Fruity. Floral bouquet. Full bodied. Nice finish.
These are comments you'd expect to hear at a wine tasting. But these days they're just as likely to be uttered by people eating chocolate.
It used to be that choosing a chocolate bar was simple. There was dark and there was light. But now connoisseurs are regarding chocolate with the same sort of seriousness accorded fine wine or coffee. And why not? After all, chocolate is the most commonly craved food in the world and its flavor is affected by some 500 compounds, making it more complex than any other food.
Chocoholics know it's hard to fully appreciate something that complex if you don't know beans about it, so they're particularly interested in the type of cocoa beans used in the making of chocolate, just as oenophiles are concerned about specific grape varieties.
Though there are hundreds of subspecies of cocoa beans, they are classified into three types. The highest grade is criollo, called the "prince of cocoa." The bean originally cultivated by the Mayans, it is now the rarest -- only 10 percent of cocoa comes from criollo trees -- but the most flavorful, comparable to the Arabica coffee bean in its complexity and delicacy. Then there is the hardier and thus more plentiful forastero bean. Accounting for nearly 90 percent of the world's chocolate, it is harsher and more bitter than the criollo and not nearly as aromatic. Finally there is the trinitario bean (named for Trinidad, its place of origin), a hybrid of the first two.
Traditionally chocolatiers have blended bean types to capitalize on their individual strengths, but lately high-end manufacturers have been making chocolate using only a single species of bean or beans from only one particular region or plantation and designating them with terms borrowed from winemakers: varietal chocolate in the first instance and terroir or grand cru chocolate in the second. Since even the same type of beans from different regions can taste quite different, such chocolates vary considerably in flavor.
Moreover, some manufacturers have upped the cocoa content of their chocolate to 65 to 70 percent or more. At least one brand boasts 99 percent. Though the quality of the beans and how they are processed are still the most important determinants of flavor, a chocolate with 70 percent cocoa is obviously going to taste very different than one with, say, just 35 percent, the minimum FDA requirement for bittersweet chocolate. (For milk chocolate the minimum is only 10 percent!)
Thus, to fully appreciate today's sophisticated chocolates requires systematic taste-testing and just as wine tasters have a ritual -- swirling, sniffing, sipping, and spitting -- so do chocolate tasters. (Happily, there's no need to spit out the chocolate.) Participants can master that ritual at a benefit chocolate tasting sponsored by KRCU at 3 p.m., Oct. 10, at the home of Dr. Tom and Barbara Herbert. Participants will sample more than a half dozen chocolates from around the world and enjoy a like number of desserts, personally prepared by yours truly, at a champagne and chocolate buffet. Tickets are $50 per person and space is limited. To reserve a spot call 651-5070 no later than Oct. 4. By the time the event concludes, tasters will surely realize why Linnaeus, the father of modern botany, gave cocoa the scientific name Theobroma, which means food of the gods.
Chocolate Pâté
This clever dessert is one that will be served at the KRCU Chocolate Tasting. The recipe is adapted from Judith Olney's aptly titled book, "The Joy of Chocolate."
Ingredients:
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 2/3 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons amaretto
1 1/4 cups chopped blanched almonds, toasted
Shortbread wedges
Directions:
Melt the chocolate. Heat cream until scalded, stirring constantly. When cream is just about to boil, remove from heat and add the melted chocolate and the butter. Stir briskly until the chocolate cools and thickens slightly. Stir in amaretto and nuts. Spoon mixture into a small pâté or cheese crock and smooth the surface. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing wrap directly onto surface of chocolate. Leave at room temperature if serving within two or three hours, otherwise refrigerate. Bring to room temperature to serve, adding a bit of warm cream to soften the consistency of the pâté if necessary. Stick a small butter knife in the crock and serve with shortbread.
Listen to A Harte Appetite at 8:49 a.m. Fridays on KRCU, 90.9 FM dial. Write A Harte Appetite, c/o the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or e-mail him at tharte@semissourian.com.
Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:
For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.