This one's for janni. :)



Let me say this first: I'm not a fan of Lindt. Someone is going to say, "I've tried 99% cacao Lindt chocolate and it was awful!" and I will say, "You're right. It is." I don't even like normal Lindt... I think the mouthfeel is awful and there's too much fat in it and the flavors are muddy and plastic. The 99% in particular is chalky, which is an instant game-over for no-sugar chocolate.

But, having said that: if you really want to know what the flavor of chocolate is, you have to try it without sugar. And unless you're in a truly high-end restaurant, your baking chocolate isn't going to cut it. You need 99% or 100% cacao eating chocolate, which is very hard to find.

The Michel Cluizel I've photographed (badly) above is pretty good. But my absolute favorite is the Domori Puro, at 100% cacao mass.



If you can find this stuff or order it, then I recommend it as your best chance to have an excellent elemental chocolate experience.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. What you're about to eat is not dessert, but food. If you eat it thinking it's going to be a sweet treat, you will hate it. Instead, think of it as an ingredient or a food you'd eat on its own, or with a glass of wine and with cheese. Something savory, not sweet.

2. You cannot do this with old chocolate. Unlike with sweet chocolates, you can't shrug off an old or overheated or bloomed sugarless chocolate. The texture is too much part of the experience, and the subtlety is completely ruined by age or poor storage. It has to be fresh. A proper 99%-100% chocolate is smooth. Like satin in your mouth.

3. Be alert for the nuances. The Domori Puro tends to have a floral high-note; the Michel Cluizel above is more earthy, almost dusky. Others will have acid notes, coffee tones, or an almost incense-like aroma. These are the primary flavors and smells of chocolate... this is the thing you're aiming to experience.

4. Eat this stuff with a clear palette. Water first. Then hold it in your mouth and let it dissolve. Smell it while it's in your mouth.

With a fresh bar of high quality eating chocolate at 99-100% cacao mass, you get a really phenomenal experience. Not just the taste of real chocolate, but the sudden ephiphany of something you thought you knew already being something completely different than expected.

Personally, I love it. :)


Also, for those keeping track:



I did go get my celebratory chocolate drink. I'm well past the 25 books sold mark and head toward the 50! Thank you, everyone!


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"Oh, this is awful," I say, covering my eyes.

The Calligrapher looks over my shoulder, then takes the paper away from me. "Well," he says, and stops.

"Just say it, it's awful."

His ears flick sideways. Then he says, "It is an irony."

I eye him, glum. "What. That the word means "best when smaller" and I've gone and made it this gaudy, overblown thing? It's not even pretty-overblown. It's just... ugly."

He gives me a new sheet. "You are trying to paint words the way I do. Calligraphy comes from within, aunerai. Paint your own mind."

"Fine," I mutter, taking the T-square again. I am going to get this piece of calligraphy done for the bookmarks I'm sending to reviewers, I swear. I settle down to paint, and a slim, spindly line wobbles from my ragged old brush.

"That's good," he says, startling me. "Keep going."

So I do. And the end is long and thin, kind of like naked twigs in winter.

"That," the Calligrapher says, arresting my painting hand by setting his hand just above my elbow, but without touching. "Leave it so. Don't embellish."

"Just like that?"

"Like that," he said. "That is calligraphy. And it is the substance of ikirim. Yes? Understated."

"Right," I say, and put it aside to dry.


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