Vivid metaphors
Posted in: Tasting Notes
To which question there is but one reply, "Yes."
Forum Activity for @Clay
Changing Chocolate from unsweet to bittersweet
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Staci:I can think of two ways.1) If you have some sort of refiner/conche setup you could melt the unsweetened chocolate, add sugar, and grind away until it was smooth. How much sugar to add would be something you'd have to experiment with. (You can also pre-refine the sugar to reduce the particle size before you begin - a food processor works for this.) Whatever you do, do NOT add regular confectioner's sugar which has cornstarch added to it to prevent it from caking. You will ruin the chocolate that way.2) Melt the unsweetened chocolate and add melted semi-sweet chocolate to it. Again, the amount of semi-sweet you'd add depends on the level of sweetness of the semi-sweet chocolate and how much you want to sweeten the unsweetened chocolate.Also, depending on what chocolates you're using, you might need to add some cocoa butter (or alternatively lecithin) to thin the chocolate out to the correct working consistency.Then, temper if you're going to mold or enrobe.
Tempering with Beta 6 crystals
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
One of the best uses of Mycryo is dredging chicken breasts that need to be held for some time before they are baked or fried off for service. The crystals are real stable and because it is solid, it doesn't run all over the place like an oil would. Plus it's real stable at high temperatures (doesn't burn all that easily) and imparts a slightly nutty taste.
Tempering with Beta 6 crystals
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
According to Stephen Beckett in The Science of Chocolate , there are six crystal structures that cocoa butter can take. There are various labels used to describe these forms and Beta 6 is actually a combination of two of them - Beta 1 and Form VI.Forms V and VI are the most stable, however, Form V is the one that is achievable by the normal tempering process: Form VI is in fact more stable, but under normal conditions is only formed by a solid to solid transformation and not directly from liquod cocoa butter. This means that chocolate with fat in Form V will, after a period of months or sometimes even years, start to bloom. This is because some of the cocoa butter is still liquid, even at room temperature, and energy is given out as the fat is transforming to the lower energy state. This combination of effects pushes some of the fat between the solid particles on on to the surface. The Science of Chocolate is a great book. I can't recommend it more highly as a solid reference to the technical aspects of chocolate making and working with chocolate. Click on the image below to order the book from Amazon.
Pralus le 100% ... different flavor?
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Sabrina:There are many things that contribute to the flavor of a chocolate. The differences you attest to sugar could come from a different bean blend, different roasting, and several other factors.Also, Cluizel's le Noir Inifini 99% contains a small amount of bergamot. Next time you taste it, have a cup of earl grey tea or a tea bag and smell the chocolate bar and the tea. You should be able to detect the citrusy aroma of the bergamot in the chocolate. That is one way to alter your perception of the flavor of the chocolate without adding sugar - and it's not on the label as I remember. So (maybe?) there is some sort of essential oil in the new Pralus 100% bar that is affecting your perception of the taste.:: ClayPS. It's okay to mention where you work! (FEEI (for everyone else's info) it's Alma in Portland, OR).
Dutched Valrhona?
Posted in: Tasting Notes
One of the things that people forget is that every single one of us has a different metabolism. Our genes are unique and because of that, generalizations are just that: generalizations. Some people are sensitive to aspirin which can irritate the stomach and others aren't. Some people are sensitive to caffeine and others aren't. So it's not surprising that a research study finds that some people react negatively to substances in cocoa, including contributing to hypertension as the study you reference above states - where most people have the opposite reaction.The question is not (as Herb alludes to below) whether or not the health benefits of cacao are overhyped, the question is, "Why are we so consumed with turning chocolate into a health food?" As far as I am concerned, chocolate is something that should be consumed in moderation. So - when I want to enjoy chocolate I find the best chocolate I can and simply enjoy it. I don't worry about the fat and the calories so much, and I don't worry whether or not whoever made the chocolate went out of their way to maximize the polyphenol and flavanol content.For me, the health aspect is a little added bonus - it is not a reason to eat chocolate. If I were truly concerned with the health aspects I would find a way to consume lightly fermented raw cacao, probably by drinking it. Several cups made with water every day.
Dutched Valrhona?
