sugar free dark chocolate bars

How to Taste Dark Chocolate

The actual flavor compounds found in dark chocolate exceed those of red wine, and detecting all these notes can be an extremely fun and educational endeavor. The following will serve as a guideline, so that you can extract the fullest flavor potential from dark chocolate.

Things You'll Need

· A good sense of taste

· Good Quality Dark chocolate

· An open mind

· A healthy attitude

· A tranquil spot or special event

Steps

1. First, you must find a location free from background noise and smell , such as television, music, a crying baby, road traffic noise, talkative friends etc. Being able to concentrate as intently as possible will facilitate flavor detection.

2. Clear your palate. This means that your mouth should not contain residual flavors from a previous meal. Eat a wedge of apple or piece of bread if necessary. This is crucial in order to taste the subtleties of chocolate's complex flavor.

3. Make sure that the piece of chocolate is large enough to accommodate full evolution of the flavor profile. A piece too small may not allow you to detect every subtle nuance as the chocolate slowly melts. The important thing to remember is that flavor notes gradually evolve and unfold on the tongue rather than open up in one large package. So remember, don't think small here. 10g should be a minimum starting point.

4. Allow the chocolate to rest at room temperature before tasting. Cold temperatures will hinder your ability to detect the flavors. Some even advise that you rub the chocolate briefly between your fingers to coax the flavor. This procedure is optional.

5. Look at the chocolate. The surface should be free of blemishes such as white marks (called bloom). Observe the color and manufacturer's job at molding and tempering. Does the chocolate appear to have been crafted carefully or slovenly? The bar should have a radiant sheen. Chocolate comes in a multifarious brown rainbow with various tints, such as pinks, purples, reds, and oranges. What do you see?

6. Break the piece in half. It should resonate with a resounding "SNAP!" and exhibit a fine gradient along the broken edge. This is quality stuff!

7. Smell the chocolate, especially at the break point. The aroma is an important component of flavor. Inhaling will prime the tongue for the incoming chocolate. It also gives you a chance to pick up the various nuances of the aroma.

8. Place the chocolate on the tongue and allow it to arrive at body temperature. Let it melt. Chew it only to break it into small enough pieces that it begins to melt on its own. After all, we're tasting and not eating! This step is crucial, for it allows the cocoa butter to distribute evenly in the mouth, which mutes any astringencies or bitterness in the chocolate.

9. Observe the taste and texture. As the chocolate melts, concentrate on the flavors that are enveloping your tongue. Melting will release more volatile compounds for you to smell. Close your eyes, take notes, enjoy this moment of bliss, and bask in contentment. Texture can be the most obvious clue about the quality of a chocolate. Low quality chocolates will have a grainy almost cement-like texture.

10. Now the chocolate is nearing its finish. How has the flavor evolved? Is the chocolate bitter? Heavy? Light? Was the texture smooth or grainy? Do any changes in texture and flavor occur? Take note of how the chocolate leaves the palate. Is there a strong reminder lingering in your mouth, or does it quickly vanish? Note any metallic or unpleasant flavors in the finish. This is a sign of stale or lower quality chocolate.

11. Repeat the process with a different chocolate. The comparison will highlight the subtle flavor notes in each chocolate. Be sure to cleanse your palate thoroughly before tasting each different chocolate.

In a nutshell, find your "happy place," listen to it break, stare at it, smell it, and then eat the chocolate very slowly instead of eating the bar quickly.

Tips

· Dark chocolate (as opposed to other kinds of chocolate) is considered healthy, and recommended for daily consumption in small amounts to maintain a healthy heart and lower cholesterol.

· Dark chocolate is also an excellent energy source, because it releases slowly into the bloodstream and does not elevate insulin levels. (Indeed, dark chocolate has a GI rating of a mere 22.) As a result, the sustained energy it provides is ideal for endurance activities and even weight-training routines.

· If you don't like dark chocolate, start with a very mild dark chocolate such as 45-55% cacao. A good example of this is Bournville, an easily available brand (in the UK) with distinctive packaging. The packaging is a dark red. Mild dark chocolate will taste similar to milk chocolate and won't be too bitter. If you are more adventurous, you can get dark chocolates that go all the way up to 100% cacao (i.e., unsweetened).

