What the pros discover in a square of chocolate-and how you can get in on the action, too.
Munch on a square of your chocolate, amazed at how many flavor notes it contains. And even a professional taster may not know the full score. Chemists have identified at least 400 distinct aromatic notes in cocoa beans, yet the list of notes used by expert chocolate tasters contains less than fifty.
How to taste chocolate like a pro. The technique is the way described in the Theory chapter of Cooking with Chocolate: Essential Recipes and Techniques, a Valrhona book edited by Frédéric Bau of the École du Grand Chocolat Valrhona, and is combined here with Valrhona's own tasting instructions.
Why chocolate is a more difficult taste than wine
Primary authors set their own criteria for tasting; nearly all of them base their standards on the language of wine. The book documents that, and it makes sense since some of the same yeasts and bacteria that produce the aromas in the wines are responsible for developing those aromas.
Nonetheless, connoisseurs agree that judging chocolate is more difficult. This is thanks to cocoa butter, which acts as a mask that gets between the taster and what they should be perceiving.
Melting Is Part of Tasting
This smooth and delicious chocolate has a special inclusion in it. To experience all the nuances of the aroma of this delicate product, the chocolate must melt away properly in your mouth. And that is possible with properly tempered cocoa butter.
If the fat molecules are not spread throughout the dry molecules, the product will not melt properly. Which in turn means that aromas will not fully appear on the palate. Technique makes, so to speak, the difference before the first bite.
Inside Valrhona's Cocoa-Theque
For Valrhona, tasting is a daily discipline: close to twenty people do it every single day. Tasting has been part of the "cocoa-theque", initiated in the 1980s, for several decades and is based on an internal "expert" judging panel which changes periodically, after one year of training.
The training is conducted in three phases:
Taste basic aromas. Use the aroma specialists' vials to learn to first identify familiar aromatic molecules. They include the aromas of peach, red berries, licorice, and leather.
Use them in chocolate. And then adapt what they learn to the much more complicated texture of chocolate.
They finally also develop a shared scale of perceptions, so that it is possible to imagine a chocolate as objectively being as well as objectively analyzing it.
That third stage is the crucial piece of thinking. Two tasters have no means to compare notes unless they are conceptually in agreement on what a particular level of fruitiness really signifies.
How to Taste Chocolate at Home
Here's a straightforward way to give it a shot for anyone interested:
Wait. Taste a long time after eating.
A smile and an eye. Break off a little piece and note the color and the snap. It should be shiny and smooth and not powdery.
Sniff. Begin with the most obvious aromas.
Melt gently. Allow the piece to melt in your mouth and do not bite it.
Arrange what you find. Decant your aromas into the main aroma families: acidic, bitter, chocolate, fruity, sweet, caramel, spicy, and so forth.
Score each family.
Grade on a scale of one (not very severe) to eight (brutal); order the severity of each.
"The sensory exercise we suggest: Look at the piece, hear it crunch, let it melt on your tongue, all the while enjoying the experience of its tastes, then exhale, the full aroma of the chocolate," Valrhona said.
Taking It Further: Fruit and Texture
After the reader becomes proficient with the basic method, the book recommends two enhancements.
Identify fruit. Rather than fruity, describe the specific type of fruity aroma, such as fresh, dry, red, or yellow.
Follow the texture. Observe the sensations that have a direct link with the texture. Does the aftertaste remain? Is the chocolate fatty, dry, melting, or astringent?
Read an Aroma Profile Like a Taster
Valrhona writes a profile of aroma for each of its bars based on how a taster "thinks": a primary or key note, a secondary note, and, in the case of some, a unique note. Here are four, as Valrhona has them:
Bar |
Key Note |
Minor Note |
Singular Note |
Manjari 64% |
Fruity |
Tangy |
Red berries |
Jivara 40% |
Milky |
Malty |
Vanilla |
Oriado 60% |
Balanced |
Vanilla |
Coconut |
Dulcey 35% |
Biscuity |
Hint of salt |
None |
Guanaja 70% |
Bitter / Roasted |
Toasted coffee |
Warm wood |
Manjari offers a good lesson in the acidic family. Valrhona describes its acidity as a signature that is easily recognizable, and says some enthusiasts use it as a reference on acidity scales.
Enjoy The Taste of Quality Chocolates With Valrhona
A Four-Bar Tasting Flight
"Repeat the activity with different brands of chocolate, and with chocolates containing different amounts of cocoa, where you discover surprising nuances and tasters are more discriminating."
A ready-to-eat flight Chocolate Bar Favorites Bundle: 4 bars (2.5 oz each of Manjari 64%, Jivara 40%, Oriado 60% and Dulcey 35%) for $38.66. As per Valrhona, the set will take you from bitter to sweet in the vanilla world. Try each one with the tasting method above and then see how your tasting notes compare with the profile of each bar in the table.
Keep Practicing
It might seem hard, but don't worry - this is commonplace: even professionals quickly forget their references after a few weeks without tasting, even if they've had a full year of training. The takeaway: tasting is a skill that needs practicing continuously.
If you want to understand more about what influences flavor before it hits your palate, check out The Secrets of a Quality Chocolate.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do you taste a chocolate like a chef?
Consume after a wait of a few minutes for digestion, then look at its color and its "snap", smell the basic fragrances, let it melt enough to be tasted, finally group the flavors and classify each of its aromas on a scale from one to eight.
2. What are the aromas of chocolate?
Scientists have identified over 400 aromatic notes in cocoa. Chocolate makers refer to fifty characteristics of chocolate.
3. What is more difficult to taste wine or chocolate?
To begin with, you may have a hard time tasting chocolate because the flavors are covering each other up. Chocolate is actually the harder of the two to taste.
4. Why is tempering essential when tasting chocolate?
The fat content is badly distributed throughout the chocolate, and they don't melt well, so the flavours don't distribute well in the mouth.
5. What does a good chocolate look like?
It should be shiny and smooth and will split apart neatly.
6. What are the main aroma families?
Acidic, bitter, chocolate, fruity, sweet, caramel, and spicy, to name a few. All are rated in levels from one to eight.
7. What does the cocoa-theque mean?
A panel of experienced tasters, who form part of the panel on a revolving one-year basis after receiving one year's training, with some twenty tasters testing each day.
8. How do I get better at tasting chocolate?
Sample your way through our selection of chocolates from multiple brands and a variety of cocoa percentages, and do so regularly. Each Bar will deliver four bars per Valrhona's aroma profile.
