same respect you of factors that affect the flavours we treat your wine or whiskey purchasing experience in chocolate and what we and let the information on the pack taste is a very personal thing. This guide lead you. Ultimately it will let you know should provide you with the process, what to expect and whether it’s likely to vocabulary and the tools to describe appeal to your preferences. your experiences in your journal. The cocoa percentage is really important to the overall experience but, The following pages will walk you just like with whiskey, that indicator through some of the flavour factors shouldn’t be taken in isolation. such as varietal, the fermentation The percentage of cocoa content is process, roasting, conching, blending, often used as a barometer of quality. storage, cocoa percentage and There can be fantastic quality 45% inclusions. chocolate and equally you can get some poor quality 95% bars. This guide will help you turn any bar of chocolate into a multi-sensory adventure. Tasting the Five Senses Touch Listen ou’re about to be taken on a ow we move onto the touch e now listen to our Food Adventure through a phase of your experience; chocolate; introducing Ychocolate sensory analysis so Nthis phase is designed to Wmore science into our you can enjoy chocolate using start your connection with experience. all your senses. chocolate and to engage with the beautiful food. Look – • Milk chocolate: auburn, dark violets Good chocolate should be dry on your Take your chocolate and hold it up to Chocolate comes in many different and rustic reds finger tips and it should not feel sticky, your ear, break it in two. You should shapes and varieties white, milk, dark, • White chocolate: yellow, butters and gritty or waxy. Gently run your finger hear a snap. That’s the cocoa butter and ruby chocolate. Once you have creams across the back of the bar and see how crystals, which were formed during the made your decision it’s down to the yours fares. tempering process. If the bar has been • Ruby chocolate: pale pinks with a finer detail of the bar, what’s been used tempered correctly the snap should ring natural fruity note Now gently squeeze the corner. It to make it and how it’s been handled should be firm clearly and not be a throughout the production process. A Is it glossy or dull? Is it waxy or smooth? to touch and dull thud. As a rule, good chocolate bar will communicate A well-tempered bar of chocolate it should start the higher the cocoa all its good points to us through the should be shiny and smooth; anything to melt slightly content the more packaging to help us make our buying other than this would indicate that from the warmth pronounced the decisions, much like the tasting notes something hasn’t gone right in the of your fingers, snap. on wine. production process or in storage. chocolate starts Once we’ve paid out our money we can Is there a white film across the surface? to melt at 25c. unwrap our bar and lay it in front of us - If yes, this is called a bloom which tells You should see without touching it! you that the bar has been exposed to some residue left extreme temperatures (hot or cold) that on your fingertips Look at the surface of the chocolate, have separated the tight bond created at this point. what do you see? Now that you have during the tempering process. The stopped to pay attention you may cocoa mass and the cocoa butter are notice the subtle colours which vary now separate from each other which depending on the varietal of cocoa can look unappetising although it is used. safe to eat it will have lost some of the • Dark chocolate: deep, intense mouth feel. mahogany hues Smell Taste his is a really a key part of the aste, this is the climax and process as between 70 - 90% most familiar part of the Tof what we taste as flavour is Ttasting process. attributed to aroma. Not all chocolate will have an obvious As you breathe out gently you should To really taste the chocolate we need to initial flavours, aromas and consistency. smell, even when held up to your nose. start to notice some of the subtle isolate our senses. Gently rub your tongue against your To really get the aroma we need to nuances that are held within the flavour Breathe in and pinch your nose, place a palate. This causes the temperature isolate the olfactory system. Smell plays of the chocolate. Use the flavour wheel small square of chocolate on the centre of the chocolate to slowly increase, a key role in building the anticipation in this booklet to identify some of them. of your tongue close your mouth count resulting in the final release of its of what we’re about to taste before we There isn’t a right or wrong way here. to five. This takes away 90% of the taste flavours. put it in our mouths. The aromas that Taste is very personal and the wheel attributed to the nose and emphasises At each stage take your time and make can be found in chocolate are similar is just designed to map out some of the other 10% (sugar). a conscious effort to name the flavours to those found in the terms and Finally, let go of you’re experiencing. wine. So why haven’t vocabulary used your nose and Record your we noticed them by experts. draw in breath sensations in the before? Well until over the top of the journal. now you didn’t have chocolate through the right tools for your teeth. This Aromas the job. process is used There are a whole Take a piece of in whiskey and host of aromas to chocolate and wine tasting and be found on your rub it between is called ‘cucking’. aroma wheel but your thumb and The idea behind the basic challenge forefinger so it starts this is that the air is to look for to melt a little. Then moves the aromas sweetness, acidity, place into your around the rest of bitterness and cupped hands and your mouth and astringency umami. take a deep sniff releases every last A good chocolate through your nose molecule of taste. should have a and hold for a few Let it melt on the balance of these seconds. tongue, taste the five attributes. Taste Aroma Wheel the middle of the tasting experience, he Coeur de Xocolat Aroma or strawberry? Initially tasters will known as body aromas. These are Wheel is the perfect way experience what is known as primary essentially hot aromas, like roasted for chocolate lovers to get a aromas. These early scents come almonds, hot bread crust, spice mix, T predominantly from the fruits, which look at the many aromas and etc. Allow yourself to linger over the flavours found in chocolate. include notes of berries, grape, cherry, taste experience, you should be able to strawberry, blackcurrant, blueberry, It should be smooth and buttery and Each of these unique aromas found are savour the less volatile aromas of certain blackberry and black cherry in citrus, melt into a creamy liquid bursting with due to the variety of beans being used chocolates. These are often woody, apple, pear, pineapple or other tropical unique flavours. A well-made chocolate in the production of the bar or bonbon, roasted nibs (cocoa nibs), malty, etc. fruits. Coffee, vanilla or oak chocolate will contain layers of flavour so that the coupled with the soils and terroir or notes as well as floral, stone, liquorice individual aromas aren’t fighting for soil the beans were planted in and and jammy scents. focus. Concentrate on your tongue, feel, the choices made by the chocolatier. and savour the different flavours: first Aftertaste The information found on the aroma acidic, then if you wait a little longer you Another important element of the wheel will help you identify what you may experience the bitterness. tasting process is the aftertaste (finish) are seeing, feeling, Taste again with a new piece of different chocolates will have different hearing, smelling, and chocolate, but this time concentrate on finishes.