I don't recall exactly what brought the awareness that chocolate did not always have to appear in sweet dishes like cakes and puddings and candy.
But, after that epiphany, cocoa became a part of chili dishes, stews, curries, salad dressings etc.
The addition of veggies to the morning smoothie (where cocoa had been teamed up with cherries to give a black forest taste) led to dill being added when no cherries were about. The intent wasn't to somehow come up with black forest with a leap-of-faith substitute – no, it was more the nudge by the veggies suggested the dill after I had tossed in a teaspoon or so of the cocoa.
It was delightful. An interesting companionship of flavours, complementing the fruit and the vegetables, the dill and chocolate being sort of side by side rather than a blend of the two. I much enjoy how the palate can send out both sensations.
And what I have noticed is that the smoothie takes on a different taste (like curry and stew do once they have aged for hours or a day in the frig) from morning to dinner time version which was particularly evident with the dill and chocolate combo.
That was yesterday. Today I put some lime zest into the smoothie (no cocoa) and will find out at dinner if the morning zip of citrus has wrapped itself more around the veg like a sauce.