The Chocolate Geographer!

The kids gave us a gift card to a new and unique experience...a date to The Chocolate Geographer!  Ashley Shelton is a high school friend of Christie's who has started this new business.  She has her degree in Geography and is also a Certified Chocolate Taster (she took the course through a company in London).  This was a really fun experience. 

When tasting/eating chocolate first...Look.  Compare the color of the bars (we had eight pieces).  Some may be light brown, while others appear dark red.  What do you notice?  What are you drawn to? Next - Did you know that you should listen to the "snap" when you break chocolate to tell how it is tempered in the process of heating and cooling down before molding.  Is it a crisp snap or a dull thud? Next smell it deeply breathing and noting the unique aroma.  Does it smell nutty, fruity, sweet? Then taste it by melting it between your tongue and the roof of your mouth before chewing to avoid overwhelming the palate.  Does it feel smooth, creamy? How does the taste change when you bite?  Last close your mouth and breathe through your nose, taking note of the progression of the flavors.  Does the taste linger after you swallow?  We learned about the percentage of cocoa/sugar and inclusions.  We learned about origins of the cocoa and how it is grown, harvested, fermented and roasted.  We learned about where it is grown and some of the politics involved.  We tasted chocolate from Madagascar, Hawaii, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Dubai, Dominican Republic and Singapore.  We only tasted one white chocolate and it was actually butterscotch colored.  White chocolate doesn't have cocoa in it, just cocoa butter which is still considered a percentage of chocolate. 

Mostly I'm a fan of milk chocolate, but I find that I do like some dark chocolate...but usually it has inclusions like caramel/sea salt and isn't just straight dark chocolate and sugar.  I'm not much of a fan of white chocolate.  It just tastes too sweet to me.  I wasn't able to taste/smell too much of the differences because of my tasting/smelling difficulties, but I still enjoyed the whole learning/tasting experience in such a cute setting with fun people.  My favorite was a 60% dark chocolate by Markham & Fitz (Nutty Nostalgia) of Columbian origin.  It was smooth, buttery, salty and had inclusions of peanut brittle, honey, sea salt, cocoa butter and kosher salt.  One that was very unique had the flavor from rose petals in it.  I didn't taste that for sure!

I wish I had taken some pictures of the set up, but I didn't.  Here are some of what we brought home as leftovers and of Ashley and the place where she hosts.  The set up was beautiful.