The 2nd San Francisco Adventure: Part II

If you have just finished reading my last post, you know what this will be about. If you didn't, a) go read it, and b) I'm about to attend a tasting at the Dandelion chocolate factory, having just completed my 2nd tour of the factory and its various machines. I highly recommend reading about the first tour as well.

The tasting group was gathered outside the bean room, where a basic explanation of chocolate took place. The man conducting the tasting explained how beans were farmed, how they were turned into chocolate, and how each batch could taste completely different. To demonstrate this last point, he handed us pieces of two different bars. He instructed us to let it melt on our tongues for at least 15 seconds before chewing. Here, a lot of people reacted with astonishment at how much the flavors had shifted. Most people admitted to simply chewing the chocolate right off the bat, which, of course, wouldn't allow many of the flavor molecules to be released.

We were then led around the roasting-winnowing setup to a cluster of solid wood benches. Here we were given many more chocolates to taste, and we were asked what exactly we tasted. Some people said they tasted fruity, tropical flavors while others said the rich, chocolatey notes of coffee and fudge hit them first. Everyone tastes differently, our guide said, and everything we taste is absolutely right. However, there were some flavors that were all agreed upon.

I was then struck by an insight; the texture of the chocolate and its effect on the mouth can also be included. If I tasted something intensely chocolatey, I would probably just tack that up to a lesser sugar distribution in that bite. But if it also dried out my mouth due to its astringency, then I could say it was something like cocoa powder, which matches the effect it had.

There was something else to consider here: when a bean is roasted, its flavor drastically shifts due to heat and the caramelization of sugars, causing new flavors to appear. The temperature of the roast can affect this, as well as the length. For example, a very light but long roast would help bring out more delicate notes, like floral ones. A quick, dark roast would encourage earthier, richer tones like coffee. This is because heat can not only create flavors, but it can also destroy them, as evidenced by the presence of heat in most conching machines. The heat helps get rid of volatile aroma compounds. I reasoned that if they destroyed volatile compounds, why shouldn't they also destroy delicate compounds? To heat, they're essentially the same thing, so why not?

Both of these realizations will most likely play a key role in my future attempts at making chocolate, as they directly relate to two crucial steps in the making of chocolate. And as the tasting concluded, I could sum up both insights as follows:

Roast time and temperature matter, depending on the desired flavors.

Flavor is influenced by texture and effect.

Having two new ideas that never occurred to you is an exciting experience, and one that will most certainly happen again, most especially during a Dandelion tasting.

These are the four bars we used during our tasting. They were all delicious, and they also provided the rest of the group with valuable insights on the world of chocolate, something not many people get to experience.