Today's chocolate tasting was of Valrhona chocolates of different vintages. The first was a 2010 Gran Couva. This was a nicely balanced chocolate with a sweet aftertaste. The 2011 Gran Couva didn't have quite as much of a cocoa bite but it was more astringent and sort of fruity. The 2009 Palmira Criollo was very smooth and fruity. The 2010 version was not as sweet. It was more bitter but not to the point where I didn't like it. It was also nutty. We tried Mo's Bacon Bar, which was salty and smoky, but the flavor seemed too artificial to me and I really didn't enjoy it as much as most people seemed to.
We had a vanilla tasting with the vanilla mixed with a concoction of milk, egg yolk, and sugar. The first was the Tahitian and it was very fruity. The Mexican was sweeter and milkier and had an alcohol aftertaste. The homemade Madagascar was thicker, fruity and sugary, and I really couldn't tell much of a difference between that and the store-bought Madagascar. I thought this was a very useful thing to taste and to see that there is a difference in products that you sometimes don't think twice about. Before this I thought all vanillas were pretty much the same, but now I know that there are subtle differences that can mean a lot.
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