Chocolate to taste, guide to the sensory experience – Food

Tasting chocolate: a sensory experience. Doing it completely involves the five senses because everything must be evaluated: the appearance, the shape, the consistency and the characteristics connected to it, such as fluidity, viscosity, friability, and finally the aroma and flavor. "It starts with a visual, auditory and tactile assessment, observing the color and the general appearance, breaking the tablet with the hands to listen to the sound and lightly brushing the surface to examine the consistency to the touch", explains the school's teacher Chocolate Perugina Alberto Farinelli and adds "We then move on to the sense of smell and focus on the olfactory quality that will serve to identify the primary and secondary aromas. Finally, the taste will allow us to evaluate chocolate based on its sweetness or bitterness, acidity and / or astringency ”.
The pure, enveloping, persistent taste that melts in the mouth in the case of extra dark chocolate makes it perfect to be combined with a range of foods and drinks that can enhance its taste. "In recent years, chocolate has become an aggregating ingredient in a cocktail that brings out different flavors" – says Flavio Angiolillo, one of the most famous Italian mixologists and owner of 5 of the most fashionable clubs in Milan, including the Mag Cafe. “By doing a research on the products, you can work it in different ways and propose it in various recipes. The warm and bitter tastes of a cocktail like the boulevardier, for example, they are enhanced by the infusion of bitter chocolate and the slight note of chestnut, reminiscent of the aromas of the autumn season ".

The book "Chocolate Codex Nero Fondente" curated by the sommelier Giuseppe Vaccarini with the support and involvement of the Center of Excellence in Chocolate of Broc and the experience of the Masters of the Chocolate School is considered the 'dark chocolate bible' created for fondentisti : the volume explores the history of chocolate, identifies the principles and criteria necessary for a perfect tasting and proposes an in-depth sensory analysis. A space is dedicated to the many and very often little known combinations with the most surprising foods.

Hence the idea of ​​master classes, experiences in the world of dark chocolate. The first "Black Program" masterclass in which Perugina gave birth sees the binomial as its protagonist "Chocolate – Cocktail", An opportunity to meet the world of mixology, an increasingly trendy sector, full of stimuli and considered a real art that allows bartenders and mixologists to give free rein to creativity and experiment with new recipes with unusual ingredients, combinations unexpected and new techniques.
This is precisely the scenario in which Angiolillo, among other things the creator of a line of "botanical" spirits, under the label Farmily Spirits, has created two new cocktails: "Naviglio in galleria" foresees the use of Campari, Cinzano rosso 1757, Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon, rhubarb pumpkin, gentian, aromatic bitter, whole milk and dark chocolate Perugina crusta Nero Arancia; the second, from the evocative name, "Nero Fondente", is prepared with Wild Turkey Rey, Cinzano rosso 1757, infusion of Perugina Nero Fondente 70% chocolate, Campari and Sciroppo of autumn. The latter will be part of the 2020 Mag Cafe drink list.