No Wrong Way To Eat Chocolate

Dear Suzy,

How do you taste chocolate the "right" way? Are there steps I can follow?

Curious,

Augustos  in Germany

Dear Augustos,

As I said in the title, there is no wrong way to eat chocolate as long as you're using your mouth to eat it and it's not atop something poisonous or taboo to eat, but there is certainly a right way to taste it. I'll list the steps first, and then I'll add a little information about selecting and appreciating chocolate to its fullest.

1) Read the package. Chocolate is just like wine or coffee, the geographical origin of the beans makes up a big part of the flavor. If you know that the chocolate you are tasting is from a tropical region, you may be more susceptible to picking up the fruitier notes. Alternately, you may choose to remain in the dark and make a game of it- try to guess the origin based on the flavor.

2) Break off a piece- if it "snaps" or "clicks", it is probably a couveture chocolate. Couveture is much higher quality than the alternative "coating" chocolate, which has added chemicals that allow it to set up at room temperature after melting without tempering it. There is so much to say on this topic I'll save it for a future blog (if interest is shown), but for now, snapping is great.

3) Take the piece between bare finger and thumb, and gently rub the chocolate with your thumb 2 or three times. This just barely melts the surface with the friction of your fingerprint, releasing a stronger aroma than it otherwise would.

4) Take a Whiff. Close your mouth and smell the aroma you just released.

5) Place the chocolate on your tongue- DON'T CHEW YET! Close your mouth and allow the chocolate to begin melting on your tongue. 

6) Take in very small amounts of air, making a "sts-sts-sts" sort of short sucking noise, like you're tut-tutting someone. This allows for your whole mouth to perceive the aroma of the melting chocolate.

7) Suck on it a bit longer, still allowing little bits of air into your mouth. Then finish eating it as you please.

There are some really simple tips to finding excellent chocolate. There has been an awesome increase in the availability of many brands of quality chocolates from all kinds of origins and percentages. Go to your local grocery store and find the chocolate section. An easy method is pricing: the price will usually reflect the quality. Next, look to see if the bar advertises it's origin on the packaging- most of the time, lower quality chocolates won't bother. 3rd, if the package has a percentage displayed prominently on the package, you have good odds at it being a couveture chocolate, or at least a higher quality coating chocolate. I encourage you to try this tasting method with a few types of chocolate- try 3 of similar percentages from very different origins (I recommend an African, European and one South or Central American origin for best variety). Then try a few different percentages but high quality. 

A lot of people are adamant that they "hate" dark chocolate because they've only ever tasted pretty low quality coating chocolate. This is an opportunity to re-set your preconceptions about what you thought you liked. Now instead of "I only like dark chocolate" I can say "I prefer dark chocolates from tropical origins, because they're fruity- the ones from places like Germany and Switzerland are darker and almost woody flavor, and not my favorite. I usually don't go for lower percentage 'milk' chocolates, but I've found that I enjoy milk chocolate from Madagascar because it has a nice honey flavor". 

I want to thank "Augustos" for writing in his question, and once again I encourage all of my readers to write in their questions about life, the universe, and everything. You can contact me by clicking the "Email Us" button on the right-hand side of the page, or opening a new email and sending it to asksuzyadvice@gmail.com. Thanks!