Green and vegetal
Grass, raw bean, unripe fruit. Almost always under-development — either fermentation or roast.
A green, grassy or raw-bean character means the chocolate has not been taken far enough. It can come from under-fermentation, where the flavour precursors were never fully formed, or from a roast too light to convert what precursors there were.
Distinguishing the two matters. Under-fermented green comes with pronounced astringency; under-roasted green comes with a fully formed body underneath and simply lacks the developed aromatics. The second is recoverable in principle; the first is not.
- Descriptors used
- grassy, raw bean, unripe, vegetal, green
- Desirable?
- A fault in nearly every context, and a common one in very lightly roasted craft bars.
Where it comes from
The route by which this note arrives in the chocolate.
Created during roasting
RecordedA roast too light to convert the fermentation's precursors into chocolate aroma.
How to tell: Under-roasted green has a full body underneath and lacks aromatics rather than lacking substance. Astringency is normal rather than pronounced.
Source: Royal Society of Chemistry
When it is a fault
Under-fermentation, leaving the precursors that roasting converts largely unformed.
How to tell: Under-fermented green arrives with marked astringency and a flat, purple-tasting quality.
Related
Developed during
- FermentationThis stage is where the note is created, amplified or destroyed. Grass, raw bean, unripe fruit. Almost always under-development — either fermentation or roast.
- Light roastingThis stage is where the note is created, amplified or destroyed. Grass, raw bean, unripe fruit. Almost always under-development — either fermentation or roast.
Sources
- ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)
- Chocolate Science and Technology — Wiley-Blackwell(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)