Add One Thing To Your Chocolate Desserts For The Ultimate Flavor Bomb

Yes, it's a bit of a cliche, but come on — who doesn't love chocolate? Whether you're enjoying it on its own or eating it as a part of a larger dessert, it's hard to go wrong with a bit of chocolatey goodness after having a meal. And while the chocolate component of such sweet treats rightfully gets the lion's share of the attention, that doesn't mean there aren't ways to enhance that delectable taste. In fact, one source of extra-flavorful chocolate desserts comes from an addition you'd least expect.

Miso paste — yes, miso paste — might just be the ingredient that sends your chocolate desserts into the culinary stratosphere. It's been proven time and time again that miso paste isn't just for soups; in fact, it's even a great addition to ice cream. And it continues to prove its worth with chocolate. 

Miso paste, a fermented soybean-based ingredient, brings big salty and umami flavors to a dessert. That salt is key to complementing the sweetness and earthy taste of chocolate, and that umami flavor adds depth and richness to the flavor profile regardless of whether you notice it. Miso has also been shown to give a wonderful buttery taste and texture to certain treats, making it a real all-rounder for boosting the enjoyability of your chocolate desserts.

Yes, miso paste can really enhance the flavor profile and even texture of your chocolatey dessert. However, it's also possible to have too much of a good thing. The salty, fermented, umami-forward taste of miso is a great complementary ingredient for chocolate-based treats, but it shouldn't be the star of the show. This means that you'll have to achieve a balance between your chocolate and your miso paste (not to mention your other ingredients) so that the latter doesn't overpower your dessert.

The best practice for this is to start small. Add only a little bit of miso paste at a time and see how the flavor of your in-progress dessert develops. More something of a barometer, various recipes online, ranging from cookies to whole cakes, call for tiny amounts of miso paste compared to other ingredients. You might only need ¾ of a teaspoon for a batch of chocolate mousse, while a larger, albeit still small, measurement of 3 tablespoons is appropriate for a fudge cake. You don't need a lot of miso paste to make a difference, then, but don't let that stop you from experimenting and finding your own ideal ratio. Miso paste keeps well for a while before it spoils, so you'll have plenty of time to try preparing some chocolate-miso desserts yourself.