Cholatexture
One of the Japanese design firm nendo’s recent projects is a set of chocolates called chocolatexture. The following is the description of the project from their website:
Cocoa’s country of origin, kind, percentage content, technique of the chocolatier’s, the flavours inside…
There are many factors that determine a chocolate’s taste.
In coming up with a new chocolate concept, we turned out attention not to such factors, but to the chocolate’s “shape.”
The 9 different types of chocolate are made within the same size, 26x26x26mm,
featuring pointed tips, hollow interiors, smooth or rough surface textures–
and, while the raw materials are identical, the distinctive textures create different tastes.
Each chocolate is directly named after Japanese expressions used to describe texture.
1. “tubu-tubu” Chunks of smaller chocolate drops.
2. “sube-sube” Smooth edges and corners.
3. “zara-zara” Granular like a file.
4. “toge-toge” Sharp pointed tips.
5. “goro-goro” Fourteen connected small cubes.
6. “fuwa-fuwa” Soft and airy with many tiny holes.
7. “poki-poki” A cube frame made of chocolate sticks.
8. “suka-suka” A hollow cube with thin walls.
9. “zaku-zaku” Alternately placed thin chocolate rods forming a cube.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”1272,1262,1274,1271,1260,1259,1261,1263,1273″ layout=”3″ gallery_style=”2″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” display_title_caption=”true” img_size=”820×547″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1428088940398{padding-top: 4% !important;padding-right: 4% !important;padding-bottom: 4% !important;padding-left: 4% !important;}”]
Tasting Shapes
Taste relies on more factors than we normally think about. For example, when you are sick you may notice food tastes different, or more bland. This is because smell is also involved in the way food tastes. Another factor in foods taste that we don’t often think about is texture. Aero chocolate bars are a good example of this, the bubbles in their chocolate bars effect taste. Nendo has gone further with this idea, exploring a large variation of textures while keeping all the other properties of the chocolates uniform. This is innovative because it changes the way we think about and experience the world. It challenges preconceived notions about taste and food.
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