A Mother in Zion: Utah Adventures: Part 2, Chocolate Tasting (aka: More than you ever really wanted or needed to know about chocolate)

“Sugar Cookie” Chocolatier Blue truffle

*Disclaimer: I am not a chocolate expert. This was my first chocolate tasting experience. The following information is correct to the best of my knowledge but if I have some of the facts not quite right, I apologize in advance. Finally, let it be known that although I loved this experience and tasting these exquisite chocolates from around the world, I do occasionally enjoy a simple piece of Dove chocolate or a handful of mini m&ms. So sue me.

The second half of Rob’s Christmas present to all of us was a chocolate tasting class which he conducted. We tasted some of the finest chocolate in the world and learned a lot in the process. He passed around broken up pieces of various chocolate bars in bowls and everyone would take a piece and eat it. The way he told us to eat it was to chew it up and then let it melt on the tongue. His personally preferred way of tasting is to chew and then with the chocolate on his tongue, press his tongue to the roof of his mouth and let the chocolate melt, so that’s how I did it as well. In between tasting the different chocolates we would eat saltines and sip water as a palate cleanser.

A few things I learned:

Beans: There are three types of cacao bean—trinitario, forestero and criollo. Trinitario beans are just a hybrid of forestero and criollo beans. Most likely all the chocolate you have ever eaten before is made with the forestero bean. It is the easier bean to grow and it is also the more bitter bean. Forestero beans have that classic “chocolate” flavor that is so recognizable (i.e. the bitterness). Chocolate manufacturers such as Hershey, Dove, Mars and Lindt add lots of sugar, milk, cocoa butter and other additives to make their chocolate made with this type of bean into palatable chocolate. If you have ever had one of those 60% or 70% chocolate bars from a manufacturer like Hershey or Ghirardelli they are (in my opinion) nasty. They are very bitter and not much fun to eat. The criollo bean is much more difficult to produce and therefore more expensive. The bars of 60% to 70% pure chocolate made with criollo beans may not have the sweetness of chocolate you are used to, but they are not bitter. The flavors are complex and vary widely but they are pleasant to taste. The classic “chocolate” flavor is more subdued in these beans but secondary flavors are stronger and of longer duration. Criollo beans make up less than 1% of total chocolate production in the world.

Factors to Consider: There are several things to pay attention to when eating fine chocolate. One is the temper of the chocolate. This is the snappiness the chocolate makes when broken, the texture, and the melting point. This is highly dependent on the processing on the chocolate. If you don’t process the chocolate correctly, the crystalline structure will produce a chocolate that is mushy or melts too quickly or not at all. Really pure, finely tempered chocolate (without a lot of fat and sugar added) will often have a clean snap and smooth texture to it. It will melt quite easily on the tongue.

Another thing to notice is the terroir (say tare-WAH). This term is also used in wine tasting. This is the flavor the chocolate gets from the ground it is grown in. It is really interesting to be eating a piece of chocolate and have different flavors pop out in your mouth. We ate chocolate that tasted like blueberries and chocolate that tasted like honey. I have also had chocolate that tasted like olives of all things. Sounds weird, but it is really interesting. And yummy. These chocolates have no additives to give the distinct flavors. The flavors are simply grown into the bean depending on the conditions of the soil, amount of sunlight, rain, acidity of the soil, minerals present in the soil, etc.

Another important aspect to consider in chocolate tasting is the origin. The region where a cacao bean is grown determines flavor. Fine chocolates often have single growth origin (i.e. they are grown in a specific part of the world on a single plantation). Some other chocolates have multiple origins that are carefully formulated by chocolatiers for their flavor profiles.

Harvesting the Beans: Cacao pods with beans are harvested and then go through a kind of fermentation process. Harvesters break open the pods and let them sit in boxes or a leather bag. After a few days the pith in the bean pod kind of dissolves so that the beans can be harvested. The beans are then dried and sent to the chocolatiers who produce the chocolate. The beans are roasted before further processing as the roasting gets rid of the bitterness. Even the criollo beans would be much too bitter to eat in their raw state. As you are tasting chocolate you may notice the roast of the bean. Occassionally the bean will even pick up the flavor of the leather bag or wood box in which it was fermented.

A side note: A huge percentage of the chocolate we eat is slave produced. These finer chocolates made with the criollo bean are slave-free (also known as “fair trade” produced). It makes me feel better to eat chocolate that I know was produced in humane conditions.

Some of the types of chocolate we tasted were:

Amano—Orem, Utah. We tasted a single origin chocolate from Dos Rios plantation,Venezuela. This is the chocolate that had a blueberry flavor.
Amedei—Tuscany, Italy. We tasted Porcelana, Venezuelan origin (this was perhaps the most expensive chocolate we tasted. A 2oz bar cost $11) and we tasted Toscano Black (six different origins, including Tuscany)
Pralus—France. Didn’t note the origin of the chocolate we tasted
Domori—Italy. Didn’t note the origin of the chocolate we tasted but I think this may have been the honey-tasting chocolate.
Patric—Columbia, Missouri . We tasted PBJ OMG and the Signature Dark MILK bar as well as one of the Madagascar origin chocolates.
Valrhona—France. Fine chocolate and cocoa powder specifically formulated for baking. This was used in the $40 chocolate cake below.

Other Chocolate Experiences: We had authentic Mayan Hot Chocolate one night that was a delicious experience on it’s own. I’ll post the recipe when I am able to get a hold of it.

First row, L to R: “Eggnog”, “Sugar Cookie” and “Gingerbread” Chocolatier Blue truffles.

Rob was also generous to share these delicious Chocolatier Blue chocolate truffles that he got at Caputo’s Deli in Salt Lake City with us. One day when I was feeling kind of sad, Rob pulled out the box again and let me choose a couple. At $2 a piece they were a slightly pricey but amazingly effective cure to my blues.

The gingerbread truffle had actual gold powder in the chocolate. Talk about decadent. Yum.