On a personal note, as a consumer of chocolates as a child, I used to despise the taste of dark chocolates. For me, you don't get to enjoy the fullness and richness of the chocolate if it tastes so bitter.

Of course people carry with them a number of cultural and emotional biases whenever they eat. What you have grown up with, what you always consumed, for example, can really influence the way you view foods as they are. Chocolate is the same way.  Therefore chocolate manufacturers have to constantly invent and make new innovations to satisfy the worldwide market of chocolate consumers.

In the technological and digital age, foodies are almost everywhere. More and more people are taking photos and videos of their food, blogging about certain dishes, and boast of having such a delicate palate that they are keen enough to find the exquisiteness of some food.

This "delicate palate" can be related to those who happen to love eating dark chocolates. For instance, a group of Penn State food scientists and technologists have recently concluded that people who prefer to consume dark chocolates can take on a whole array of bitter tastes and flavors before showing some sign of rejection.  Their tolerance for bitter is much greater that those people who are avid fans of milk chocolates.

Participants of this research were tested in a series of tasting dime-sized chocolate samples. They were given a pair of chocolates, one containing sucrose octaacetate, SOA, (a bitter-tasting substance) and the other did not. Each follow-up pair of samples contained more and more SOA. Those in the milk chocolate group were quick to reject the samples that contained SOA, while the dark chocolate lovers continued to enjoy the candy.

This findings showed that those in the dark chocolate group had a tolerance level of 2.5 times more than those who preferred milk chocolate. Experts have stated that the tests of "rejection thresholds" in food may be a good way of testing food tolerance and acceptability.  This is in contrast to "detection thresholds" which are often used to measure a consumer's ability to taste that something has changed.

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Joanna Maligaya

Staff Writer/Content Developer at Chocolate University Online

Ever since she can remember, Joanna has always considered chocolate as the ultimate food for her soul. She believes in the saying, “9 out of 10 people love chocolate, and the 10th always lies.”

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