· The formation of whitish spots, or bloom, on chocolate is due to a separation of some of the fat in the chocolate, caused when it is exposed to heat, and then it is cool again. While it affects the aesthetics of the chocolate somewhat, it isn't harmful to eat or use chocolate that has bloomed. Bloom is related to heat and humidity, so store chocolate in a cool, dry place free of odors.

· Remember that most of all, you should enjoy dark chocolate, and don't be too pretentious, because you'll turn people off instead of turning them on to dark chocolate.

· Here are some excellent brands to try: Omanhene, Michel Cluizel, Boehms, Perugina, Wedel, Domori, Amedei, Valrhona, Neuhaus, Marcolini, Lindt, Felchlin, Guittard, Scharffen Berger, Santander, Malagasy, Weiss, El Rey, Theo, Bonnat, Pralus, Cote D'or, Castelain, Slitti, Dagoba, Green and Black's, Bournville, Ghirardelli, Chocolate Traveler and Xocai.

· Indeed, dark chocolate has as many, likely more, layers and nuances of taste, than wine. During a recent visit to wine country in Sonoma, California, I found a venu that pays such homage: Wine Country Chocolates (photo above). The establishment sports a small chocolate "tasting bar" in the spirit of wine tasting, and the flavors were marvelous!

Warnings

· While a little dark chocolate is good for you, a lot is not healthy. You need variation in your diet to get all the nutrients your body requires.

· If you are allergic to chocolate, then do not eat it.

· Chocolate contains the stimulant theobromine. (This stimulant is not present in Xocai chocolate products.) The physical onset of this stimulant is much slower than caffeine, so while chocolate may not keep you from falling asleep, your sleep may be disturbed in the middle of the night. Theobromine can easily cause epileptic seizures and potential death in dogs.

· Since chocolate is toxic to dogs, birds, and many other animals, never feed chocolate to an animal.

· If you accidentally drop the chocolate and stand on it, or the chocolate is left outside for a long time, do not eat the chocolate. It is probably of a lower quality.

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an assorted box of 36 pc chocolates

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coffee almound in 70% bittter chocolate enrobeing with a highlite of edible gold dust

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Learn / How To Taste And Appreciate Chocolate

Tasting chocolate for pleasure is a journey of discovery, a most enjoyable way to explore your own palate and preferences. No two people taste flavors or even experience textures in the same way; you will be amazed at the different responses you will find among a group of tasters.

· Serious or prof

ess

ional tasters usually taste one type of chocolate

at a time, for example, milk chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, or white

chocolate, ideally tasting no more than six samples at one sitting.

Pleasure tasters set their own rules, tasting chocolates from a single manufacturer, or from several, tasting across several types of chocolate or only from one type at a time.

· Professionals sit in a quiet, odor free room, perhaps with slightly dimmed lights!

Pleasure tasters are much more informal.

· Prof

essionals typically do not talk while tasting, though they may compare notes afterwards.

Pleasure tasters can agree to chat or not. Whether or not sharing of opinions is allowed

during the tasting, sharing afterwards is definitely part of the fun.

Getting Started/Setting Up

You will need:

Chocolate samples cut or broken into very tiny pieces or shards (because tasters often taste and re-taste). Plan for providing about 1/3 to ½ oz. of each chocolate sample per

taster.

TASTEING PLACEMATES Ours features an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to the protocol of tasting like a pro, and provides space for tasters to write their personal tasting not

es.

· Water (slightly warm), and unsalted, u

nflavored crackers or matzo for each taster to cleanse the palate between tastes

Tasting Chocolate? What To Notice

In the past when you’ve eaten a piece of chocolate you’ve probably thought to yourself either “that’s pretty good,” or “I don’t especially like it.” Chocolate tasting is all about paying attention to the special nuances of different chocolates in ways you probably haven’t considered before.

