Our first blind taste test was between three chocolates. They had been melted and reformed, so that they physically looked similar (no Hershey's imprint or anything to give the type away). The first chocolate was my favorite of the three. It was a darker variety, not too sweet, and fairly rich. The second type was more sweet and had a smooth texture. The last one was the least flavorful and had a bitter taste. My rankings ended up being 1, 2, 3. Ironically, when I took this same blind taste test last semester, my rankings were 1, 3, 2. I can blame the cold I currently have or the freshly brushed teeth for changing my results. The chocolate was in a different condition as well, so that could have affected my taste.
We then tackled more of the things on our plate while learning about the process of making chocolate. The next thing we tried was 100% chocolate. It was not sweet at all (it contains no sugar) and is very rich. I wasn't completely repulsed by it, but I would never choose to eat it. Many people in the class had a much stronger aversion to it than I did, so I might have a slightly higher tolerance for darker chocolate. The next 60% chocolate was much better. This is the kind of chocolate I would buy to eat from the store. I learned that it is 60% chocolate components (cocoa solids and cocoa butter) and 40% sugar, vanilla, salt, etc. This chocolate was not too sweet and had a strong, rich aftertaste. This was my favorite chocolate we sampled all day.
Next came the components of chocolate. The cocoa beans, at first, looked like chocolate covered espresso beans and kind of appetizing. However, they are very crunchy and bitter and not pleasant to taste. The cocoa nibs were a little easier to handle, but still not anything I would choose to eat. I would imagine that chocolate covered nibs would be good, since it would add some much needed sweetness. The nibs were crispy and got stuck in my teeth. I learned that these are used for baking a lot. The powders were not much better and would hard to sample since it stuck to my tongue. It even made me cough at first. The regular powder was bitter and should only be used for baking. Eating it with sugar made it a little more tolerable. The dutch processed cocoa was not as bitter and was more flavorful. With sugar, it was more reminiscent of regular chocolate you would eat.
At this point, only the white chocolate remained. I learned that food critics debate whether white chocolate is even chocolate at all. It contains no cocoa, only cocoa butter. Cocoa butter gives chocolate that smooth, fatty mouth feeling. As a result, white chocolate contains a lot of fat and has a shorter shelf life. The class discovered that mixing the white chocolate with the 100% chocolate was a tasty combination!
Finally, I sampled the coriander seeds in three different ways. First, I tasted them straight up. The flavor was very powerful and hard to handle. I thought that I was solely tasting the seed and didn't think it had any aroma. Next, we tasted it with our noses plugged. The once powerful, overbearing taste disappeared. I was simply chewing on something crunchy. It turns out that the taste almost completely comes from the aroma. Last, I ate it straight up and tried to describe it using the 4, 5, or 6 ways to describe foods (salty, bitter, sour, sweet, savory, and fatty). I felt like sour and bitter described the seeds.
The final taste test moved away from chocolate and consisted of red jello. I honestly had a hard time picking out the flavor of Jello because of the red appearance. I went with strawberry, but I didn't feel confident in my answer. Once someone suggested something acidic, I immediately recognized a lemon-lime taste. It turns out the Jello was lemon flavored. This just goest to show the strong visual cues we get from food!
Until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment