How to Eat Chocolate Properly: A Chocolatier’s Guide

I have met a lot of people who eat their chocolates straight out of the refrigerator. And honestly, I understand why. That’s how most of us have grown up eating chocolate. Even I do it sometimes. If I have a Dairy Milk in the fridge, I’ll take it out and eat it.

But when it comes to the kind of chocolates we make at Flùr, especially filled chocolates and bonbons, I don’t think you get the full experience when you eat them straight from the fridge.

The reason is quite simple: temperature changes the way we experience flavour.

A bonbon isn’t just a piece of chocolate. You have the chocolate shell, and then you have the ganache or filling inside it. Both have their own flavour and texture, and they’re meant to work together.

One of the reasons chocolate has that lovely melt in your mouth is because of cocoa butter. Cocoa butter has a melting range that is close to our body temperature, which is why a properly tempered chocolate starts melting so beautifully once you put it in your mouth.

But if the chocolate is very cold, it doesn’t behave in quite the same way. It’s firmer, it takes longer to melt and the flavours and aromas don’t come through in the same way.

Think about it with other foods as well. Something that is extremely cold can taste different from the same thing when it’s at a more suitable temperature. You may notice less sweetness, less saltiness or simply less aroma.

The same thing happens with chocolate.

This is particularly important with a bonbon because there is something else inside it. If the ganache is too cold, you don’t get the same texture or flavour from it either.

So, if you’ve kept your chocolates in the refrigerator, especially in a hot climate like ours, I’m not saying you shouldn’t refrigerate them. Sometimes you have to. What I am saying is: don’t eat them straight from the fridge.

Take them out and let them come closer to their ideal serving temperature. For most of the chocolates I work with, I prefer them cool but not cold, around 18–20°C is a good starting point, although the ideal temperature can vary depending on the chocolate and the filling.

And then, when you actually eat it, don’t immediately bite into it.

Put the chocolate in your mouth and let it sit on your tongue for a few seconds.

As it starts to warm up and melt, you’ll notice that the experience changes. The chocolate begins to release its flavour, the ganache softens, and you start picking up different notes.

You might first notice the chocolate, then the coffee or caramel or fruit in the filling, followed by a little bitterness, acidity or sweetness. Sometimes there is a flavour that stays with you even after you’ve finished the chocolate.

That is the part I love about bonbons.

When we make a chocolate at Flùr, we’re not just thinking about whether two flavours sound good together. We’re thinking about how they will actually taste when you eat them, the texture of the shell, the consistency of the ganache, how quickly everything melts, and what flavour stays with you at the end.

So the next time you have a good piece of chocolate, try something different.

Don’t take it straight from the refrigerator and bite into it.

Let it come to temperature. Put it on your tongue. Give it a few seconds. Let it melt.

And actually taste it.

You might find that the chocolate you’ve eaten many times before has a lot more going on than you thought.