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Susie:I did a quick Google search on 'valrhona cocoa powder' and followed this link to Chocosphere.There it says that the powder is Dutch processed. I would not be surprised to find, however, given that Valrhona is a big company, that they make a "natural" cocoa powder.As for Scharffen Berger and Hershey. Neither of them actually make their own cocoa powder. On the Scharffen Berger factory tour in Berkeley (at least the one I took) they freely admit that they buy their cocoa powder. They just won't tell you who from. Also, Hershey is no longer a cocoa processor. They farmed the last of those jobs off in 2006 to a number of companies who deliver finished chocolate that Hershey makes into finished candy.I don't know the application you're thinking about for the cocoa powder but, IMO, the concern is misplaced because the way antioxidant capacity in cocoa and chocolate is characterized is bad science. The simplest example is to note that antioxidant levels (expressed as ORAC) are baselined against "dark chocolate" yet no one knows what dark chocolate means in this context. 70% total cocoa? 65%? 75% What ratio of butter:powder? What bean variety? In what soil were the beans grown? What level of fermentation? What level of roast?Without knowing all of that, it makes no sense to worry about the loss of ORAC for a specific chocolate product through alkalization, which can run to 50% or more.It's okay to use something just because it tastes good and not worry about not getting the antioxidants you need (and there is no RDA for flavanols) from fractions of a gram of cocoa powder.:: Clay
Annoying delay
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
I just removed pretty much all of the code for external dependencies I could. It seems faster to me.The next step is to remove the Google ads. I probably will not get around to this until the end of the month.
Annoying delay
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
In this day and age of social networking, sites often depend on resources from many other sites.As pages on TheChocolateLife load they look for content and resources from the hosting services provider (api.ning.com), from Google (pagead2.googlesyndication.com, google-analytics.com), Digg (digg.com), and ChipIn (widget.chipin.com) - as well as my own server at discoverchocolate.com which is where I host some graphics and other high-bandwidth files to reduce the load on thechocolatelife.com server.api.ning.com - images and other site contentpagead2.googlesyndication.com - the ads in the column on the rightgoogle-analytics.com - keeping track of page viewsdigg.com - viral marketing through social bookmarkingchipin. com - "lend a hand" adOf these, the two Google services are usually the worst because of the way they are integrated into the site - as javascript calls that get loaded after all the rest of the content of the page is loaded. That's one of the reasons why, when they're slow, you can't do anything else until they're done loading. You'll notice widget.chipin.com and digg.com sometimes takes a long time to load but because of the way they're integrated into the page they should not keep you from working while they're loading.I am really surprised that it takes 3-5 minutes for all of these resources to download all of the information the page requires; at the worst, they take about 15-20 seconds for me [which is way too long and as I spend more time on this site than most people it' can be a drag]. However, some of the slowness could be from the firewall you're using. And I am sure Ning gets slammed at times, too.I do know that pages take longer to load on my old pre-Intel Mac Mini (using Firefox) because I don't have a lot of memory in the Mac and Firefox on the Mac is notoriously slow under low memory situations. On my Windows XP box, there's a lot more memory and everything is routinely much, much, faster. It sounds like you're on a PC but there may be some configuration issue with your computer that affects things but you'd probably see it across the board and not just here.SO, everything is dependent on how busy things are all over the Internet. If a lot of people are slamming Google (and they always are) things can slow down if there are network bottlenecks. Many of the things that can be done to improve the site's performance are beyond my control because I didn't write the software. Even though I do have source code access the kind of changes that need to be made are way beyond my skill level.I have always planned to remove the Google ads from the site. That's the major cause of the slowdown. However, I planned to wait until the site was generating a little income because I have to pay to remove them. So far there's been very little interest (like one order) for any of the offers on the site. I'm looking for ways to reduce costs in other areas so I can do it sooner. (Is a PayPal "Donate" button too crass?)I can remove the google analytics. They're the second-worst culprit. It means I have to rely on the site's traffic metrics but at the moment, maybe having both is belt and suspenders and all I need is the belt. I will do that when I get done writing this reply.If any of you have any idea how to help market and promote the site so I can remove the Digg link (technorati never seems to be slow) by all means let me know.If I get absolutely no response on the ChipIn campaign I will remove that at the end of May even though the campaign is nominally not closed until the end of August.Please be assured, however, that no personal data of any kind is being transferred or transmitted from the site to anywhere else through any of these processes. Hope this helps and belays any concerns you might have.:: Clay
Domori- are they bean to bar?
Posted in: Tasting Notes
There is not reason to be sorry. It was a good question - all is not necessarily as the marketing says it is.A real interesting question (for me) about Domori is how is the company going to change, if at all, under their new corporate parent, Illy, and does this mean Illy-branded Italian-style chocolate cafes in the US that carry and promote the Domori brand?
