Perfect Dark Chocolate Pairings

Dark chocolate stands out among others with its health qualities and bitter taste. Due to small concentrations of sugar, it is successfully combined with sweet and spicy tastes and even bolder balsamic fragrances, revealing new layers of rich taste and subtle nuances.

Dark chocolate can be combined with a number of foods, drinks and spices.

Fruits

Dark chocolate is a great complement for sweet fruits and berries. The bitterness of chocolate is supplemented by the sweetness of the fruits, and the rich bouquet of subtle tasting notes won’t leave anyone indifferent. Those who prefer fresh and pungent tastes can combine dark chocolate with sweet citrus fruits to fill their day with summer vibes.

The dessert table may be supplemented with dark chocolate, berries with whipped cream and wine.

By the way, dark chocolate is best combined with banana, lime, figs, grapes, oranges, tangerines, strawberries, raspberries, apricots, peaches and others.

Nuts

Many use dark chocolate in baking recipes for a number of pastries and sweets, often adding nuts to enrich the taste. It is also possible to concoct an interesting mix from dark chocolate and ground hazelnuts or almonds.

Those who enjoy extreme flavors may choose to season dark chocolate with black pepper when baking brownies or a chocolate cake.

Cheese

Dark chocolate has a quality to suppress other tastes, thus it is possible to concoct interesting combinations with some cheese types, such as Gouda, Havarti or Parmesan. To find it out for yourself, try coating a slice of slightly toasted baguette with melted dark chocolate and grated Parmesan.
Dark chocolate can also be combined with goat and blue cheeses.

Coffee

Considering that raw materials for both dark chocolate and coffee grow in the same region, the ingredients ideally complement each other. Dark chocolate often contains coffee flavors and is best combinable with dense coffee types, particularly Indonesian, Guatemalan, Brazilian, Ethiopian, Espresso and others.

Wine

Usually dark chocolate and wine are combined according to the darkness and cocoa concentration of the former; the darker the chocolate, the darker the wine should be. Thus, dark chocolate is best combined with red wine.

Beer

Dark chocolate is also combinable with some types of dark and sweet beer.

Apart from the aforementioned, dark chocolate can be successfully combined with ginger, cinnamon, bergamot and black Indian teas, sea salt, caramel, wasabi, mint, shrimps and salmon.