Here's Why You Should Stop Chewing Your Chocolate

For some of us, there's nothing more satisfying than gobbling down a bag of M&M's, or a couple of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. But it turns out that you aren't supposed to be chewing your chocolate at all. Chocolate, typically the good stuff, like single-origin dark chocolate with a cocoa content hovering around 70 percent, is intended to be pressed against the roof of the mouth and sucked (via Delish). At least, that's what one luxury chocolate maker would have us believe. 

A few years ago, Vosges Haut-Chocolat, a chocolatier based in Chicago, put out a guide instructing customers that the non-chewing method is how best to enjoy chocolate. Apparently, this technique brings out the complexities of the chocolate (via Mamamia). However, from a business perspective, it seems strange that a chocolate maker would promote a method of eating chocolate that allows it to last for longer, and by extension causes people to consume less of it.

Other chocolatiers such as La Maison Cailler, which is based in Switzerland, want their consumers to know that chocolate should not only be experienced by just the mouth, but by the nose, and the eyes as well (via National Geographic). "The biggest mistake is that [people] don't look at it or smell it — they just pop it in their mouth," one guide in a tasting room said. Another Swiss chocolatier suggested beginning each chocolate-eating session by snapping the chocolate bar in half, and smelling the aromas that are released. He says that starting with a small piece allows the tongue to warm up, and sense all of the possible flavors contained in the piece.

Of course, most of this advice is best suited for fancy chocolate, not a Nestle or Hershey's bar that you impulse buy at a convenience store or gas station. The chocolate police (probably) aren't going to come after you if you can't resist sinking your teeth into a candy bar.