Subject: The Mouthfeel of Chocolate

The chemical and physical interaction of a food and the mouth is called “Mouthfeel”. This concept is used in several areas of evaluation and testing of one well known use of “Mouthfeel”; it evaluates the perception of the palate, from the first bite, through chewing and swallowing. There are several things that are considered modifiers when testing the mouthfeel of chocolate:

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· The chewiness is the number of chews required at 1 chew per second before the chocolate can be swallowed.

· Coarseness is the degree of coarseness during chewing, chocolate should be smooth.

· Graininess is the amount of small grainy particles; only low quality chocolates are grainy.

· Heaviness is the weight of the chocolate when first placed on the tongue.

· Moisture absorption is the amount of saliva absorbed.

· Moisture release is the wetness/juiciness released.

· Mouthcoating is the amount of fat/oil that coats the mouth after chewing.

· Smoothness is the absence of particles, lumps, bumps or any other noticible texture in the product.

· Uniformity is the degree of evenness throughout the sample.

· Viscosity is the amount of force needed to draw the liquid from a spoon and over the tongue.

Many of these modifiers are not desirable in tasting chocolate, as chocolate is supposed to be smooth and creamy to the palate.

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Only poor quality chocolates are rough or grainy. Conching is the means used to reduce the roughness of chocolate; it involves a container filled with metal beads acting as grinders. Frictional heat keeps the blended and refined chocolate liquid during the conching process. This process reduces the cocoa and sugar particles to a size that can not be detected by the tongue, causing the smooth feel in the mouth. The longer the chocolate is conched, the smoother it becomes, conching can be done for as short a time as 4 to 6 hours for low quality chocolate, up to 72 hours for high quality chocolate. Chocolate is then stored in tanks heated to approximately 45-50 degrees celsius to await final processing.

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Thank you,

Bill Anderson
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