Don’t worry. There’s no “right, or wrong” taste. The best chocolate is the one you like. In fact, no two people perceive arom

a or taste flavors exactly the same way. Even the perception of texture —whether something is smooth and creamy or slightly gritty -- differs from one palate to another. Your individual chocolate palate also evolves and sharpens over time with experience. Each taster should look for, notice, and describe what pleases them personally in the chocolates they taste, and what displeases them, as well.

To taste and appreciate chocolate, engage all of your senses.

Look!

APPEARANCE. We eat with our eyes. Appearance is part of the initial pleasure and attraction of chocolate, but not itself a measure of quality. The color of chocolate varies. It may be ivory, golden, shades of copper brown, deep reddish, or charcoal brown depending on the type of chocolate, the percentage of cacao in the

chocolate, the presence and quantity of milk or cream, and the source of the beans from which the chocolate was made.

An attractive gloss on the surface of chocolate with a tight, fine grain and even-colored showing at cut or broken edges indicates that the chocolate was well-tempered, and properly cooled and stored. Scuffed or scraped samples are not necessarily of poor quality, but they are less pleasing to the eye.

Smell!

AROMA. As with wine, some of the first clues to flavor are in the nose. Before even tasting, rub the piece of chocolate with your thumb to warm and release its aroma. Hold the chocolate to your nose in cupped hands, like a brandy snifter, to capture and hold the aroma close. Sniff or draw slow breaths. At first chocolate may simply smell “chocolaty.” But as you compare one piece with another you will notice general differences in richness, intensity, sweetness and earthiness. You’ll pick up on lower notes and higher notes. The aroma of some chocolates is faint, while that of others is intense. You may then detect even more specific differences.

Milk chocolates often give off aromas of milk or cream, or caramel or malt. Dark chocolate aromas may be characterized by toasted nuts, roasted coffee, dried fruit or wine. Some chocolates have floral or fruity qualities; others smell more roasted or nutty. As with flavor, each chocolate brand has a signature aroma. This comes from the blend or selection of beans and their quality, as well as the manufacturer’sroasting and conching methods. There is no end to the specific notesthat you can pick up with practice and no limit to the words that you may use to describe them.

Seriously accomplished tasters are adept at drawing from their own experience and memory, choosing words accordingly to describe what they smell and taste. Practice!

Similarly, learn to detect any unpleasant aromas as well. These might be described as harsh, paper, burnt, waxy, moldy or musty, etc.

Snap It!

TEXTURE is enormously important to the chocolate experience. A smooth and creamy melt-in-your-mouth texture is so seductive, that many people are more influenced by texture than by flavor.

Begin by listening for the snap! It’s the first clue to texture. Snap is the feel and sound of a piece of chocolate when you first break it or bite into it. Snap is easier to appreciate in a thin bar than a thick chunk of chocolate. Snap is a function of theamount and quality of the cocoa butter in the chocolate, how finely ground the chocolate particles are, and how well the chocolate was tempered.

White and milk chocolate bars have a gentler snap than dark or semi-sweet chocolate because their milk and butter fat content make them naturally softer.

Feel and Savor The Melt!

MOUTHFEEL is another word for texture. After looking, smelling, and snapping, place the chocolate in your mouth. But, resist the urge to chew and eat. Instead, hold the chocolate against the roof of your mouth and pass your tongue over the bottom of it, noticing first how it melts and then how it feels. Does it melt readily and feel smooth and creamy, or greasy and slimy? Maybe it resists melting and seems hard or waxy? Does it feel grainy or gritty, powdery, harsh, or drying?

No two palates have the same perception of these textures...it is even possible for the same piece of chocolate to seem smooth and silky to one taster and dry and powdery to the next!

If the piece of chocolate has melted completely, take another piece so that you can now notice how the chocolate feels to chew. Is it gummy, sticky, cake-like, fudgy, fast-dissolving, etc.?

Now Taste!

FLAVOR is the ultimate criterion for quality in chocolate. Because texture is so distracting some tasters focus on flavor first, before considering texture. Either way, flavor begins to fill your mouth from the moment the chocolate begins to melt on your tongue.

