Once I was given an impossible writing assignment: Highlight 5 local chocolatiers in 300 words or less. 300 words! I absolutely live for chocolate (in fact June, the lucky month in which I get to celebrate Father’s Day, my wedding anniversary, Solstice—same day— and my shared birthday with my twin AND my son, all within 4 days of each other, is a positive cornucopia of chocolate because of all the celebrations). All that to say, the necessary and thorough research on my topic was a pure delight.
And while researching the food of the gods was heavenly, writing about it was hell. Essentially, my piece read like a slightly more nuanced version of, “Chocolate: Good.”
To research this worthy topic, I devoured both information about chocolate as well as chocolate itself. I learned that as much or more than wine or cheese, the flavors of good chocolate can often present a complex terroir, a pallet of flavors based on the kind of soil it came from, the season in which it was cultivated, and even the time it takes to make. Think about that—tasting time!
In addition to learning all about where and how chocolate is cultivated, its history, and what makes it the food of the gods (the primary chemical in chocolate is theobromine which literally means the food of the gods), one of the things I discovered in my exhaustive research was how to properly taste chocolate, something I want to share with you today.
You can try using milk chocolate for this worthy experiment, sure, but if you really want to taste chocolate in its full offering and complexity, go for a good dark chocolate 60% or more. While chocolate with added nuts, fruit, or honey, are their own delight, I suggest trying this experimenting with good, dark chocolate.
Here’s what you do …
First, you break a piece of chocolate from the bar to hear its snap. In addition to each bar having a unique taste, it also has a unique sound! Next, you close your eyes and smell the morsel you broke off thus allowing your olfactory senses to open up to what’s coming.
Then, you place the morsel of chocolate on your tongue but don’t chew. Just close your eyes and take a few deep breaths in and out through your nose. Clearly, this breathing part of chocolate tasting is the nexus of chocolate and yoga. With the chocolate resting on your wet, warm tongue, the flavors of the chocolate start to emanate. Notice what you taste in your initial contact with the chocolate.
After a few deep breaths with the chocolate resting on your tongue, now chew your chocolate 4 times, slowly. Here you have to use all of your discipline because at this point you must stop chewing and resist the natural urge to swallow. You’ve completely loosened the flavors of the chocolate so now and you press your tongue to your mid-palate, to the top of your mouth, to really dive into the nuanced complexities of the flavors. Pause and try to discern a few different flavor notes. You might perceive things like leather, oak, cherry, coffee, tobacco, grass, melon, honey, lavender, chile, clay or any number of things. There’s no right or wrong in what you perceive, just see what comes onto your tongue and into your mind.
Finally, swallow the chocolate and allow the finishing taste to linger in your mouth. Oftentimes as you are enjoying the resonance of the flavors, completely new flavors arise.
It’s been said that things taste better in small doses. A fine bar of chocolate can serve as dessert for an entire table. One doesn’t need to eat a metric ton of good chocolate to feel satisfied.
This month, I’m leading two retreats in Bordeaux, France where we are practicing slowing down and practicing savoring our lives with yoga and meditation, incredible food, and of course wine, cuz, well … Bordeaux.
Consider joining me for one of my Tuscany retreats, September 3–10 or October 8–15 and we will continue this practice of learning to savor your life.
In the meantime, I invite you to try this chocolate tasting experiment, truly a meditation in and of itself. You may even begin to savor all kinds of things in your life. Truly the pre qualifier for pleasure is presence.
Happy presencing! Let me know how it goes.
Namaste,
