What’s your plan? Are you going take bites from each so you can compare them directly, or eat them hours/days apart so you’re comparing the taste of one to the memory of the taste of another? Will you be doing a blind test?
I haven’t done this experiment, but here’s what I would recommend:
- Take each bar out of the pack and cut them into quarters. Measure them, don’t just guess. This is science.
- Each quarter is 50 calories, so testing all six will make a 300 calorie snack.
- Have an assistant label each flavour with a letter, so that after the test you can identify each flavour. I recommend using A, B, D, E, F, and G. Avoid C as it could bring coffee, chocolate or caramel to mind.
- Place one quarter of each bar in an airtight container.
- Repeat x3.
- Put one container in the fridge so you can do a cold taste test.
- One container is to be microwaved for a warm taste test.
- One container is for a room temperature test.
- The final container is a backup, in case one of your other bar pieces is destroyed or contaminated, perhaps by a dog sneezing on them, or by a war.
- The order is which you do the test is up to you, but for the microwave test you should heat each piece individually, otherwise the first piece you eat will be far warmer than the last. You need a consistent temperature. 20 seconds is a good heating time for a whole bar, but for quarters perhaps 15 seconds would be better. I don’t know for sure. I am sorry.
- In between pieces, cleanse your tongue, teeth and palate with water and a toothbrush. Not toothpaste obvs, that’d bugger everything up.
- Write down your impressions in a spiral-bound notebook with an HB pencil.
- Your assistant should keep their gob shut throughout. No hints.
- After completing all three tests, if you haven’t needed to use the backup set, stuff all of them in your mouth at the same time because I wonder what that’s like.
- Compare notes with your assistant and post your findings here.
Additional note: it’s possible that storing six flavours in one airtight container will cause the stronger flavours to contaminate the weaker ones. You could consider wrapping each piece individually, or just let them fight it out and enjoy the “everything is raspberries” final result.
I look forward to reading your findings.