BVC Taster: Chocolate

by bam

Learn to taste chocolate systematically and buy it knowingly: the grid of appearance, snap, aroma, melt, flavor and finish, why the percentage on a wrapper is a recipe ratio rather than a quality score, what cacao genetics actually say now that the old Criollo and Forastero framework has been superseded, how fermentation and drying at origin create most of the flavor before a maker touches the bean, what roasting, conching, alkalising and tempering each decide, why a bar snaps and shines and what bloom really is, what the standards of identity legally require in the United States and the EU, which label words mean nothing, the ethics the category cannot avoid including child labor and the living income differential, food pairing, and blind deduction. The sequel to BVC Season 1, Episode 3, which covers chocolate's history. Six flights with budgets and substitutes, and a dairy-free, lower-sugar path through every drill. Not affiliated with, and not exam preparation for, any certifying body.