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November 05, 2004

Chocolate-Orange Beverage

Chocolate and Orange is one of the less-appreciated yet more delicious flavor combinations.

Many agree on its gustatory appeal, but other than a few brands of orange-flavored chocolate candies, there is very little on the market to excite my tongue the way I wish it to be.

Ever eager to experiment, I wondered the following:
"What happens when you mix hot chocolate with Tang?"

I could have mixed Tang with chocolate milk, but from experience I know that mixing acidic beverages with milk often curdles it, leaving it unpalatable and gross.

So, I opted for a hot beverage and put a spoonful of store-brand hot chocolate powder in a mug, along with a spoonful of Tang powder (regular kind, not the new tropical fruit kind) and added hot water.

The Tang disolved right away, leaving a hunk of poo-looking chocolate crud at the bottom that had to be smashed and stirred in. The final color was rather reddish, like apple cider.

I let it cool and took a sip, which was surprisingly good, and definitely of the taste I had sought. It was too sweet, but that's because I added half the amount of water I would have added had I been making a mug each of hot Tang and hot chocolate.

The only error I made was in mixing equal parts orange and chocolate. One must think about balance in flavor mixtures. Which is the base? Which is the accent?

With peanut butter-jelly, an equal mix is appropriate.
With apple-cinnamon, apple is clearly the base, with cinnamon as the accent.
With chocolate-mint, the mint accents.
With chocolate-peanut butter, all sorts of mixtures seem to work, with either party dominating - like a good marriage.

Chocolate-orange, however, is not like that. Orange must be the accent.

So in my next cup of chocolate Tang, I'll only use half as much orange.

Posted by mslaybau at November 5, 2004 10:12 PM

Comments

mmmm. chocolate orange. it's good to see that you are keeping up with your research!

Posted by: matt ferranto at November 6, 2004 09:25 PM

you should treat us all to this next time we have a potluck.. ; )

Posted by: phaedra at December 25, 2004 06:19 PM

Ever since stumbling across your blog a couple of years ago (ruminations on resistors?) This is, by far, the most sublime experiment you've come up to; though, this suggests to me something of an experiment I recall about mixing *huge* quantities of vinagar and baking soda _in_a_toilet_ (put the lid down quickly!)--that was delicious!

I think I'll try this myself (Tang and chocolate, that is...)

Posted by: Alexander Safir at January 27, 2005 10:04 PM

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