Ideally, your palate should be completely devoid of any flavor residue which might alter or interfere with flavor detection. If you do eat something, then I suggest waiting maybe an hour before eating chocolate. Rinse your mouth out with room temperature water, spit, and end with swallowing. I try to avoid cold water because cold dulls the taste buds. If you think or feel that your mouth is in no condition to be eating chocolate, i.e. in detecting the full flavor profile, then don’t eat it for THAT PARTICULAR purpose. You can certainly eat it to snack on but not for flavor detection, as your results will be marred. I like to compare the same chocolate at the beginning of the day with its flavor at the end of the day, to see if bitterness, flavors, etc. have been somehow influenced by daily activities, foods, etc.

Also, make sure your chocolate is at room temperature and that you have allowed it to breathe for at least 15 minutes before consumption. I like to take out a certain quantity and break it into many pieces to achieve a greater surface area and to facilitate melting, which, as a result, maximizes flavor detection. Also, if you want to experience the full spectrum of flavors a chocolate has to offer, then eat at least 25g at once. The idea is to allow a long enough melt to release the full flavor profile of the chocolate. Some nuances are only brief in existence and may not be detectable with smaller pieces, so in order to taste them, larger pieces are necessary. I found this to be particularly true of Puro. There’s this very brief but strong surge of bleu cheese that can only be detetced with at least half of the bar. Smaller pieces simply don’t allow the flavor to emerge fully.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it. Funny you should mention Puro, I actually told my wife that I sensed a strong bleu cheese flavor when I tried it (first time was months ago). I guess each person’s nose and taste buds work together in such a way that some will perceive certain flavors as subtle nuances while others find them to be much stronger.

Yeah, I just had lunch and this Pralus is not tasting very good . . . I need to go brush or something. Thanks!

j a s o n   b u n t i n g

Speak for yourself 8-) My professional approach is to eat a steady stream of it throughout the day (i tell my wife all the time – i’m in shape – round is a perfectly valid shape!)

Yeah, as Martin suggests, I sometimes eat chocolate first off in the morning right when my mouth is still fresh. But this can be tricky, though, because sometimes the chocolate can taste a bit more bitter which actually can overwhelm other flavors. I suggested in another thread that perhaps eating another bitter food, such coffee or spinach, before eating chocolate would acclimate your mouth to the bitterness. Anyway, the best time for tasting ANYTHING, actually, is midmorning or midaftermoon. Many of the professional food companies set up tasting panels at these times, because these are the least likely times people will have residual flavors in their mouths, and also hunger will be at a minimum due to satiety from either breakfast or lunch. When tasting anything, it’s best to wait an hour before testing the certain food too; one hour is actually what’s used in industry. Also, a good palate cleanser is an apple. Not only do apples wash away any prior flavors, but they don’t possess any lingering aftertaste which would effect the next test.

Now, alex might have good suggestions for chocolate pairings, but not for flavor detection, as the methods and other flavors he described would simply interfere with the actual “true” chocolate flavor.

right, polar :-D
but i tried martin’s suggestion this morning and it worked nicely: full-flavor puertofino!

monte, it works for me. but i said it was unorthodox.