Strange Days

Have you ever tried Lindt chocolate truffles? They come in milk chocolate, dark chocolate and (gasp) white chocolate. I looooove white chocolate, every since I was a little girl. All the kids in my family would get brown chocolate bunnies and I would be the oddball with the beautiful white chocolate bunny. The best thing was all the other kids hated how it tasted, so it was mine...mine, mine, mine....all mine. (sorry for the Daffy Duck moment)


From the Lindt website:

Before you take a bite - smell the chocolate, breath in its aroma and take a good look at it. Is it shiny or dull? What is its color and texture? Much like a wine connoisseur, chocolate lovers consider appearance, smell and taste. True chocolate aficionados let the chocolate melt on their tongue and enjoy the various degrees of intensity and sensual feelings while it liquefies.

Professional chocolate connoisseurs have many terms to describe the texture, quality and feel of chocolate. Let's look at the texture of a chocolate bar first, how does it break? Does it crumble and splinter or is it a clean break coming off with a hard and clear "crack"? If it does, it's an almost sure sign of an excellent quality. Is the praline shiny and does it have a thin shell of chocolate surround it? Is it beginning to melt if you hold it between your fingers a few seconds? If it doesn't, it may contain a lot of vegetable fat.

Let's taste it now -- slowly let a square melt in your mouth or take a small bite from a praline. Does it melt nicely and smoothly, or does it leave a granular or "floury" feeling in your mouth? Granular residues may be the sign of too much sugar, which in turn may make you thirsty. Does it stick to your palate and require considerable pains to dislodge it from the roof of your mouth?..It shouldn't. Does it melt easily and change without much effort from solid to liquid without chewing it? If it doesn't, its too "dry." but the opposite, "fatty" will just leave that kind of taste in your mouth. It goes without mention . . . the less granular the texture, the smoother, the less fatty and softer melting, the better the chocolate!

A few words about the cocoa contents are in order here. A high cocoa content is no guarantee for flavor; it's the quality of the beans and the way they are processed and used in production that have the biggest impact on its final taste.

Lindt chocolate truly has all of the admirable qualities they mentioned here. FYI, I've managed to find Lindt (rarely) at Walgreens, Rite Aide and hardly anywhere else except online. :(

Did I mention I love chocolate?....but nothing more than Lindt.