Monday, November 26, 2012

Jeffrey Scott's Chocolate Fest 2012

The first annual Jeffrey Scott Chocolate Fest was a big success. Initially my intention was to create a poem on chocolate. Then I started to wonder if there was a way I could collect various thoughts on Chocolate. So the chocolate blind taste test was born. I went to various stores to collect as many chocolate bars as I could find that were each distinct enough, and yet fairly similar. So I tried to find chocolate bars as close to milk chocolate as I possibly could. Considering the success, I'm considering doing this again next year. At least it'll give me ONE good reason to look forward to next winter. For each chocolate, the panel were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 10. After the study was done and before the results were given, they were then asked to choose their favourite and least favourite.

The Chocolates:
In no particular order, I had my panel blindly sample the following:
Green & Black (Canada)
Cadbury Dairy Milk (UK)
Milka Alpine Milk (Germany)
World Market Milk Chocolate (USA)
Scharffen Berger Extra Rich Milk (USA)
Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate (USA)
Lindt Milk Chocolate (Germany)
Godiva Milk Chocolate (Germany)
Guylian Milk Chocolate (Belgium)
de Lish Premium German Milk (German)

Judges: Though I initially wanted mature women to sit in on the study, because of time I had to recruit a few children. Now that I know of several others who would have been interested in this study (maybe you too), I hope to include a full adult panel for next year.
Name: Mykala / Age: 11
Name: Caleb / Age: 15
Name: Victoria / Age: 15
Name: Lori / Age: 35
Name: Sarah / Age 35
Name: Christina / Age: 43

Results: After crunching the numbers, the results were gathered after adding the total number of points each chocolate received. In the result of a tie, I first went with the number of people who might have chosen the particular chocolate as their favourite.

First Place
Name: Lindt
County: Switzerland
Label Warnings: Possible traces of peanuts and tree nuts.
Average Calorie Per Gram: 13
Comments: Caramel Taste, Creamy, Sweet, Slight White Chocolate Taste, Divine, Familiar.
Favourite of: Sarah & Lori

Second Place
Name: Milka
Country: Germany
Label Warnings: May contain tree nuts and wheat.
Average Calorie Per Gram: 12
Comments: Smoky, Nutty, Smooth, Fruity, Lemony
Favourite of: Victoria














Third Place
Name: Green & Black's Organic
Country: Canada
Label Warnings: May contain traces of peanuts and tree nuts.
Average Calorie Per Gram: 13
Comments: Smooth, Biter, Milky, Average, Tasty, Creamy















Fourth Place
Name: Cadbury
Country: UK
Label Warnings: May contain tree nuts
Average Calorie Per Gram: 11
Comments: Sticky, Sweet, Nutty, Rough Texture, Average, Smooth
Favourite of: Christina

Click HERE for a Cadbury commercial.












Fifth Place
Name: Guylian
Country: Belgium
Label Warnings: May contain gluten and nuts
Average Calorie Per Gram: 15
Comments: Waxy, no taste, sweet, bland, tasteless, hard, very good
Favourite of: Caleb & Mykala
Least favourite of: Sarah & Lori













Sixth Place
Name:Godiva
Country:Germany
Label Warnings: May contain peanuts, tree nuts and wheat
Average Calorie Per Gram:13
Comments:Tasteless, spice after taste, cinnamon, normal, interesting, hard














Seventh Place
Name:de Lish
Country:Germany
Label Warnings: May contain hazelnut, almond and gluten
Average Calorie Per Gram:14
Comments:Neutral, Cheesy, Average, Smooth, One spit it out.
Least favourite of: Mykala














Eight Place
Name:Scharffen Berger
Country:USA
Label Warnings: Gluten Free
Average Calorie Per Gram:14
Comments:Earthy, Moldy, Waxy, Boring, Evil, Weird Aftertaste
Least favourite of: Christina














Ninth Place
Name:Ghirardelli
Country:USA
Label Warnings:May contain tree nuts
Average Calorie Per Gram:13
Comments:Buttery, Smooth, What is that taste?, No comment
Least favourite of: Caleb














Tenth Place
Name:World Market
Country:USA
Label Warnings: May contain peanuts, tree nuts and wheat
Average Calorie Per Gram:13
Comments:Bitter and bold, burnt taste, taste like dark chocolate, bland, dirt
Least favourite of: Victoria




As an additional bit of information, I also broke up the statistics into two further groups.
Group 1: The Adults
Group 2: The Children

Group 1 Results
1. Lindt (Switzerland)
2. Green & Black (Canada)
3. Cadbury (UK)
4. Milka Alpine (Germany)
5. Godiva (Germany) Tie
5. De Lish (Germany) Tie
7. World Market (USA)
8. Ghirardelli (USA)
9. Scharffen Berger (USA)
10. Guylian (Belgium)

Group 2 Results
1. Milka Alpine (Germany)
2. Guylian (Belgium)
3. Green & Black (Canada)
4. Lindt (Switzerland
5. Cadbury (UK)
6. Godiva (Germany)
7. Scharffen Berger (USA)
8. De Lish (Germany)
9. Ghirardelli (USA)
10. World Market (USA)

6 comments:

  1. I like your idea but since it is yours I won't force it upon you but maybe it would be a good idea to have kids in it because to help see the difference between the likes and dislikes. As we grow older they say we tend to stay away from sweet stuff but with this the favorite of the two kids was ones with little suguar. So it is your idea but just a thought. -Jeremy

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  2. Thanks Jeremy for the insight. I do agree diversity is needed. As a first year thing, there are bound to be "bugs" to be worked out. One of the most interesting things I found during this study was Guylian was picked twice as the most favourite in the older group, and twice as least favourite in the younger group.

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  3. Hmm.
    How are you positive that these chocolates were made where you stated? Many of them are made (not in Switzerland or Germany, but) in Italy and America.
    I have found that the country of origin has as much of an affect as that of the recipe.

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  4. I got the country of origin from the packaging. So unless it was misleading. For example, the Cadbury is distributed in America through Hershey, but is produced in the UK. As for the others, it's possible they were also made but distributed elsewhere.

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  5. Interesting survey! I like how Lindt chocolate was #1 as that's my favorite. some of those I've not tried, but this was fun to see who liked what.

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  6. Thanks Wendell for reading and commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

    A point was raised above and I think next year I'd like to have more diversity in the judges. I was thinking maybe a panel of 20 people. 10 adults, 10 kids. 10 boys, 10 girls. It'll give a more well-rounded

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