Domori- are they bean to bar?
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Thanks for the research on this. From my perspective there was never a question as I first started working with Domori from its earliest days of being sold here in the US. At one point, the master importer was Pierrick Chouard and Vintage Plantations.The fact that the comment even made it into Chloe's book is a case of bad editing and fact checking, a criticism I have with the entire book as it is littered with simple mistakes and misunderstandings that should have been caught. Ironically, the publisher of the book is a sister company to the one that published mine - both are owned by PenguinUSA. (I had four editors looking at my writing AND someone who read the book to contact me to provide sources for some of my assertions.)Here's a related question about where to draw the line about whether or not a company is truly bean to bar. Say Company "A" sources beans, then cleans, roasts, grinds, refines, and finally conches the chocolate, but does not temper and mold the bars themselves. Instead, they take the chocolate across town to someone who has an expensive tempering machine (not one of those tabletop Chocovision ones). Does that count? How important is the actual molding of the physical finished bar to the process?And finally, here's some trivia about Domori. Mac Domori is a fictional person and the alter ego of the founder of the company, Gianluca Franzoni.
Trends from the World's Top Chocolate Artisans
Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)
To everyone who is going to be there from those of us who aren't, please take photos and/or videos, post comments and the like.Thanks,:: Clay
"Permalink to this reply"
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
This reply from a NING technical forum."the permalink icon is used to link back to a specific reply in the forum. When a forum becomes active and a lot of people are replying it can become difficult to direct people to a specific reply. The permalink allows you to copy the link to this specific reply and paste it elsewhere on your network or the internet so that people can find the specific reply.The reason that clicking on the permalink seemingly does nothing is because it is linking back to the same reply that you are clicking on. So, essentially, you would be refreshing the page.I hope this answers your question.
chocolate training
Posted in: Opinion
Michelle-jo:Two things that will help people answer this:1) When are you returning to Oz?2) What part of the country are you in and does this training need to be where you are?:: Clay
Jacques Torres video on tempering chocolate
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
On YouTube courtesy of Epicurious, which does not allow sites to embed the video. Click to go to YouTube and watch the video . This is another Epicurious video on YouTube on tempering chocolate.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/11/25 09:27:36
Free Bean to Bar chocolate in exchange for critique
Posted in: Tasting Notes
The Send Message link is just to the right of Hallot's member photo right at the top of the post - two lines below the headline.
Free Bean to Bar chocolate in exchange for critique
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Hallot:I have no problems with your offer. A couple of etiquette points, however.1) Anyone who wants to take Hallot up on his offer should send him a message (click on the send message link under the headline) with your contact information. Please do not enter your mailing address and/or phone number in a comment to this post.2) It would be great if everyone who took Hallot up on his offer posted constructive criticism here in this forum thread.:: Clay
Instructed tasting of Milk Chocolate at the Fancy Food Show on June 29-July 1
Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)
Van Leer has been out of business for many years. B-C bought the moribund assets of the company - basically the name. Whatever B-C does, I don't think it will be to reproduce the couverture formulations of old.BTW, Tad's new company is J Emmanuel chocolatier, focusing on wine-infused ganaches.
Instructed tasting of Milk Chocolate at the Fancy Food Show on June 29-July 1
Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)
I don't know how they decide who gets credentialled and who doesn't. I have never had a problem. You need an official business card with a writer/journalist/reporter title (not editor, publisher), plus either an assignment letter from the editor/publisher and/or a copy of a bylined article published within the last two years. I would pre-register but there is no link I can find on the site. SO -Register as a member of the press in the NASFT press room . Contact them directly and say you want to register as a member of the press but don't see how to do it on the web site.:: Clay
Instructed tasting of Milk Chocolate at the Fancy Food Show on June 29-July 1
Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)
Susie:Actually, Scharffen Berger does not make their own milk chocolate as the factory in Berkeley is certified Kosher pareve. Scharffen Berger ships the liquor to Blommer who makes the finished chocolate for them. At least that was the case before Hershey bought them.As an aside, eat the SB milk next to Guittard's 38%. You'll instantly notice a distinct sourness in the SB milk chocolate. Now taste some Hershey milk with the SB milk and you might notice that they are very similar.In a conversation I had with John Scharffenberger about the production capacity of the Berkeley plant (and it is from John that I learned about Blommer making their milk chocolate), he said that they looked "long and hard" to find the milk powder they ended up using. So, the flavor of the SB milk is not a mistake.IMO, they deliberately made the chocolate taste like a grown-up version of a Hershey bar. VERY SMART and maybe one more thing that made them attractive to Hershey.
