How to pair Mezcal & Chocolate

I was invited to travel to Oaxaca, Mexico to host a chocolate and mezcal pairing and I immediately said yes, even though I had never done this type of pairing. I could not pass up the opportunity.

Pairing chocolate with mezcal took a lot of research – mostly me drinking a lot of mezcal. I had hosted several wine and chocolate pairings before, but these seemed a little overwhelming because I had never even heard of mezcal and chocolate. But the more I though about it, the more it started to make sense. Both mezcal and chocolate share origins, Mexico. So I could figure this out. There were two hurdles that needed to be addressed first.

Mezcal is the drink of the people – mostly farmers. This is why you do not hear of  a history of mezcal pairings. It is in the last 10 years that mezcal has exploded  in popularity, began being exported, and taken on a sophisticated face. Please read my post on “What is mezcal and why is it better than tequila“, to learn more about Mezcal.

Then there is the other issue – chocolate in Oaxaca is not like chocolate in Paris. In Oaxaca chocolate is a drink, not a dessert. So the idea of pairing mezcal with chocolate would not make any sense to Mexican culture. Pairing a drink with a drink makes no sense.

Before arriving to Oaxaca, I had not prepared at all.  I knew I needed to be in Oaxaca and visit the markets and mezcal bars to understand how these two ingredients would pair well together. A pairing is another way of saying a harmonization. I needed to find the right mezcal to harmonize with the right chocolates and flavors. I could not do that from California.

A walk through any Oaxacan market will immerse you in smoke, chile, and dried insects. All complimentary to mezcal but challenging in chocolate.

We headed downtown to a tasting lab called Mezcaloteca and instead of lunch, had a mezcal tasting of several dozen mezcals.

With each mezcal, I tried to remember of what I had seen at the market. This is tip number 1 for pairing mezcal and chocolate – choose flavors that remind you of the other. Spicy mezcal with spice. Sweet mezcal with sweet. Earthy mezcal with earthly flavors.

The first mezcal had a fruity/sweet note that I thought would pair well with a guava chocolate. Another had nutty notes that would pair well with a milk chocolate and locally grown pecans. And another mezcal had intense smoke that begged for dark chocolate with crickets.

I began building the encyclopedia of mezcal notes and flavors and connecting them to what I had seen earlier. I had to limit my list because it was already beyond the amount of items we wanted to include. Oaxacan ingredients, like mezcal, have endless possibilities. I could have done a pairing of 12 chocolates with 12 different chiles and 12 different mezcals.

After a lot of research, visit to mezcal bars, and mezcal farms, we decided on three mezcals: Mezcal Kosh Madrecuishe, Mezcal Kosh Espadin, Mezcal Vago Espadin with toasted corn infusion. Please read my post on mezcal if you do not understand what any of that means. Essentially, mezcal has a lot of variety, can be made with several agave and can be infused with anything.

After a very thorough history of chocolate and chocolate making, we did a tasting of: fermented cacao beans, non-fermented cacao beans, cacao liquor, white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate.

The above served as references and are the basics. We followed by some of the my favorite chocolates: Valrhona 85% Africa, Dandelion Chocolate 70% Venezuela, Dandelion Chocolate 70% Dominican Republic, Madecasse Madagascar, Akesson Madagascar with pepper. None of these chocolates were part of the mezcal and chocolate tasting, they were to introduce everyone to the world of chocolate. 

For the tasting we paired:

Mezcal Kosh Madrecuishe: milk chocolate and guava truffle , panela (unrefined sugar) truffle, dark chocolate with pecans.

Mezcal Kosh Espadin: Dark chocolate with crickets, dark chocolate with roasted guajillo and pasilla chili flakes, totopo (coconut/corn cookie) with milk chocolate.

Mezcal Vago Espadin with toasted corn infusion: Rosita de cacao truffle, milk chocolate with chipotle sea salt, pinole (ground toasted corn) ganache.

All of the pairings were a hit. We had a few mezcal experts at the tasting and they were very impressed with the work that Pilar, the staff at La Olla Restaurant and I had put into the tasting.

EXPERT TIPS:

1. If you want to pair your mezcal with chocolate, smell and taste your mezcal. Whatever notes you find, look for a chocolate that mentions these notes as well.
2. Mezcal and chocolate should be at room temperature when tasting.
3. First taste the chocolate then the mezcal. Then then the chocolate again, and finish with the mezcal.
4. When you place the first chocolate in your mouth, allow the heat of your mouth to melt the chocolate. No need to bite. Just move the chocolate around so the chocolate coats your tongue. Then drink the mezcal before the chocolate disappears.