A Reader Writes, “Your site is most interesting. My husband is a wine person and I’m always telling him how much more complex chocolate is. He claims it doesn’t have enough bouquet to interest him. Do you know anything about the varieties and intoxicating qualities of chocolate’s aroma? Or, anything I could read so we can settle this? Thanks in advance for your help with these questions.” Dear Reader: Normally disputes like this are left to Dear Abby or Miss Manners, but seeing as how you’ve asked me to address this particular marital, um, disagreement, I will do my utmost to provide satisfactory resolution ...

... From a chemical perspective, chocolate is absolutely the most complex compound known to science, with over 1500 identified flavor components (compared with about 500 in wine). So, technically, you are correct when you tell your husband that chocolate is more complex than wine.

From a pragmatic perspective, however, the vocabulary of wine is far more highly developed, as is the oral history and lore associated with appreciating fine wine. Like Diogenes I could search the world looking for chocolate experts who would be able to precisely describe the flavor of the chocolate they are eating, but for every chocolate expert I found I could probably find hundreds if not thousands of wine “experts” willing to provide their opinions.

The tradition of tasting wines, especially reds, is rich in ritual that includes opening the bottle and letting wine aerate; exposure to oxygen changes the chemical composition of the wine and letting the wine “breathe” can cause it to “open” and change the taste to great measure. There is a lot of information about the best temperature to drink particular wines at and don’t even get me started on the subject of the proper shape/size/chemical composition of the glass to drink from.

On the other hand, there are no such traditions and rituals for chocolate: we have no Kevin Zraly or Robert Parker (well at least not yet—that is part of what I am working on here at chocophile.com). Do you know the proper temperature at which to store or consume chocolate? Do you know the proper way to taste a piece of chocolate to fully appreciate its aromatic components?

Well, neither do most people.

Most recommendations are that you store (and eat) chocolate between 60 and 68 degrees F. However, you can increase the shelf life of chocolate by storing it in a refrigerator or freezer, with the proper precautions. Here are chocophile.com world headquarters, we store our chocolate in a ... wine fridge. Because I don’t want to wait that long between taking the chocolate out of the fridge and eating it, I have my fridge set to store red wine. (If you wanted to extend the life of the chocolate and are more patient than I am, you can set yours to white wine.) All I store in the fridge is chocolate, so I am not worried at all about the chocolate picking up off odors. Nonetheless, I have a container of baking soda in the bottom and in humid months I place packets of silica gel in the fridge to absorb moisture in the air that might condense on the chocolate and cause sugar bloom.

I personally find the recommended temperature range to eat chocolate (again, between 60 and 68 degrees) is too cold. The chocolate is too brittle and has too crisp a snap. For my taste the ideal temperature is between 68 and 72 degrees, and for certain confections, up to about 76-78 degrees is acceptable.

At these higher temperatures, the volatile aromatics in the chocolate can be smelled before the chocolate starts melting in your mouth, and this added olfactory component greatly enhances the entire chocolate appreciation experience.

When eating a piece of solid chocolate (as opposed to a confection), you want to snap the piece roughly in half before you pop it into your mouth. You want the piece to snap crisply and the edges of the break to be clean. If the chocolate is too cold, the snap will be too crisp and the edges may be crumbly. If, however, the chocolate is warmer and the edges are crumbly it probably means that the chocolate is either poorly made or has been stored improperly at some point or is too old. (When this happens the chocolate will probably have a dusty, chalky texture and is the chocolate equivalent of wine turning to vinegar. Research points to the fact that it is the mouth feel of good chocolate that is the most addictive property, not the alkaloid content; it is the sensuous feel of chocolate melting in your mouth that makes you crave more.)

After breaking the piece of chocolate you want to inhale deeply with one broken edge of the chocolate placed close to your nose. If the chocolate is at the correct temperature, you will be able get a good foretaste (foresmell?) of what the chocolate will taste like when you put it into your mouth. The aroma of a good chocolate will be complex. And that’s the important point to make here—the aroma of a good chocolate.

The aroma of a jug vin ordinaire which costs $3/gallon is not going to be complex—and we wouldn’t expect it to be. The same thing is true for a mass-market chocolate: who expects subtlety from Hershey’s? If you want a great olfactory (and taste) experience with a chocolate, you should try the Michel Cluizel single-estate Hacienda Los Ancones. This is, to my taste, one of the single most interesting chocolates currently being made anywhere.

But, I Fear, Dear Reader, that the issue here is not one that can be easily, or quickly, resolved; and that, in any case, in relationships where there are “winners” and “losers” there are, ultimately, only losers. For the sake of your marriage I urge you to consider not whether you are right and your husband wrong: I respectfully suggest that you both seek professional help. Attend a chocolate tasting hosted by a knowledgeable person as soon as possible. At the end, you still may not agree, but I hope at the very least that true respect for each others’ position will be gained and that you will be able to move forward in the same general direction if not on the same path.

Good Luck To You Both,
Clay