Friday, January 20th 2012

Today we did our daily chocolate tasting, cheese tasting, vinegar tasting, and experimented with miracle berries tabs to suppress the sour taste

We sampled 3 chocolates from Santander: 53%, 65%, 70%. Here's what I thought about the chocolate

53% chocolate has a very chocolate smell, good snap, and full chocolate flavor throughout. A lot sweeter than the other two

65% I like this less than the 53%, it still had the same characteristics of the 53% but it had a weird initial taste. Chocolate taste and the after taste wasn't too bad.

70% is really smooth. It still has the smell and snap of the others but the after taste is very full and the after taste wasn't too bad.


Caroline B. and Allie presented a power point on food blogs I was really surprised to know that the popularity of food blogs started with a woman named Julie cooking through Julia Child's cook book. I did notice with the popularity of food blogs the popularity of cooking shows has increased as well. 

What makes a good food blog? Good photography, good writing, good recipes!
The "every man attitude". Make it accessible to everyone. 

I was surprised to learn that people can make blogs their jobs! 

They had a really good presentation. 

Michael and Kevin presented a power point on Whiskey

This presentation gave me a sence of appreciation for the time and artistry needed to make a good whiskey. The production process is really complicated and complex. Each step is paramount to the taste and quality of the product.
I learned that bourbon is whiskey.

I really liked that they had us do a smell test. I think they all smell the same for the most part. #2 smelled really sweet, and #1 smelled like sharpie marker. I really enjoyed their presentation.

Caroline G. and William presented a power point on Carolina BBQ

I feel like this "issue" or "debate" has been done. It's like beating a dead horse. I was born and raised in SC but I think all types of BBQ are good in their own way. It was really cool to learn about Maurice's BBQ sauce is the "Mustard base BBQ sauce" standard. You can almost taste the racism in each bite... I'm not kidding. 

Chris and James presented a power point on beef cuts

I liked their visual aid to help show us the different regions of a cow. I didn't know that marbleing is how the USDa grades meat. I'm really glad I learned the grading scale so that I can try to get the better stuff. The scale is: Prime, Choice,  Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, Canner. 

Aften and Jenna presented a power point on tea

It was really cool to see how tea was made. I've always wondered if it was the same process of coffee, but the process is pretty different. I learned that tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world after water. I didn't know there was just one 'tea plant' and it's the climate and processing that creates the variety. I really like the way that teas smell! I kinda felt bad for Tom because he was put on the spot to be the authority on British tea drinking because he's from England. 


 Vinegar tasting
  

Red wine vinegar: it's soooo sour and tart! It's a lot like taking a shot of alcohol and I feel it burning all the way down the throat. 

Apple sider vinegar: I can definitely taste the apple, a lot more palatable  

Balsamic Vinegar: a lot sweeter than the rest. Lingering after taste. I feel like I'm about to have heart burn or something. 

Cheese taste test on hard cheeses:

Parmesan: pungent kind of chemically cheese smell, very course, grainy, pleasant taste very much like the canned Parmesan cheese I put on spaghetti.

Pecorino: smells like very pungent cheese, very chalky, very salty, kind of a spice to it, it has a goat milk taste. We found out it's made from sheep's milk. this solidify's my dislike for all things that come from Goats or Sheep. 

Myzithra: looks like chalk, doesn't really smell like anything, very dry and grainy, it has an earthy taste kinda like alphalpha sprouts, not very cheese like. 


miracle berry tabletsthey looked like smarties, and tasted like berries. They gave us a lemon and a lime to taste after we ate the tablets. The lemon and limes tasted sooooo good! They tasted like candy. Balsamic vinegar is really sweet and good! The red wine vinegar is palatable! This is really weird!