Instructed tasting of Milk Chocolate at the Fancy Food Show on June 29-July 1
Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)
Here is the complete listing from the Fancy Food Shows website:The Fine Chocolate Industry Association Presents: A World of Milk Chocolate Flavor - A Guided TastingMonday June 30, 2008; 8:30 am - 10 amPre-Show Member Price: $50 / Pre- Show Non-Member Price: $75Onsite Member Price: $60 / Onsite Non-Member Price: $85Milk chocolate has been overlooked in our rush to get on the dark chocolate on the shelves and can be a very profitable addition to your inventory as it is still the number one chocolate flavor preference with the majority of US consumers. Sourcing Milk Chocolate Bars from across the globe, we will compare manufacturing styles, ingredient differences and flavor profiles so you will be much more knowledgeable about milk chocolate. We will also discuss the merchandising of a "wall of chocolate" for impact during peak sales periods.Speakers: Alexander Morozoff, Publisher Cocoa Aroma Magazine; Tad Van Leer, J. Emanuel Chocolatier; Pam Williams, Fine Chocolate Industry Association.In order to attend you must either be a member of the press, a member of the NASFT (National Association of Specialty Food Trades), or work for a company in the food business (or find someone that will vouch for you and get you credentialed).I am planning to be at the show and will most likely attend this session, in part to meet Mr Morozoff for the first time. Tad is the scion of a quite famous US chocolate maker (Van Leer) now owned by Barry-Callebaut. The brand has been defunct for quite a while but B-C is resurrecting it. Pam Williams is the head of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association but is probably better known as the force behind Ecole Chocolat.
Theo Chocolate Tasting Notes
Posted in: Tasting Notes
One of the things I really love about my job is that people send me chocolate to eat. I come home and find boxes on my porch. Companies send it to me because they want my opinion - sometimes without even asking me. It usually takes me a while to get around to tasting them, and sometimes when I taste them I don't write about them because I really don't like posting negative reviews.A couple of weeks ago I received two bars from Theo in Seattle. There's a little history there as Theo grew Phoenix-like out of the ashes of an effort called Essential Chocolate created by the founders of Essential Baking.In any event, Theo might be the only bean-to-bar chocolate maker in the US that also makes bon bons, joining a very small group of companies.The bars I was sent included a 40 % milk chocolate Hazelnut Crunch bar and a 65% dark chocolate Fig, Fennel & Almond bar. Hazelnut Crunch Hazelnut is not only the Italian's favorite flavor in chocolate (think Nutella and gianduja) it is one of my favorites, too. I also like anything that is cooked and caramelized in sugar, so I was looking forward to tasting this bar.Unfortunately, while a hearty crunchiness was quite enjoyable, the taste of the hazelnuts was not nearly present enough. What came through was a quiet nuttiness but not really the assertive hazelnnuttiness I expected and wanted. Fig, Fennel & Almond One of my favorite confections to make is a dried fig that's sliced open, stuffed with Marcona almonds, and then dipped in chocolate. There is something about the luscious unctuous texture and chewiness of beautiful dried figs (I buy mine from Teitel Brothers down on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx) coupled with the crunchy saltiness of the almonds (Trader Joe's) and the chocolate that is really satisfying.I've also had fennel and other anise flavors in chocolate before and have liked many of the combinations. So I was also really looking forward to this.I liked the chewy texture that the figs gave the bar and the way it contrasted with the smoothness of the chocolate and the mild crunch of the almonds. However, at least in the bar I got, the fennel taste right out front and completely overwhelmed every other flavor that might have been in the bar - fig, almond, and almost the chocolate which had a very agreeable peppery spiciness on the long finish. Overall Impressions Out of balance flavors that need tweaking. Worth revisiting in the future to see if the balance of flavors has improved. Great textures, however. I was less than thrilled that the serving size was set for the entire two-ounce bar. Thus the Hazelnut Crunch has 330 calories per serving (240 from fat) and the Fig Fennel & Almond has 260 (190 from fat). A more responsible labeling would advise that a bar was at least two servings (there are only four squares in the mold). Not that many people would pay attention, but it would be more responsible.If anyone has comments about either of these bars, or about any other Theo chocolate, this is the place to add them.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/17/15 07:15:39
Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
The importer for Artisan du Chocolat is in Salt Lake City, A Priori. They are affiliated with Caputo's Market. I was the person who put the two together, so I can let them both know that there is interest in the buffalo milk the next time an order gets placed.
