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Video: Artisan chocolate: The Last Judgment
2024 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 12:26
The theme of this post is the Italian artisan chocolate bars, the development is entrusted to the Last Judgment, a section of Dissapore that tells the more gourmand side of food by emptying the shelves of specialized delicatessens. Objective: the search for papillary fighettoism.
A panel of tasters, equipped with suitably trained cards, pens and jaws, blindly tasted six dark chocolates chosen where possible, preferring blends (or mixtures) with similar percentages of cocoa (min. 66% max. 75%).
And are they ready to deliver the verdict: PARADISE, PURGATORY or PALATAL HELL?
These are the test products:
T’A - Tancredi and Alberto Alemagna, 66% dark Mexican Gran Cru (50 gr. € 3.50);
Amedei - Toscano blend, 66% extra dark chocolate (50 gr. € 4, 50);
Domori - The 70% blend (25 gr € 2, 50);
Slitti - Grand Cacao, 73% extra dark blend (100 g € 4, 30);
Claudio Corallo - Napolitains 75% (160 gr. € 16.00);
Guido Gobino -Extra bitter blend 75% (gr 55, € 4, 90).
PARADISE
Domori
My panel does not like freshness, but I love them and I believe that here (as elsewhere) they are not only synonymous with good workmanship, but also useful for cleaning up the palate and preparing it for the next bite. I therefore take the liberty of rewarding and suggesting this tablet with a wide and greedy nose and a marked acid note (median 7).
Fresh and withered red fruits play hide and seek with toasted hints; coffee, roasted hazelnuts and of course cocoa.
The freshness lightens the bite and gives us a long, bitter and elegant finish (median 6).
If you love coolness and non-trivial noses, look for Domori's home.
Guido Gobino
The olfactory scenario is played on dark roasts, coffee powder, cocoa and toasted dried fruit. There are no notes ascribable to the floral and fresh fruity notes.
A hint of freshness (median 3), enjoyable the balance of the remaining taste sensations. Along the finish. Impeccable
T'A '
In direct smell the toasted scents prevail, to which are added fruity (sometimes banana-like) and floral references.
Low sweetness and acidity (median 3 on a 0-9 scale), more salinity and bitterness (median 5).
Medium persistence and light astringent memory after swallowing. Enjoyable and reassuring (even too much).
PURGATORY
Claudio Corallo
Observing the faces of the tasters as they experience the unusual is one of the things I enjoy most about this job. Claudio Corallo made us experience the unusual, that dividing uniqueness, which certainly does not reassure everyone's palates, but knows how to be remembered.
If I had to choose two descriptors from the mare magnum of olfactory sensations of this chocolate, I would say a generic blue-veined crust and tobacco / smoke leaf. A nose that suggests olfactory drifts from fermentations managed (deliberately I suppose) for this purpose.
In the mouth it is a caress, contained bitterness and sweetness (median 3), more present freshness and a long finish of smoky cocoa.
Things that make you want to smoke a cigar (even if you don't smoke cigars) or try pairing it with a cheese. I remember a memorable blue by Renato Brancaleoni aged in tobacco leaves.
The olfactory assonance may well be taken for granted, but I am almost certain it would be able to excite. The purgatory of misunderstandings, Mr. Coral. For what it's worth, I liked her a lot.
Amedei
An olfactory curtain where dark roasts stand out (median 6), coffee, toasted cereals and dried fruit just to name a few. In this fiery panorama, the "fan of undergrowth and wild berries" mentioned on the back label is lost until it disappears.
Bitter present (median 5) and in balance with the remaining taste sensations. The memory is long, slightly astringent and toasted.
Slips
Among the less interesting noses of the test, intense aromas ascribable to toasted (median 6) coffee powder, at times closer to burnt. Fruity and floral hints from not received to present in surgical doses. Good balance of taste sensations. A tad bit monotonous.
Chocolate, and more generally products with a high sensorial heritage (intensity and variety of sensations) represent a challenge for the taster. The risk is to reach sensory saturation prematurely.
It is therefore essential to organize tasting sessions that are not exhausting and interspersed with short breaks. It also helps to reward the panel, for example mine greatly appreciates the alcoholic deviations on the fermentations theme.
How trained are you? What is your allowable daily allowance of chocolate? Which tablets do you dish out with enviable dexterity?
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