LINDA ESPENSHADE
Intelligencer Journal
Look at the chocolate.
Listen to it break.
Look at the break line.
Smell deeply at the break line.
Rest the chocolate on your tongue.
Swirl it around the roof of your mouth.
Swallow.
This is your basic recipe for turning yourself into a more genuinechocolate taster, according to Kurt Dise, head chocolatier at HersheyChocolate World. Dise is one of several chocolatiers who will teachthe art of chocolate tasting at Chocolate World every afternoon inFebruary.
The class is designed to help chocolate lovers discriminate amongthe many kinds of chocolate available today - from the originalHershey bar to the artisan chocolates that Hershey now sells, saidTodd Kohr, spokesperson for Hershey Chocolate World.
On Monday, Dise took the class through a tour of four kinds ofchocolate, from milk chocolate to dark chocolate: 1) Hershey'straditional chocolate bars 2) Hershey's Cacao Reserve, chocolate madefrom cacao beans in four countries 3) Dagoba, an organic artisan(handmade) chocolate, acquired by Hershey last year 4) ScharffenBerger chocolate, another artisan chocolate acquired by Hershey in2005.
One of the predominant differentials among all chocolates is thepercentage of cacao in the ingredients. Cacao is the pure chocolatetaken directly from the cacao bean.
Milk chocolate has the least amount of cacao with about 40percent. The extra dark chocolates can have 80 percent cacao. Oftenthe packages are marked with percentage.
Recent news reports have focused attention on the health benefitsof eating dark chocolate because cacao naturally containsantioxidants and flavonols, both of which reportedly help fightvascular disease.
To give Monday afternoon's class a taste baseline, Dise gave eachperson a spoonful of nibs - dried pieces of the cacao bean.
The bitter flavor, reminiscent of Hershey's cocoa powder, is 'thetrue essence of chocolate,' Dise said. To make chocolate candy, thenibs are ground into a liquor that is mixed with sugar and the otheringredients that help differentiate the flavors of chocolates.
To distinguish the differences, all the senses are needed.
By sight, you can tell the difference between milk and darkchocolate. Milk chocolate is a lighter brown. The more cacao, thedarker and denser the chocolate.
While dark chocolate is naturally shiny, milk chocolate that isshiny has been well tempered, said Dise - the sheen has beenmaintained as it cools and comes out of the mold.
The snap of the chocolate also tells a tale. Bending a piece ofHershey's traditional chocolate bar sounds like a dull thud, theclass participants agreed.
The snap of the 68 percent cacao Dagoba chocolate bar fromEcuador, however, could be heard around the room. The crisper, loudersnap indicates a darker chocolate.
Look at the break line, Dise said. Milk chocolate will have a moregranular appearance than dark chocolate because of the milk content.
However, milk chocolates also will look different from each other.Milk chocolates with creamier textures will have smoother breaklines.
Time to sniff the break line. Inhale if you wish. Already you willhave clues to the taste as you sense subtle flavors such as caramelin Hershey's Cacao Reserve made only with beans from Java, Indonesia.
There's no caramel added, Dise said. It's just a reflection of theunique taste of Java's cacao beans. In Dagoba chocolate from Ecuador,some participants picked up a fruity scent, which Dise said may bebecause the cacao trees grow among banana trees, tangerine trees andred berries.
The next step in developing your chocolate palate is to place asmall piece on your tongue and let it rest there. Milk chocolate willbegin to melt quickly, but the darker chocolates have a highermelting point.
Enough tantalizing...
'Now take your tongue and swirl it around the roof of your mouth,and let the chocolate romance around the roof of your mouth,' Diseinstructed.
'Ohhhhhh,' one participant groaned with pleasure while romancing apiece of Hershey's milk chocolate.
Now swallow, Dise directed.
'Is it different from the time you have it in your mouth, to whenyou swallow it?' Dise asked.
Many people think the chocolate changes its flavor as it'sswallowed. Dise calls it the prenote and afternote. He attributes thedifference to the fresh milk in Hershey's milk chocolate.
As participants indulged in each sample afterward, Dise nudgedthem to expand their descriptions from 'chocolaty' and 'strong' tomore nuance words, such as 'bitter,' 'floral,' 'earthy' 'fruity,''spicy.'
The artisan chocolates, made by hand in the country where thecacao trees are grown, tend to be more distinctive because of the waythey process the beans.
'The longer you roast the bean at lower temperatures, it bringsout more of the aroma and flavor of the bean,' said Dise.
The texture of the candy in your mouth is also influenced by theway it is processed. Dise compared making chocolate to making mashedpotatoes.
'The more you stir potatoes, the richer and creamier (theybecome). The same thing (is true) when they conch (stir) chocolate.The amount of time they conch chocolate determines the texture of thechocolate as well.'
Smaller batches, typically made by artisans in the country wherethe cacao beans are grown, also tend to produce a creamier chocolatewith more flavor and aroma.
Dise encouraged people who have taken his class to hold their owntasting parties with friends to pass on what they have learned and tokeep refining their own discriminating taste.
To learn more, log onto www.hersheys.com/cacaoreserve.
Linda Espenshade's e-mail address is Lespenshade@Lnpnews.com.
From top to bottom: Vicki Gershner from Arkansas learns that thecrisp snap of the chocolate is a good indicator that the chocolatehas a high percentage of cacao bean. Lauren Parshall, of Roanoke,Va., smells the chocolate along the break line, trying to detectsubtle aromas other than chocolate. As he rolls the chocolate aroundin his mouth, Stephen Parshall, of Roanoke, Va., considers thesubtleties of its taste and texture during a recent tasting atHershey Chocolate World.
Learn the art of chocolate tasting at Hershey Chocolate World as achocolatier guides you through an interactive discussion of chocolatelore! Enjoy eight samples of our chocolate ranging from creamy milkto robust dark and everything in between. Available Monday-Friday at2 p.m (throughout the year) and Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. inFebruary only. $9.95 per adult, $9.45 for seniors and $5.95 forchildren ages 3-12.
