For our chocolate lovers
3d printed coverture chocolate art
Don’t Just Taste It. Experience It.
Welcome to Cocoa Matrix by Kitchen Theory.
The chocolate in front of you has been created using a combination of gastronomy, digital technology and sensory science. But the 3D printed chocolate is only one part of the experience. Before you eat it, we invite you to experiment. Using the scented card that came with your chocolate and the soundscapes below, you can explore how smell and sound can influence your perception of exactly the same piece of chocolate.
Ready?
How We 3D Print Chocolate
Your chocolate wasn’t made using a conventional chocolate mould.
It was 3D printed.
Using a byFlow Focus/Opus 3D food printer, a digital three-dimensional design is translated into a physical piece of chocolate.
The printer precisely deposits chocolate layer by layer, gradually building the final form. This gives us a very different creative tool from conventional moulding. Digital designs can be translated into intricate edible structures and customised forms, opening up new possibilities for the way chocolate can be designed and experienced.
And while the production method is innovative, the ingredient itself matters just as much. We use premium couverture chocolate, selected for its flavour, texture and eating quality. Because technology should never come at the expense of deliciousness.
Your Nose Knows More Than You Think
What we commonly call “flavour” isn’t created by taste alone.
In fact, researchers estimate up to 90% of what we call aroma comes from what we smell.
Use the scratch & sniff card provided to smell the two different aromas. Try a bite of the chocolate while smelling each of the aromas – does the flavour of the chocolate change?
can you hear
sweetness?
Research involving Professor Charles Spence and colleagues at Oxford University has explored associations between particular auditory characteristics and taste. For example, higher-pitched sounds have been associated with sweetness, while lower-pitched sounds can accentuate bitterness.
The effect is subtle. But that’s precisely what makes the experiment interesting.
Listen to the two audio samples provided below – does the flavour of the chocolate change?