Sensory description of dark chocolates by consumers

The Free Choice Profiling technique was applied to examine the analytical abilities of consumers (n = 39) from two different locations (Vienna, Austria, and Dresden, Germany) to characterize plain dark chocolate. The cocoa content of the chocolate samples investigated in the study ranged from 60% to 75%, and General Procrustes Analysis and subsequent Principal Component Analysis were used for data analysis. Despite the different local background, both panels used an identical vocabulary for describing the samples; on average, only five descriptors (range: 3–13) were chosen by each assessor. Twenty nine different descriptors were generated by the Vienna panel, and 41 descriptors by the Dresden panel. Although differently assigned to Principal Components (PC) 1 and 2 which, together with PC3, accounted for approximately 85% of the total variance, the panels distinguished between the samples on a comparable level and used a comparable terminology with respect to type and frequency of the descriptors. A combined data evaluation revealed that the easily perceivable taste descriptors were useful for sample separation, whereas flavor descriptors only supported these data. With respect to mouthfeel, chocolate with a lower cocoa content was characterized as melting and creamy, whereas the product with the highest cocoa content was characterized as dry, mealy and sticky.