Host your own Food Pairing Event

1. Host your own Food Pairing Event Prepared by: Amity Cooper, Co-Founder of Sushumna Chocolat

2. Don’t Taste and Waste • I think we’ve all done it- wasted many an hour surrounded by empty boxes of chocolate and a bottle (or two) of wine with no one to share them. • With editor of The Nibble, Karen Hochman’s suggestions, this guide is an easy step-by-step process to building a tasting event, in the comforts of your own home. • So sit back, read and most likely, a week from today, you and your friends could be sipping and tasting into the evening.

3. Setting UP Your Menu

4. What are you going to serve? Simpler the better if this is your first time. Plain bars that offer a range of tastes—bittersweet, dark, milk and white • If your daring, mix it up. Try a theme- truffles, bonbons, bark or select one brand and try their entire collection (in one medium) • Limits. We suggest not to go over 10 wines and 10 chocolates. Ask for suggestions on budget and selection from your local vendors to help vet your range.

5. The Setting We are Sushumna are always concerned about settings. What you eat and where you eat it, is really 70 % of your overall culinary experience, so consider carefully the time, logistics, and locale of your event. Remember: To prepare and not overstep the recurring desire for balance between satiation and indulgence Best times are mid-afternoon to mid-evening. One-two hours after a meal, whereby you are no longer hungry Sit Please: You need a large enough table for libation accruements, chocolate and seat room. If you have an option, experts suggest a rectangular table rather than round.

6. THE INVITATIONS Plan your guest list. We suggest no more than 6-8 people at one tasting. More than that changes the dynamics and you’ll be have to select someone to lead off with comments. Invite people that are like-minded. If you’re a big into wines, don’t include someone who doesn’t know the difference between a chardonnay and pinot grigio. As in food, your invite list should include diversity but strive for a complimentary blend. Quick reminder: Feel free to mail your invitations or keep it simple and email. Either way, remind your guests to eat at least two hours before.

7. Preparation Notes: You’ll want to create a sheet for taking notes. Split the 81/2” x 11” into a grid format. Horizontal column for your list of wines/chocolates that you are tasting. The Vertical columns should be reactions, i.e. taste, aroma, appearance, etc. A simple scratch pad would do for each item. Source Sheet: We at Sushumna have provided you with our tasting booklet that highlights our wine selections and their chocolate counterparts. However, a source sheet that includes where the products can be purchased and their prices gives your guests purchasing options after the tasting

8. Setting the table On the day of your event, set your table. Each guest needs a glass of water, at least 4 glasses, a knife(if you are tasting truffles or cheese) an evaluation sheet or scratch pad, and pen/pencil. Tableware and palate cleansers: A dump bucket for remaining libations, supply of water biscuits, salt-free crackers. A Grannie Smith green apple is perfect and less filling. Preparing the chocolate: Our product looks lovely displayed according to the numbers on a clock. Beginning with Chakra one at 12 o’clock, move clock-wise down and around to No. 7. A large charger or oversized plate works best.

9. Tasting In any tasting, start with the mild tastes and conclude with the stronger ones.  If you do the reverse, your palate is conditioned to the stronger tastes and when the more delicate tastes are presented, they pale in comparison. You should pour the wine in flights of three or four wines at a time. Depending on what you’re serving, they would be poured in this order (as with chocolate, from the mildest to the most robust): champagnes, then white wines, then light and medium reds, then robust reds, then dessert wines.  If you are tasting a number of different wines and don’t own (or want to rent) many glasses, consider buying plastic tumblers. People can drink their wines from regular stemware, but save their extra wine in a plastic cup instead of dumping it. This enables everyone to keep all of their wines throughout the tasting, referring back to earlier wines to make comparisons. Start with the white chocolates or; if you’re not tasting white, with the milk chocolates; and with the champagnes and white wines. Move to the light and medium reds when you are still tasting milk chocolate; and build to the dark and bittersweet chocolates with, robust red wines and ports.

10. THE PROCESS Take half of the piece of chocolate. Look at the color and smell the aroma. Take a bite. Chew it slowly and note how it feels. Take notes. Take a bite of the chocolate. Chew it several times and let it slowly melt on the tongue. Is it smooth, velvety, creamy, soft or gritty? It should not be waxy or hard to melt. Savor the chocolate—roll it around on the tongue to taste the many flavors. (The tip of the tongue senses sweetness, the front sides sense sour flavors, the back sides of the tongue taste salty flavors, and the very back of the tongue detects bitter notes.) Swirl the wine in the glass and sniff the aroma (the “nose”).  Note the scents. Take a sip and swirl it in your mouth so it blends with the chocolate. How does it impact the chocolate flavors? Cleanse the palate by eating an unsalted cracker and taking several sips of water. Take another bite of chocolate and try a different wine.  How is this pairing different from the prior ones? Repeat this process until you have gone around the plate.  Then discuss conclusions and vote for your favorite pairings.

11. SUMMARY To host your own pairing event doesn’t have to be a challenge. There are so many ways to explore pairings-- Chocolate bars one week and nuts and cheese the next. Start a tasting group and rotate houses and months to keep it fresh.