At first there is so much pleasure in tasting the chocolate, it may be difficult to focus on the specifics of flavor. As with aroma, your first perception may be simply described as “chocolaty” or even just “yummy”! As you begin to focus, notice several things:

· Ddoes the flavor come on quickly or slowly?

Does the flavor build and peak or remain constant?

Does the flavor change character from the beginning to the middle to the end?

How long does the flavor last in your mouth? Professional chocolate tasters often look for a “long finish.” This is simply flavor that lasts a long time in your mouth.

Describing flavor is the most fun and most challenging aspect of chocolate tasting. Everyone gets better with practice.

Helpful Tips

· Relate the flavors that you taste in chocolate to flavors, smells and experiences familiar to you, no matter how corny or off beat they may be, and whether they are pleasant or unpleasant.Don’t forget food memories. Chocolate flavor has been compared to strange things like “buttered toast,” “egg custard,” dirty leaves...You may describe the sweetness in terms of sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, caramel or some other sweet food memory.

· Consider tartness, acidity, and bitterness as well. If these are detected, are they pleasing or displeasing to you? Do you taste vanilla? Does the chocolate taste nutty? What kind of nuts, and are they toasted nuts or raw? Do you taste fruit, and is it dried fruit or fresh fruit, citrus or other? Do you taste coffee?

· Connoisseurs appreciate complexity in chocolate, rather than a single constant flavor. But even connoisseurs disagree about what they taste and what they like.

· Professional tasters also appreciate balance and the overall intensity of the chocolate flavor.Deciding which chocolates taste "in perfect harmony or balance" or which "strike the perfect intensity" is up to the individual and is completely personal, and often develops with chocolate tasting experience.

· Practice! Beginners may not taste or be able to describe as many flavors as seasoned tasters, but continued practice is both pleasurable and rewarding.

Chocabulary from A to Z

Alkalized or Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder: Cocoa powder that has been chemically treated (usually with potassium carbonate) to reduce acidity. See Cocoa Powder.

Aroma: The variety of scents given off by individual chocolate. Hold different kinds of chocolates to the nose and you’ll quickly see that each has an individual and distinctive aroma.

Bloom: Dullness, streaks, graying, or whitish discoloration on the surface of chocolate caused by poor tempering, temperature fluctuations and/or moisture in storage. Bloom is unattractive but not harmful.

Cacao: The defining ingredient in all chocolate and chocolate products. The term “cacao” refers to the tree and its fruit and the seeds (otherwise known as cocoa beans) inside the fruit, which are processed to make chocolate.

Varieties of Cacao

• Forastero: The hardiest and most productive of the three or four cacao varieties, Forastero is believed to have originated in the Amazon basin. Today it is grown around the globe and accounts for over 90% percent of the world’s cacao. Chocolate manufacturers value Forasteros for basic robust chocolate flavor.
• Criollo: Considered the rarest and most prized of the three or four recognized varieties of cacao, Criollo is native to either northern South America and or Mesoamaerica. Prized for their fragrance and delicate and complex flavor, criollos are “flavor beans” which account for less than 1% of the world’s cacao.
• Trinitario: One of three or four recognized varieties of cacao, Trinitario is a hybrid of the flavorful Criollo and hardy Forastero. Along with Criollos, Trinitarios are considered “flavor beans” and they account for less than 5% of the world cacao crop.
• Nacional or Arriba: The proposed fourth variety of cacao from Ecuador, otherwise considered a finer strain of Forastero.
• Theobroma Cacao: The botanical name for the tree, fruit, and seeds from which chocolate is made.

Cacao Beans/Cocoa Beans: Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which are the seeds of the fruit of the cacao tree.

Chocolate Liquor: Also known as unsweetened chocolate which is often used in baking, chocolate liquor is pure ground-up cacao nibs (see cocoa nibs). There is no alcohol in chocolate liquor however!.

Chocolate Truffle: A rich confection made from chocolate and cream (ganache), although it may contain butter, eggs, and other flavorings. Truffles may be dipped in chocolate and or rolled in cocoa powder. Although American-style chocolate truffles are larger and may be decorated, the original European chocolate truffle is bite-sized with a rough cocoa-y exterior.

