Image credit: Allie Cooper of flickr, under c.c.-by-2.0, via https://www.flickr.com/photos/a_cooper/2117439550.

The Physics Of The Perfect Chocolate

With Valentine’s Day in the past, that’s no reason to forget about the best part of that holiday!

“Look, there’s no metaphysics on earth like chocolates.” -Fernando Pessoa

One of the most delectable treats for Valentine’s Day is the simple and elegant chocolate, which can be shaped into a variety of confections and combined with any number of sweet, salty or even savory flavors sure to delight even the most sophisticated of palates. The rich, creamy, shiny-smooth flavor and texture of a perfectly prepared chocolate is unlike any other culinary delight in all the world. Yet if you’re not careful, your chocolate could wind up a disaster in any number of ways:

• it could be crumbly in texture,
• it could have “lumps” or a graininess to it rather than a silky smoothness,
• it could be dull or waxy in appearance,
• or perhaps worst of all, it could get that gross white coating on the outside, known as chocolate bloom.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user Marcpablo8, under c.c.a.-s.a.-3.0.

But all of these pitfalls are avoidable with a little bit of science. By looking at the physics…