Hi, care to discuss and share where u bought your chocolate chips from and what brand did you used last time?

have you tried Awfully Chocolate from Singapore? I had once and it's so rich and it's way heavenly than Baskin or even Haagen. Never buy any tub ice cream after that. the chocolate ice cream is so real.

hi glory, right and also wrong.
it really dependent on the roasting and conching. Pure Dark Chocolate with lesser time in the process have higher anti oxidants or flavonoid in the chocolate thus it helps heart but also depend on daily consumption or intakes.

All chocolates flavonoids will be destroyed or reduced once heat was introduced.

I think theres a trend in europe that seeks the word Pure or Organic now . Over here, many people still thought all dark chocolate percentage mades the Quality of the chocolates which were wrong.


This post has been edited by missysleepy: Dec 17 2014, 02:39 PM

nice write up, just to add . just to highlight the origin part. Single Origin chocolate have been labeled according to the country of the cocoa beans like Madagascar, Ecuador, Peru etc.

Why do we asked the origin of chocolate, to know who made my chocolates
Swiss emphasize a lot on smoothness, Belgium probably taste and aroma, French chocolate probably for details and perfect concoction of ingredients(Valrhona wins) , Italy for Nut based choc. (gianduja)


Now , the european marketing of chocolates have been making new statements and expanded further which were now using the words Local Plantation, estate or Pure chocolates . Reason: theres a collection of cocoa beans from different small planters and all those beans were mixed up before it were sent for processing. As you know , different soils and climates alter the dna of the taste. So , now those who were seeking the ultimate ONE is sourcing for one estate. Quality of chocolate is measured till this sector and not the percentage of chocolates where most people thought.

To find out a good chocolate,

since you and i knew these stuff, hopefully we can create more awareness and discussion group to expand this knowledge , what do you think if we do a meet up among those who love chocolate so much. There's so many false information spreading outside.

This post has been edited by missysleepy: Dec 17 2014, 02:46 PM

Precisely , the single origin thing is just a marketing gimmick. Most chocolatiers will be keen on the specific species of the cacao beans like Criollo , fostero and trinitario . If my knowledge was correct, criollo beans the most prefered one is originated in south america and very scarce. So usually, chocolatiers needs some sort of indicators i guess about the origins. They probably assume if one has to look for real chocolatey experience, they go for south american beans as compared to south africa which has fruity and all kind of different notes . Whereas like malaysian chocolates, most trees were hybrids . Still learning, correct me if i swayed from some details.

shall pm you soon for some tasting tour.
this goes to any of you interested to share chocolate knowledge and improve your experience in chocolate quality and say goodbye to chocolate compound made of vegetable oil. Chocolate is made purely with their very own cocoa butter and liquor.

This post has been edited by missysleepy: Dec 25 2014, 05:26 PM

Interesting facts. Is there any chance we could get criollo pod in sabah? Yeah, pardon my mistake , instead of hybrid, it should be clone instead . Im a bit skeptical about the cloned cacao tree, i believe the aroma wont be that good as compare to those from africa and america. Well you knows better and ahead of us in the characteristics of the beans. Lets hope we could gather more people to share the chocolate knowledge and experience.

I have something to add for discussion sakeA couple of american chocolatiers i knew dont really like the taste of commercial Lindt chocolate made for the mass market. First of all, the aroma is too subtle and not even present to some . The taste of it some attest it tasted metallic or plastics. Lindt is swiss and they were famous for their milk chocolate. Do take note of other things like melt in mouth experience . Even whitakers with cocoa butter will not have good melting point due to different types of emulsifiers or additives added for shelf life . Highest percentage of cocoa can be consider good if you eat almost daily and provided you dont eat junk or fatty food like nasi lemak, it wont happen. it wont affect your overall health if lifestyles does not change.

Me too, i cant take even if its 85-90 % , first its too bitter and dry . Most of the dark chocolate i made starts from 60% . That way, one might not avoid dark chocolate totally. Imagine if new taster had the highest percentage of choco and dislike dark chocolate totally. When gourmet chocolate is concerned, those who were thrifty will said i dont like it after first try and its very common here. Generalizing is very common and as a chocolatier we cant avoid this stages and accept its reality. Its still an infant market in malaysia. Hopefully we can change that.

This post has been edited by missysleepy: Jan 1 2015, 08:28 AM

True. Flavors of the chocolate ,Mouth feel , smell were other significant aspects that determine the art of chocolate making . Found thisin wiki and quite an interesting read up.


