I'm not arguing the point that chocolate can smell fruity, smoky, flowery, etc., I'm just wrestling a bit with the "how".
When considering which chocolate to buy for your homemade chocolate candy recipes, remember what the chocolate connoisseurs say. Like a fine wine, quality chocolate needs to be "tasted" with the five senses. Some say that a sixth sense is involved too but we won't go there...
I'm baffled about how my homemade chocolate candy can smell fruity, smoky, and all the other adjectives I've heard attached to it. I'm not arguing the point that chocolate can smell this way, just wrestling a bit with the "how". I mean, chocolate is chocolate; we know how it smells from when we're melting it, baking brownies and so on...
Here's the eye opener: most of what we associate with the smell of "chocolate" is the smell of the other ingredients, namely dairy products, vanilla, sugar and so forth. Huh. Imagine that.
If you've ever lost your appetite when you had a cold because food just tasted "blah", you've experienced how much your sense of taste is influenced by your sense of smell. Some say that taste is 95% smell. Wow.
We in the modern world seem to have lost our database of natural smells. With all the chemical smells and pollution, nature is hard to find. If you haven't experienced a smell, it is difficult to identify or recognize.
Homemade chocolate candy recipes usually are flexible as to what chocolate you can use. But remember this when choosing. Quality chocolate can smell like fruit, flowers, or spices. You have the opportunity to make your candy memorable and especially delicious.
Mishandled chocolate can smell moldy or smoky. Just as some dark roast coffee beans can taste "burnt", smoky chocolate means the cocoa beans were not dried properly.
Many people not familiar with quality chocolate think that it doesn't smell "like chocolate". That's okay, they can work on changing that.
We can rebuild our lost databases of natural smells just by paying attention. Each season has its distinct smell - winter snowfall, spring rain, summer thunderstorm and cut grass, fall dryness and fallen leaves. Smell the fresh produce at the farmers market. Smell your food as you slice into it.
Familiarize yourself with the smells of the world of quality chocolate and you'll come to recognize these smells as how your homemade chocolate candy "should" smell. Enjoy the adventure!
Next time: how to taste all the flavors of chocolate.
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When considering which chocolate to buy for your homemade chocolate candy recipes, remember what the chocolate connoisseurs say. Like a fine wine, 
