Chocolate Tasting Activity

Of course, we had to have a Chocolate Tasting Activity---it was our duty! I bought a bunch of different types of chocolate at the grocery store, and we made up a lab sheet to fill in with our observations.

The types of chocolate we tasted were:

• Ritter Sport, Alpine Milk
• Theo Chocolate, 45% Cacao, Milk
• Scharffen-Berger, Creamy Milk
• Amano, 30% Cacao, Milk
• Millcreek Chocolate, 70% Cacao
• Rainforest Chocolate, 72% Cacao, Mint
• Hershey's, Milk
• Ecuadorian Crunch, Coconut
• Lindt, 85% Cacao
• Lindt, Dark with "Touch of Sea Salt"
• Milka, Milk

I see, looking at this picture, that the only chocolate without an identifying wrapper is the Ritter Sport, and since that is mine and Sam's favorite, I feel obligated to point it out in case you want to look for it at the store. It is the one by the black arrow. It comes in a square bar and the wrapper looks like this. (The light blue wrapper kind is my favorite; the dark blue wrapper kind is Sam's favorite. Oh, and the milk chocolate with praline is pretty amazing too.) I tried it first in England, I think, but lately I've seen it stores here too. Yay!

We tested several of the snootier chocolates (the kind that brag about their fair-trade origins and their "cacao" [never cocoa!] content). They were good, but Ritter Sport remained the clear winner for me. A couple of the children liked the Milka better. My second-place choice was the Theo Milk Chocolate, and Sam liked the Scharffen-Berger Milk Chocolate second best. None of the "75% cacao" or other dark chocolates really had a chance, as we like milk chocolate so much better, but we did really like the dark Lindt with a "touch of sea salt." I did like tasting the darker artisan-style chocolates, but I wouldn't buy them again, as they were SO much more expensive---some close to $6 and $7 a bar! Whoa.

We also thought that Hershey's chocolate has an unfair stigma. Sure, it is much different than the creamier European-style chocolate (and there is a difference in the law: in Europe, anything labeled "chocolate" has to be at least 35% cocoa solids and 18% cocoa butter, and in the US it only has to be 10% cocoa solids!)--I've never really been a Hershey's fan--- but it's not a BAD taste and someone who prefers it isn't inferior as so many chocolate snobs would have you believe. :)

It was really fun to taste so many types of chocolate and compare them---I think I can safely say this was an activity everyone enjoyed! :)