As for tasting/pairing cheese/chocolate. There is no correct order. Try it both ways and see if there are differences. Also important is to keep the relative amounts the same as large differences/changes in amount will change the balance of the flavors.
Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
John -
I was lucky enough to sit in on a lecture/discussion/demonstration on the technology behind foodpairings.com in 2010. It's been VERY useful to me. I recommend it to everyone who's interested in the subject.
:: Clay
Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
John:
Thanks for sharing. Done with restraint, I think that this would make a lovely combination. I can see how a real fruity olive oil would add complexity to this.
:: Clay
Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
I cannot believe I forgot to mention that one!
Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
The folks over at Chuao Chocolatier have a great program where they solicit flavor suggestions from employees and customers. I was out in California about two years ago visiting their then-new manufacturing plant (too big to be a workshop, too small to really be called a factory) and Michael shared with me a piece that was suggested to them this way:A small dark chocolate egg filled with a dark chocolate ganache made with olive oil and flavored with lemon (including the peel) and very small pieces of sun-dried tomato.In a word: YUM!
Weird Flavors and Inclusions in Chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
What's the weirdest flavor/inclusion combination you've not only heard of in chocolate but have actually eaten?Inquiring chocolate minds want to know.I will start things off by saying that I think the Austrians are among the most adventurous when it comes to flavors in chocolate.I used to think it was the Spanish when I was tasting the work of Enric Rovira (chocolate covered corn-nuts, pretty good actually) and Oriol Balaguer (the saffron truffles were definitely an acquired taste, and it was a lot of fun to give someone his pop-rocks chocolate without telling them what it was ...).Lately, however, I think the prize has to go to Zotter. I took a look at a bar with an asparagus or artichoke and something or other filling and decided instead (whatever possessed me I do not know) to try the mustard and coffee bar. It wasn't nearly as bad as it sounds, thought it is not something I would buy for myself (I got mine at Fog City News in SF) ever again.There is another Austrian company I have heard of that is making camel's milk chocolate for sale in the middle east. I would definitely try it (at least once) just to know how it tasted different from cow's milk.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 10/11/21 18:16:10
Reach Out, Lend a Hand - The Chocolate Life Microfinance Fund
Posted in: Opinion
Kiva.org provides an innovative funding mechanism offering micro-finance opportunities to entrepreneurs around the world.One such Kiva entrepreneur is Miriam Paredes . Miriam is looking for funds to purchase ingredients and supplies to enable her to expand her chocolate business, which is in La Paz, Bolivia. So far, Kiva members have lent her $50 of the $800 she is seeking. This is not the first time Miriam has asked for help through Kiva, and she has an excellent record of paying back her loans on time.TheChocolateLife Microfinance fund will provide micro-finance loans to cacao, cocoa, and chocolate entrepreneurs - like Miriam - throughout the world through Kiva.org. Loans to Kiva entrepreneurs will be repaid to TheChocolateLife Microfinance fund, and will be reinvested in suitable projects.All supported projects will be highlighted in this forum thread. Make your contribution today by clicking on the "ChipIn" button in the widget near the bottom of the right-hand column. ChipIn is a service that help people raising funds for projects.:: ClayPS. I am supporting this fund by paying the PayPal transactions charges (ChipIn uses PayPal as the means to get donations to recipients), which are roughly 3%. So, when you donate $25, your entire $25 will go to the fund, not $25 less the transaction fees.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/17/15 13:07:59
Describing chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Yes, it does. I have some new drawing software and I will see if I can do something with that to illustrate the idea.
