Chocolates & Wine
Author: pheni
Wine Strawberry Chocolate
Chocolates can be complemented with other classy foods or beverages to arrive at an exotic flavour. One such complementary drink is wine; chocolate can be made delicious if the correct variety of wine is chosen. There are certain ways in which wine can be paired with chocolate or the other way round, well what difference does that make anyway, as long as you get a heavenly taste! You will be able to successfully merge the two for the best of flavours if you know your chocolates and wine flavours well.
The wine chosen should be at least as sweet as or a bit sweeter than the chocolate; if not, the combination together will tend towards a bitter flavour. The wine as well as the chocolate should be well matched. The strength of the wine and the flavour of the wine should be fairly similar. You can start with subtle milk or white chocolate and go on to mix and match dark, bitter chocolate. You can pair a wide variety of wines with milk chocolate dipped strawberries. Also it is great to pair wine with dark chocolate truffles, and other desserts. Higher the content of cocoa, choose a stronger, more full-bodied wine.
The pairing of wine and chocolates is a good option while gifting exquisite flavours. The variety of chocolate being used like cherry, nuts and fruits, can help determine the kind of wine that will complement the chocolate well. It means that a mint-flavoured chocolate will go well with the same variety of wine. The range in chocolates is huge, includes bittersweet, semisweet, milk chocolate, white chocolate with or without chocolate liquor, caramel toffees, cinnamon, ginger etc with correspondingly flavoured wines.
It is better to choose wines with a fruity flavour to pair with chocolates instead of red or white wine. Chocolate desserts taste best when paired with fruit-flavoured like sweet berry wine. Pairing chocolate desserts with table wine is a disaster!
Fruits and nuts are the best wine flavours with chocolates of all varieties. You can also make a chocolate cakes, chocolate desserts, pastries with tempting wine added for that exquisite taste. Almond, pistachio, passion fruit, caramel, mild white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and truffles all mix well with fruity wines. Belgian chocolates especially the milk, dark and extra dark types mesh well with wine.
The process of mixing wine and chocolate needs a bit of practice so as to identify the exact flavours that go well together. There will definitely be a few disasters in the beginning but following the rules for both wine and chocolate, a wide array of flavours can be developed. The scope for exploring the lovely flavour options available in both wine and chocolates is interesting. So try and be amazed at the flavours and at your own skill with mixing the two most loved and tempting delights on earth!