Last edited 3 months ago by Deli nk
Mouthfeel
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For the Magnapop album, see Mouthfeel (album).
Mouthfeel is a product's physical and chemical interaction[clarification needed] in the mouth, an aspect of food rheology. It is a concept used in many areas related to the testing and evaluating of foodstuffs, such as wine-tasting and rheology. It is evaluated from initial perception on the palate, to first bite, through mastication to swallowing and aftertaste. In wine-tasting, for example, mouthfeel is usually used with a modifier (big, sweet, tannic, chewy, etc.) to the general sensation of the wine in the mouth. Some people, however, use the traditional term texture. Mouthfeel is often related to a product's water activity, hard or crisp products having lower water activities and soft products having intermediate to high water activities.

Contents
Qualities perceived
See also
Further reading
External links
Qualities perceivedEdit

Cohesiveness: Degree to which the sample deforms before rupturing when biting with molars.
Density: Compactness of cross section of the sample after biting completely through with the molars.
Dryness: Degree to which the sample feels dry in the mouth.
Fracturability: Force with which the sample crumbles, cracks or shatters. Fracturability encompasses crumbliness, crispiness, crunchiness and brittleness.
Graininess: Degree to which a sample contains small grainy particles.
Gumminess: Energy required to disintegrate a semi-solid food to a state ready for swallowing.
Hardness: Force required to deform the product to given distance, i.e., force to compress between molars, bite through with incisors, compress between tongue and palate.
Heaviness: Weight of product perceived when first placed on tongue.
Moisture absorption: Amount of saliva absorbed by product.
Moisture release: Amount of wetness/juiciness released from sample.
Mouthcoating: Type and degree of coating in the mouth after mastication (for example, fat/oil).
Roughness: Degree of abrasiveness of product's surface perceived by the tongue.
Slipperiness: Degree to which the product slides over the tongue.
Smoothness: Absence of any particles, lumps, bumps, etc., in the product.
Uniformity: Degree to which the sample is even throughout; homogeneity.
Uniformity of Bite: Evenness of force through bite.
Uniformity of Chew: Degree to which the chewing characteristics of the product are even throughout mastication.
Viscosity: Force required to draw a liquid from a spoon over the tongue.
Wetness: Amount of moisture perceived on product's surface.
See alsoEdit



Dollase, Jürgen, Geschmacksschule [engl.: Tasting School], 2005 Tre Tori, Wiesbaden, Germany (ISBN 3937963200). German-language textbook by a renowned food critic covering some, but not all of the above mentionend properties/mouthfeelings.
Katz, E.E. and Labuza, T.P. (1981) Effect of water activity on the sensory crispness and mechanical deformation of snack food products. J. Food Sci. 46: 403–409

like wine tasting. we can do a small gathering among us. i can bring some chocolates for tasting. you can bring your favourite chocolate if you want . some might not go back to cadbury , kit kat or even beryl base on individual taste bud. when do you guys want to do it? how bout sunday when traffic not so bad , The Curve starbuck ? just some suggestion.

No buddy, i still have lots to learn from you. Coffee indeed , im not good in coffee either but would love to study the pairing with different types of coffee. Mean while thanks for recommending the author to me. Clay gordon, chocolate life .com owner right? His site is wonderdul . We should do chocolate tasting soon.

Hey great! I would love to join this talk to expand my knowledge and also to get together and introduce ourselves. thanks

I think its time for me to indulge in the good and freshness of quality food. I just get to know someone who prepare such a good yogurt with a steeper price but it could fill my tummy for the rest of the afternoon and i dont feel lethargic after that as compare to eating my usual economy rice. Now in the morning, i just took about 4-5 gm of dark chocolate for an empty stomach. Me too sharing the same experience when reading labels in chocolate shelf, i dont even tempted to buy even the most branded chocolate bcos its now under my nose. Without much hassle, i just made praline anytime. If i want gianduja, i freshly made it by doing hand temper , some kind of theraphy for me. I will only buy the expensive chocolate once in a while .

This post has been edited by missysleepy: Jan 14 2015, 08:44 AM

Thanks for the invitation ,nebulaguava .
Felchlin is a good brand and i will try out some of the chocolate recipe with felchlin .
I really like the milk choc, it's incomparable . honestly speaking, it's so smooth and have a fabulous mouthfeel.

Thats great, i shall bring some of my finished chocolate for tasting and let you judge too . Perhaps we could do it after new year . I like to try your cocoa , how lucky you are . My dad used to plant cocoa trees when i was young but never had a chance to appreciate it in the 80s.

We hope to see more taster join us and taste for themselves. See ya