Cocoa: The term cocoa is used in different ways. When it appears on a chocolate label with a percentage, it denotes the total cocoa bean (cacao) content of the chocolate and the term is sometimes used interchangeably with chocolate liquor, cacao, cocoa beans or cocoa solids. Not to be confused with Cocoa Powder.

Cocoa Powder: Used as an ingredient in baking, or the base for a hot beverage. Cocoa powder is chocolate liquor, which has been pressed to remove most of its fat, and then pulverized to a powder. High fat cocoa powders typically contain 22%-24% cacao fat; low-fat cocoa powders typically contain 10% or less cacao fat. Natural Cocoa Powder: Cocoa powder that has not been “Dutch” processed or treated with chemical alkalis.

Cocoa Butter: The unique ivory colored fat that constitutes 50 to 54% of roasted cocoa beans. Cocoa butter has little flavor of its own, but it adds considerable richness and depth to the flavor of chocolate. Cocoa butter makes chocolate fluid when melted and crisp when hardened. Chocolate melts readily and luxuriously on the tongue because cocoa butter melts at body temperature. Cocoa butter contributes to the creamy smooth texture and the long finish that characterizes fine chocolate.

Cocoa Nibs: Pieces of hulled, roasted cocoa beans. Nibs are composed of fat called cocoa butter (50%-54%) and non-fat dry solids fat (46%-50%).

Cocoa Mass or Cocoa Masse: An alternate term for the total cocoa bean, cacao, chocolate liquor, or cocoa content of chocolate.

Conching: Conching is the prolonged heating, mixing and scraping or grinding process done during the last stages of chocolate manufacture. Conching produces both a smooth texture by reducing the size of the particles and mixing them, and a smooth flavor by driving off unwanted harsh flavors and aromas.

Couverture: Chocolate with a minimum of 32% cocoa butter. Most couverture these days contains even more than 32% cocoa butter!

Dry or Non-Fat Cocoa Solids: The non-fat portion of the cocoa bean.

Dutch Process Cocoa: cocoa that has been processed with alkali to reduce acidity (and darken color).

Ganache: A mixture of chocolate and cream used as the filling for chocolate truffles, but also for sauces, glazes and cake fillings.

Gloss: The satiny sheen or mirror-like shine on the surface of a perfectly tempered piece of chocolate.

Lecithin: A natural emulsifier added to chocolate to promote fluidity when the chocolate is melted. The lecithin used in chocolate manufacture is derived from soy.

Mouthfeel: The texture of a substance in your mouth; how the chocolate feels as it melts on your palate.

Notes: The variety of distinctive flavors or hints of flavor that one can pick up when tasting and appreciating an individual piece of chocolate. Chocolate, like fine wine, has a flavor profile that’s very individual. It’s common to pick up hints of smoke, coffee, cherry, vanilla, nuts or citrus in chocolate. Further, no two people will necessarily pick up the exact same notes in chocolate, depending on their experience savoring chocolate.

Percentage: The percentage label on chocolate bars indicates the total amount of the bar, by weight, comprised of cocoa beans (including added cocoa butter or dry cocoa solids). Dark chocolate generally features a higher percentage of cacao than milk chocolate. While a high cacao percentage (60% or more) is a sign of quality in dark chocolate, 90% cacao content in a bar is not necessarily “better.” This is because as the cacao percentage is increased, chocolate becomes more and more bitter in flavor to the point that it becomes unpalatable.

Snap: The sound and the feel of chocolate as it breaks or is bitten. A sharp, crisp snap indicates fine particle size, high quality cocoa butter, and good tempering. Dark chocolate generally has more “snap” than softer milk chocolate.

Tempering: The process of controlled heating, cooling and stirring that creates a stable structure of the cocoa butter (fat) crystals in chocolate. Tempering causes chocolate to harden uniformly with an even color, brittle texture (snap) and glossy surface.

White Confectionery Coating: Although apparently similar to white chocolate, white confectionery coating contains no part of the cocoa bean. It is made with sugar, milk and milk fat, vanilla, lecithin, and vegetable fats.