Notes from…

Posts Tagged ‘Aged Chocolate’

Today I received the question, “how does the preserved chocolate taste in comparison to the fresh?” I know there are some out there that question the whole “fresh” concept, and throw on top of that the “preserved” bars and they probably think I’m out of my mind. Well they’re right, I am out of my mind but for different reasons, that aside, there really was only one clear way to answer that question. So I headed to the climate controlled room they’re stored in and grabbed one to try. Here’s what I found out:

Now it’s open and the aroma hits me immediately. That is the first sign that I’m on the right path. As I’m writing this, it’s still lingering from the half of the bar I’ve yet to eat. There really is no way to describe the feeling I have, possibly gratifying. I truly have every intention on providing the best quality chocolate that you have ever tasted. The concepts of “fresh” and “preserved” are not some clever marketing gimmicks dreamed up by an MBA in an office far away, this is just who I am. If you’re not blown away and completely satisfied, neither am I.

Okay, enough of that, now that my palate was awakened and eager to taste I opened up the bar. The next important sign is visual. Did it retain that shine from a perfectly tempered chocolate bar? As you can see from the next set of photos, we’re good.

As you know, there is no real way to taste test the same batch of chocolate fresh side-by-side with the preserved bars nearly two months later, so I won’t even go there. My palate is refined somewhat, but my memory, not so much. The two key things for me though are flavor and texture. Texture is one that really can be off-putting with old chocolate. This bar is still as silky smooth as it was the day it was made and though I can’t compare the flavor to fresh, it is still outstanding. What else would I say, right? I know there are doubters and we’ll see where these bars are in another month, 6 months and even a year. If they’re still around that long. So try one yourself.

Alright, now we’re at the how and why part of the fresh and preserved chocolate concept. As in any food, fresh is preferred, right? Of course, so why not chocolate? As I’ve mentioned in previous posts that once cacao is roasted, the race is on to preserve the best flavors developed in the process. I skip the aging of chocolate because in my opinion, it’s bogus. Two things affect the flavor and quality of chocolate, air and light…wait make that three and add temperature. Chocolate goes stale in what is referred to as bloom. I won’t go in to the scientific mumbo-jumbo but you’ve probably seen chocolate that’s gray and when you bite in to it, it has a texture more like crackers. So you can imagine the horror I experienced when I did a little quality control checking on my chocolate in stores and came across a tin of drops that looked like this:

Yes, that looks pretty bad. Now granted this tin has been sitting around here for about 6 months since, but I can assure you that it looked no better back then. I put the chocolate bar I’m currently eating next to it for comparison.

Here’s another shot of a bar I bought that had the same issue.

If you buy a lot of chocolate, I’m sure you’ve seen this and probably went ahead and ate it because, well, it’s chocolate! I could go on and on but the fact of the matter was that when I saw my own chocolate look like that and thought that someone could have bought it, I knew I had to make a change. I’m sure some did buy it like that and they’ll probably never buy my chocolate again.

In closing, I hope you can see that all the wackiness that is “fresh chocolate” and “preserved chocolate” isn’t just a clever marketing tactic for me. It’s the most important thing to me. Try a fresh chocolate bar and compare it to a preserved chocolate bar. Let me know what you think and if you’re not happy, I’m not. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

David Mason

The Chocolate Maker

“Relaxed Chocolate”. What does it mean? It means good chocolate without the snobbery. The antagonist to this sort of elitist chocolate with names you can’t pronounce and tasting notes describing flavors you hope not to taste. A chocolate that’s greatness is not defined by price or “aged” to make it sound more worthy of that price. It means a chocolate that you can just sit back and enjoy, or share with friends and loved ones over a casual conversation. Chocolate in its very nature is relaxing and soothing to the soul. Life is short, enjoy my chocolate, and just relax…

Okay, so maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but there’s a bit of truth to it. A truthful lie? Now that’s an oxymoron. Alright, so if you took a tour of my factory (back when we were doing that) you probably heard me mention “aging” the chocolate. Well, that’s what I’m talking about. I know eventually someone will call me on it, so I’m going to beat them to it. When I began researching about chocolate making, post the decision to start Black Mountain Chocolate, I learned of this practice. Oooo, I thought, how cool! It’s like wine or cheese…well maybe not cheese, but it sounded really gourmet and artisinal, so I ran with it. What I’ve since learned, is that in truth, the chocolate is never as good as it is the day it’s made. I know this because I get the pleasure of tasting straight from the conche. Also, from the Tasting Drop Experiment, if you read that post.

It is known that chocolate is one of those foods that goes stale when exposed to light and air. You may have had a bar of chocolate, or even my tasting drops, and it appeared dull and gray, maybe even grainy when you ate it. It’s not bad for you, but it’s certainly not great or exceptional. That’s partly what I’m talking about. Yes, some will argue that it’s just bloomed, or out of temper, and that’s true about appearance and texture, but flavor is a different story. You see chocolate is largely mass produced, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but you are certainly not getting it fresh. With the way the commodity market works and the demand for chocolate, it can’t be produced the way that I do it. That being, fresh from the bean. What’s the difference you ask? The difference is, that most chocolate you consume is made in bulk, stored for lengths of time, and then melted and tempered to produce the final product. Yes, it will have that shiny appearance and good texture and will most certainly taste like the chocolate flavor we are used to, but it could be better, much better. How much? Just try one of my fresh chocolate bars and taste for yourself.