Describing chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Jo:I'd thought about extending the metaphor to include a literal music staff but everything I tried to do was more difficult to use than the spider graphs. I am still open to the idea but what is important is that whatever the visual form is:1) It's easy to grasp - and quickly2) It's easy to compare - meaningfully - with other chocolate graphsIt's a fun challenge.:: Clay
Describing chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Evert-Jan:This discussion is always open. I haven't spent much more time writing about it because I still haven't figured out how to visualize things properly and (good, clear) pictures are helpful when trying to explain abstract concepts.The music analogy I was referring to is ADSR - Attack Decay Sustain Release - as I mention in an earlier reply. Some more detail:Attack: How quickly does the chocolate flavor develop?Decay: How quickly does it fall off?Sustain: Once the flavor decays, what happens?Release: How does the long aftertaste develop?If you try to graph this there the horizontal axis it time, you end up with a curve that displays the way the flavor changes over time in the mouth. Because some chocolates are aromatic and bright and others are earthy, I would start the curve on different places on the vertical axis to try to represent that aspect.This is inexact which is why I am still working on it.
Describing chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Much as I respect Chloe's ability to taste, I don't think it's possible to credit her with the invention of the various taste wheels used in chocolate. At a minimum, they are borrowed from wine. Chloe must have taken the concept and created her own version of it for her book.Curious - who is "we?" And, can you please post links to the site and to the download link so that other members can do the same?Thanks,:: Clay
Describing chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Sabrina:I suppose the graphs could be standardized but that would require agreement among manufacturers, who won't do it unless they see a real value.I think the underlying answer is one you hint at ... which is that no one representation works best for everyone. People have very different ways of processing information and find some formats naturally easier to interpret than others.What I want to do is avoid the need for multiple graphs - which may be impossible. There are a number of ways to express the information and the spider graphs use only one (a 2D plane). I don't think that going to 3D is the right way to do this, but the width of a bar or line could mean something as could a change in color and the position (for example) of the horizontal axis on the vertical one.The tongue-view is interesting but, you're right, it's too personal. A supertaster would draw a very different map from someone with very few taste buds. I don't know that the Sousa vs NIN comparison is the right one but I do think it's in the right direction. A chocolate could be "symphonic" meaning that it had a lot of complexity in taste, texture, attack, and release. We could use that term without saying what kind of symphony it was. (e.g., a romantic composer like Rachmaninoff has a different overall feel from a modern composer like Stravinsky). We could compare that with a chamber orchestra or a duet or a solo - or rock with folk. That might work.Whatever it ends up being, I don't think it will be "it." It will be more than one.
Describing chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
This is the "spider graph" for Felchlin Maracaibo Clasificado 65%:
Describing chocolate
Posted in: Tasting Notes
When I was in the Bay Area in late February to speak at Copia during their chocolate festival, I spent some time with TCHO (the name is properly spelled in all caps) founder Timothy Childs discussing a number of different issues. One of them was their approach to describing flavors in chocolate.
According to Timothy, TCHO plans to not market their chocolates using percentages (or maybe even origins) because they feel that the percentage conveys no meaningful information about either the taste or the quality of the chocolate (I totally agree with them on this point). They are also looking to simplify how flavors are conveyed by concentrating on a relatively small number of tastes and focusing on the dominant note. Their first bar, made from Ghanain beans is labeled simply "chocolatey." In part, this recognizes that the vast majority of chocolate lovers are not super-tasters, so lengthy lists of flavors nuances are neither useful nor helpful.
What I find frustrating about most flavor descriptions is that they tend to ignore the temporal dimension - how the chocolate changes in taste in the mouth over time - and other taste attributes such as intensity. In thinking about this, it occurred to me to look at art forms that have temporal aspects - dance, film, music - to see if there was anything in their vocabulary that might make sense.I found one in music, or more accurately, synthesizers and the concept of Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release (ADSR). This was a pretty cool analogy, I thought. How does the flavor "attack" in the mouth? Does it start off strong and weaken or does it start off quietly and pop with a bang when it warms up? Once the flavor reaches its peak, does it drop off quickly or slowly? How long does the flavor last and how does it change (the short aftertaste)? Finally, how does the flavor clear out of the mouth (the release, or long aftertaste).
I am still looking for a way to visually represent the concept of ADSR as well as another idea that reflects where the chocolate "sits" in the mouth - is it low and earthy and in the bottom of the mouth or light and airy and aromatic and in the nose?
Make sense?
I am really unhappy with the spider graphs that many chocolate manufacturers use because the shapes are meaningless. Any visual system has to be able to provide information that can be comprehended at a glance. It should be possible to tell the differences between two chocolates instantly and you just can't do that with a spider graph. In part this is because there is no standard and every manufacturer orients the axes in a different order and have different layouts for milk and dark chocolates.
