White 'Chocolate'

Recently I went on a chocolate buying spree.  This was mostly because The Mothership's stocks needed topping up/completely replacing after The Geek God and I had done our worst, but I also got inspired by the range of chocolate available, and decided to do some taste testing. 

I thought I'd try something I don't normally buy, white chocolate.  I don't buy it because I don't like it.  Urban myths claim there is a certain number of times one has to try a new food before learning to like it, and it's definitely true that I had to go through a stage of making myself consume certain food and drinks before learning to love them: tea, coffee, wine, beer and ginger (the token food in that list) all spring to mind. 

Back to white chocolate.  I decided that the best quality chocolate was the most likely to introuduce me to what is good about white chocolate, so I bought Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Swiss White Chocolate and Green and Black's White Chocolate.

The 'Taste the Difference' chocolate didn't taste any different.. to milkybar- I subsequently bought a milkybar so I could compare them at the same sitting. 

The difference I did find, however, was that the Taste the Difference chocolate had a very smooth texture whereas the milkybar texture was grainy.  The blurb on the Taste the Difference packet focussed on how the 'mouthfeel' was smoother because the chocolate had been conched for longer.  Usefully it even tells you what a conche is- "a container which grinds the ingredients together."  Looking into this in a bit more detail, it turns out that conching achieves a smooth texture by making the particles very small (so small your tongue doesn't perceive them as individual particles anymore) and evenly distributing the solids within the cocoa butter. Conching also allows flavours to develop because it generates frictional heat which releases volatile compounds in the choclate which we can taste.

So that's the thoery.  In practice no flavours to developed other than sugar, and maybe a hint of cream but this was mostly blugeoned out by the sweetness.  It was also a bit off-putting tasting something so ridiculously sweet yet totally smooth.

Sainsburys did well to focus on the texture for their marketing on the packet because the flavour is so unremarkable.  It gets 3/10, and that's only because if you're after a sugar hit, it would do the job.  It's not revolting, just too sweet.

The rest of the bar got experiemented on- I melted it down then mixed instant coffee granules into it.  This was more of a 5/10 but the amount of coffee granules it took to make it taste good meant you'd have serious caffeine overload if you ate more than a tiny bit!  You could also probably use this chocolate with eggs and coffee to make an easy coffee mousse for friends who like coffee but not dark chocolate.

The Green and Black's effort had a speckly appearance because it contains "fragrant Madasgascan vanilla for a creamy taste."  It was definitely "fragrant", reminding me of what happens when you're baking and you accidentally use way too much vanilla essence.  I'd also argue that it is the whole milk powder and cocoa butter that gives the creamy taste, not the vanilla as they claim.  I was unimpressed with the taste.

The texture was more fudgy than the Taste the Difference chocolate; presumably Green and Black's aren't such big fans of hardcore conching, and I preferred it that way because if you're eating something that is mostly sugar it makes sense if you can tell this from the texture.  Another 3/10.

In conclusion, I still don't like white chocolate, and I have new theory on the 'trying new foods' thing.  This probably works for complex flavours, e.g. getting a toddler to grow into an adult who likes black olives and anchovies and red wine.  But I reckon it doesn't work so much with tastes that are arguably childish to begin with.

English Wine

The Cyclist and I have just finished a 7 week course on Wine Appreciation, so when we saw English Wine on sale this weekend we decided that we should try some- in the interests of broadening our education, of course.





Frankly, it was a good job that we didn't buy with pleasure in mind, because it did turn out to be an exercise in wine tasting, rather than an overwhelming sensory experience.





The tasting team consisted of The Cyclist and myself, both enthusiastic amateurs in educated quaffing, and The Lollipop Lover, who claims not to like wine, but has been known to enjoy a glass or two of Desert Wine!





The wine was 'Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Dry White Table Wine', produced in the New Forest. We bought it from the Gift Shop at Beaulieu.








We all gave it an overall rating of 3/10 [I will post my rating system on here soon!]


Looks: Clear pale yellow; all one shade


Nose: Clean. The Cyclist's first response was Honeydew Melon, I also got something that it took me ages to put a name to, but subsequently became convinced that it was the smell of cold roast chicken breast, with a metallic touch, almost like the chicken had been stored in tinfoil. There was also a slightly bready note. The Cyclist and The Lollipop Lover agreed that chicken smell was there!


Flavours: Tropical (Honeydew Melon); some Gooseberry; and something of the chicken smell (didn't actually taste of chicken!).


Sweetness: Surprisingly sweet for something billed as 'Dry'. The Cyclist and I both thought it was pushing the sweeter boundaries of off-dry. The Lollipop Lover thinks of Eiswein as medium sweetness, so happilyagreed with 'Dry'.


Acidity: Medium to high-possibly too much acid/not sweet enough to balance the acid.


Body: Medium


Length: Medium length, with something of a dry sherry edge to the aftertaste (we even got out the sherry to compare!).





I admit that I found the chicken association disconcerting. We had a long chat about what could be causing that flavour, and the use of sulphites was suggested. The Lollipop Lover has a background in analytical chemistry, however, and was dubious that sulphites would cause that taste. Guess a career in the detective branch of the wine industry is not for me, then!



For those of you keen to see a rave review of a wine, there is certainly one coming up, all about Malbec!