REACHING THE CHOCOLATE BLISS POINT
Step 1: Set your inhibitions aside, and get your hands on some chocolate.
- Premium chocolate should have a glossy finish, a distinct, flavorful smell, and feel silky smooth, not sticky.
- A bar of chocolate should break with a clean snap, and a filled chocolate should have an outer shell with that same crisp bite.
Step 2: Make sure your chocolate has stayed true to its roots.
- Single-origin chocolate contains beans from a single country, and single-estate refers to beans from a single, named estate. These beans have a pure taste that is exclusive to the soil and conditions they were grown in, and the resulting chocolate is distinct and full of character.
- Companies that mass produce chocolate, however, frequently add excessive amounts of sugar to hide the flavor of the cocoa used because it is often distinctly mediocre at best.
Step 3: Don’t spend your sick days in bed—a chocolate a day may keep the
doctor away.
- There’s no doubting the comforting effect chocolate has on us, and now, the cocoa found in pure dark chocolate has been found to have nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine and up to three times those found in green tea.
- Chocolate contains a series of natural drugs, which, in theory, can help promote a positive mental attitude and even euphoria—similar to the feeling of falling in love—as well as increase alertness and attention span.
Step 4: Revel in the fact that Hotel Chocolat’s “Less Sugar More Cocoa”
policy ensures that you can satisfy your sweet tooth while bypassing
sugar-induced guilt.
- Mass-market dark chocolates typically contain 40-55 percent cocoa solids, with the rest being sugar, but high-end darks, such as Hotel Chocolat’s Purist Bars, typically contain at least 70 percent pure cocoa solids.
- Commercial milk chocolates can contain as little as 20 percent cocoa solids and 20 percent milk solids, and up market products might contain 30-40 percent cocoa solids, but Hotel Chocolat’s exclusive milk chocolate is unique in containing up to 62 percent cocoa with very little added sugar.
Step 5: Hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, and prepare to embark
on a multi-sensual journey.
- A cocoa bean contains 300 different chemical compounds, so the taste of real chocolate is extraordinarily complex, yet never too sweet or acidic.
- The flavor of premium chocolate should increase in intensity as it is savored and should result in a long, clearly defined aftertaste—the finish is often the best bit.
To order chocolate gifts or for more information about Hotel Chocolat, visit www.hotelchocolat.com.
