i prefer my chocolates frozen --- gives them more time in my mouth and thus
a longer span of enjoyment -- esp. since i limit my intake to 1 or 2 pieces
per day.....i think though that 70s is too warm for nice chocolate....50s
and lower if more fun....but of course....i know some people who just
cannot enjoy frozen chocolate and prefer the 70s temperatures!

enjoy your chocolate
-s.

at Sun, 07 Dec 2003 02:29:33 GMT in >,
(Mark Thorson) wrote :

>I store my chocolate in the refrigerator, but the bars
>I'm in the process of eating are kept in the freezer.
>I do this because I like my chocolate hard, so it
>fractures when I first bite down on it. It all gets
>warmed up soon enough, and I prefer that it takes
>longer to melt in my mouth.
>...
>Any comments on temperature from the gallery?

Frozen is IMHO *definitely* too cold, because cold deadens the flavour of
chocolate. Probably the best to me is in the mid '70s - not enough for the
chocolate to soften, but enough really to peak the temperature.

But if you like it that way, there's no "wrong" temperature to have it at.
Some of the flavours that come out in the heat may be ones that are
unpleasant to you. It also sounds as though texture may be more important
than flavour, and the texture you're looking for is very crisp, and low
melt. This means low cocoa butter. A good choice here is El Rey's Gran
Saman. Try it at room temperature and see if it appeals.

Is your refrigerator odour free? If not, the chocolate will be picking up
odours. In that case you *definitely* need to consider storing it
elsewhere. Otherwise, as long as you're happy, who really minds where and
how you store your chocolate?


--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

--
odium veritas parit