Many Shades of Chocolate

Chocolate—considered a candy by some, a food group by others—is by far the most sophisticated sweet. With a history that goes back to 16^th century Spanish explorers, it has been refined to perfection. However, not all chocolate is equal.

About a year ago, a close friend who knew that I was a chocolate purest—the higher cocoa content the better—invited me to a “chocolate tasting party.” For $10 we could taste the finest chocolate in the world and hear a lecture about it. We arrived at the small home in Springville where the host, an engineer and chocolate connoisseur, invited us into his cozy living room. He passed out white sheets of paper that listed the names of about 12 different chocolates, and water and French bread to cleanse the palette between each taste.

First a lesson on chocolate tasting. The first step before you even put the chocolate in your mouth is to look at it. Notice the luster and color of the chocolate. Next, you smell it. This helps improve your ability to taste the chocolate once in your mouth. Then, you eat the chocolate slowly, allowing it to melt in your mouth, paying attention to smoothness, initial taste, after taste. After each taste, we took notes on our reaction and the flavors we noticed and then discussed our experience. It was like a book club about chocolate.

I had never experienced anything like it. Chocolate from Madagascar to Venezuela. Chocolate that hinted of fruit. Chocolate with the savor of the rich soil from which it came. Chocolate with a different taste for every second in your mouth. Then, after tasting about 5 chocolates from the finest cocoa fields in the world, we each had a piece of regular milk chocolate Dove candy. The difference was shocking: the taste of gasoline with an undertone of peanut butter. Yes, no two chocolates are alike.