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Valrhona "Chuao" (was Criollo cocoa powder?)
at Thu, 29 Apr 2004 02:50:42 GMT in >,
(Mark Thorson) wrote :
>Alex Rast wrote:
>
>> This is the old Mexican method. It's common in Mexico (and it was ever
>> since the days of the Aztecs, to serve chocolate with "atole" - which
>> is exactly what I've just described, namely, warm, gruel-like coarse
>> cornmeal. There simply is no more effective way completely to wipe out
>> the taste of one chocolate from your mouth, so that you can taste the
>> next one totally unencumbered by lingering flavours from the last one
>> you tried. As usual, the natives had it figured out long ago - they
>> had years to experiment and no doubt found out what worked over the
>> centuries.
>
>That seems unlikely to me. To clear the chocolate from your
>teeth, don't you need to chew on something firm, like nuts?
Not at all. What you need is something warm (to melt the chocolate really
thoroughly and incorporate it) and oil-absorbing. Atole is essentially
perfect for those requirements. And the particular, bland flavour of corn
happens to neutralise the flavour of cocoa very effectively. Chewing on
something firm achieves a scraping action, not a wiping action. So it's a
bit like trying to clean out an oily bowl using unsoaped steel wool rather
than plenty of warm water and soap.
In addition, nuts have flavour components that some chocolates have. So
they may lead either to false impressions about the tastes of later
chocolates, or mask flavours that otherwise would have been noticed.
>
>If I'm very serious about having a clean palate, I'll prepare
>by brushing my teeth with baking soda, rinsing, then taking
>a shot of Crown Royal Special Reserve.
Alcohol is another thing that interferes with tasting chocolate. So I don't
think that would work either.
--
Alex Rast
(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)
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