Cheesemonger Q+A: Jack Dronen
March 30, 2017
Potato-Fennel Gratin d’Alpage
April 10, 2017
Cheese can be so wonderfully enhanced with a little something sweet so we’ve been stocking up on some of our all-time favorites to include in your cheese fan’s Easter Basket this year. We’re ready to help you find the perfect matches for their favorite cheeses but here’s a few guaranteed winners to get you started.
PIEDRAS DE CHOCOLAT + L’AMUSE GOUDA
These “Chocolate Stones” are really Spanish Valencia almonds enrobed in dark chocolate and dusted in cocoa. Addictive on their own, they really stand out served with a full-flavored, nutty aged cheese, appearing here with L’Amuse Aged Dutch Gouda.
POTLICKER BEER JELLY + ENGLISH CHEDDAR
For the beer aficionado, small batch, craft beer jellies from Stowe, Vermont are the perfect pairing with a range of cheeses. Hefeweizen with Orange? Imperial Stout? Pumpkin Ale? How about the Imperial Pale Ale Beer Jelly with English Bandaged Cheddar please? You’re welcome.
BARCACAO CHOCOLAT + TRILLIUM
Dark chocolate tablets hand-crafted with single origin Peruvian cacao by in Naperville. A real standout is the 62% bar dotted with natural dried raspberries paired with a decadent triple crème cheese, here paired with Trillium from Tulip Tree Creamery in Indianapolis.
CHOCOLATE TWIST BARS + MAJORERO
From the twisted creativity of local chocolatier Kate Coffey, our latest favorite has to be the Cardamom, Lemon and White Chocolate Bar with caramel and bittersweet chocolate. Paired here with exotic Majorero, a smooth, firm goat cheese from the Canary Islands, it is one amazingly twisted revelation.
GINGER PRESERVES WITH LEMON + BAYLEY HAZEN BLUE
The bold flavors in Verdant Kitchen’s sweet, spicy preserve can elevate even the most flavorful cheeses in our cases. Matched with a creamy, piquant blue cheese, like Japer Hill’s Bayley Hazen, they both shine in a merry-go-round of flavor explosions that will have you swooning.