It’s not wrong to go to the store, buy your favourite chocolate and eat it in a second without thinking too much, but is there a proper way to enjoy this seemingly simple product?
Participants in the masterclass “Flavour development in chocolate – from cocoa bean to chocolate”, learned all about the development of flavour profiles from cocoa bean to the final product and how to properly taste chocolate, from chocolatier and craft chocolate maker Stiv Kahlina and certified chocolate taster Sanja Vladović.
Kahlina and Vladović also provided their participants with samples of chocolate in various phases of its creation in order to taste the different stages of chocolate production.
“Chocolate is tasted with all the senses, and it’s done in stages. In the first step, we observe it and study the colour to see what it reveals to us. The second step is to smell it. The third step is to hear how it sounds, because it is the sound that betrays the quality. An important middle step is to let the warmth of your hand release the aroma of the chocolate. It is only in the last step that you taste it. And it’s important to let it melt in your mouth, not to chew it,” explained Sanja Vladović.
She also pointed out that time is the most important ingredient and crucial if we want to make a quality product. And in order for the experience of tasting chocolate to be complete, it is important to go through the whole process, not skip steps.