Ultimately that's what it's all about - providing an instantly comprehensible visual representation of the flavor profile of a chocolate that also makes it possible to make meaningful comparisons at a glance.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 11/07/15 09:54:24
How to create hyperlinks (links to other pages) in posts
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
A number of people have expressed that they are having problems using the hyperlink function to add links to their forum and blog posts and comments.To create a hyperlink:FIRST - select the text that you want to add the link to.SECOND - click on the link icon in the toolbar above the panel where you type in the text of your post or comment. (It's to the left of the image icon and to the right of the strikethrough icon.)THIRD - in the pop-up dialog, enter the fully qualified URL (include the http://) of the page you want to link to. (Usually it's easiest to have that page open in another tab or in another browser window and copy it - then paste it in the pop-up dialog.)LAST - Click okay.The HTML code for the link will be inserted in your post. To make the link more obvious, make sure the link text is still highlighted and then click on the "B" icon to make it bold text.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/11/25 09:27:36
White Chocolate- is it really chocolate?
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Believe it or not, there is an FDA standard of identity for white chocolate . What this means is that there is a substance that can legally be called white chocolate in the US. Whether or not you agree with that is another matter entirely.Much chocolate consists of a blend of beans from different growing regions. As cocoa butter has the flavor of the beans it is made from, and cocoa butter is often added during conching, much cocoa butter is deodorized, that is, has its flavor removed so the flavor does not have to be calculated in the blend.Because white chocolate is really only cocoa butter, sugar, milk/cream, and vanilla, the reason most white chocolate has no chocolate flavor is that it's made from cocoa butter that has had all the flavor removed from it.El Rey Icoa is one of the few white chocolates in the world that is made from undeodorized cocoa butter. Thus it has a mild milk chocolate flavor. El Rey can do this because all of the beans it uses to make the chocolate come from a single growing region (Carenero in Venezuela). One of the reasons why Swiss white chocolate is thought of highly is the quality of the dairy ingredients. One reason why people like white chocolate (apart from the fact that it is sweet) is the texture - because there is no powder (what the industry calls non-fat cocoa solids) there is no grainy texture - only the texture of sweet fat.It took over a decade of lobbying by the Chocolate Manufacturer's Association to get the FDA to agree to a standard of identity for white chocolate.The exact chemical makeup of the butter varies, but for the most part the components that affect cholesterol metabolism and related functions are in the butter. Virtually all of the alkaloids (caffeine, theobromine, phenyethylamine, etc) are in the powder.
Mast Brothers Chocolate- bean to bar producer out of Brooklyn, NY
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Brady:Thanks for this intro to Mast Brothers. I first heard about them a couple of months ago but I seldom make it into Brooklyn so I haven't tried any yet. Do you still have the wrappers? Maybe you can scan and post them in a Photo album?
American, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers: A Complete List
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Julia - Michael is right, Original Hawaiian is not the only one though it is a very short list.At the moment, Dole's Waialua estate beans are being made into Chocolate by Guittard, so that counts as 100% American, though not tree to bar.There are at least two ChocolateLife members who live in Hawaii who are either actively doing commercial tree to bar or very close to going into commercial production. One of the companies is Garden Island Chocolate and the member is Koa Kahili. Check it out.But I agree that Bob and Pam are the first to get something sustainable going commercially. They've been trying to grow cacao into a commercial crop in Hawaii since the 1850s and just now starting to be successful at it.:: Clay
American, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Makers: A Complete List
Posted in: Tasting Notes
Nina:There is some debate in the chocolate-making community about whether or not a company that roasts and grinds in rented facilities qualifies as a bean-to-bar chocolate maker and I have had these talks at length with Timothy (who I was first introduced to years before he started to TCHO), Jane, Louis (whom I've known since before they launched Wired), John (whom I met in Ecuador in 2003) and Rob.In the past (if you'd read all the discussions on this topic) you'd have noticed that I personally believe that a company that personally supervises every step of every batch qualifies. But that's the commitment. Every Step of Every Batch. As far as I am concerned, if TCHO does this then they qualify. But I do not make chocolate and there are some who do make chocolate who do not share my opinion.One of the challenges I have had with TCHO since the very beginning (and I wrote my first article, which at one time was included in your press materials) is that you have not done a good job of communicating what you've been doing any place other than tcho.com - and even there not so well at times. In the absence of concrete and good information, people have been drawing their own conclusions and running with them, to the detriment of TCHO.I've been in contact with Rob about meeting while I am in SF. I hope I have the chance to meet you, as well.:: Clay