Curating Taste
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Judging season is officially on us! This will be my fourth time participating as a judge for the International Chocolate Awards. Yes, this is my favorite time of year. Yes, I have the best job ever. Yes, I love it. And yes, it is hard! Mindfully tasting, thinking about, and evaluating this much chocolate in a short period of time, takes a large amount of focus as I want to do right by the companies who have put their heart and soul into entering this competition. My hat goes off to everyone who puts themselves out there and I wished everyone all the best!!!
I love seeing cookies and desserts that I don't know what they are! And I love that chocolate is EVERYWHERE!
Chocolate consumption in Europe at Easter is NEXT LEVEL. I'm here for it. Literally and figuratively.
Since discovering the idea of chocolate tasting, I have done many tastings of many different things. What have you done tastings of?
1. Chocolate
2. Bottled water
3. Tea
4. Honey
5. Apples
6. Sourdough bread
7. Cheese
And I'm sure many more.
It is so much fun to buy several different varieties of the same food and try them side by side. I've done this with kids 2 years old up to people in their '90s and everyone has a blast with it. Don't overthink it. Just think about what you taste!
02/05/2026
A fabulous chocolate tasting held in my favorite room at The client had a sponsor who asked to provide the tasting mats and they were so much fun! It was my first time featuring the Root beer bar by and it was a huge hit. It's my current favorite bar! A beautiful Ecuadorian cacao with sasparilla root, ginger root, candied orange, orange oil and a touch of licorice root, this complex flavor bomb is like eating a chocolate covered root beer barrel candy! So much fun!
The New Taste of Chocolate by This is a staple for anyone learning about craft chocolate and chocolate in general. It was one of the first books on Chocolate that I got. This version has been updated from its original version. Updates are necessary as we are very young in doing research on cacao so new information keeps coming out. This book is pretty enough for a coffee table!
After many requests, I've made some downloads available for you if you want to host your own chocolate tasting or if you enjoy having a flavor map while discerning flavors in craft chocolate! Enjoy!
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