Oreos and milk. Peanut butter and Jelly. You’ve been creating “pairings” your whole life without realizing it! Meet the hottest pairing since fries and milkshakes – chocolate and cheese. Explore your creative, adventurous palate with the three introductory indulgent combinations below.

Pralus Sao Tome: Pralus presents dark, fudgy bars highlighting both the iconic French style (deeply roasted, high cocoa butter content) and the terroir of specific regions. Sao Tome, made with the island’s unique strain of Forastero beans, is fruity, spicy, and pleasantly acidic.
Paired with:
Ur-Eiche: This washed cow’s milk cheese is created by a team of mostly women at the Swiss mountain dairy of Girenbad. Led by award winning cheese maker Christa Egli, the dairy uses homemade rennet and pays a higher than average price for exceptional local milk. Ur-Eiche is washed with oak extract, creating a light barrique taste, with notes of pine nuts, buttered toast and roasted shallots.
Why this works: The nutty, savory-sweet flavors of the cheese contrast with the acidity of the chocolate, creating a balanced bite in your mouth. Additionally, the roasty, dark notes from Pralus’ style compliment the buttered toast flavors in the cheese (think coffee with pastries!).

Naive Porcini: Yup, porcini, as in the mushroom. In dark milk chocolate! Such is the creative genius of Domatas Uzpalis, founder of Naive Chocolate. By using locally sourced Lithuanian ingredients – like porcini mushrooms – blended with velvety chocolate, he challenges our conceptions of what “should” be paired with cacao. Trust us – the earthy mushroom + creamy chocolate works.
Paired with:
Sapore del Piave: Produced in the Veneto region of Northeast Italy, Sapore del Piave takes the best of the Parmigiano Reggiano and the best of the Swisses and comes together in one glorious moment. Full of crystals and savory-sweetness.
Why this works: The earthy mushroom begs for contrasting sweetness, and Sapore del Piave doesn’t disappoint. Additionally, the creaminess of the chocolate is a satisfying contrast to the crystalline texture of the cheese.

Fossa Lychee Rose: Rose tea-infused Haiti 52% Dark Milk Chocolate topped with dehydrated lychee from Thailand and crunchy cacao nibs.
Paired with:
La Peral: Produced by third generation cheesemakers Esther Alvarez and her husband Jose Luis Lopez at the family’s dairy in Northern Spain. Made from a blend of cow’s milk and sheep’s cream, La Peral boasts savory richness and a bit of crunch from tiny granules in the light blue veins.
Why this works: Usually our rule of thumb for blue cheese with chocolate is the addition of vanilla to the chocolate! However, the floral aspect of rose tea steps in nicely as a substitute in this pairing, while chewy bits of lychee provide contrast to the cheese’s fudgy texture.

PSST! Want to know more? Join us at an Intro to Fine Cheese class! Looking for even more cheeses to take home (or have them shipped to you)? Start here. 

“Ask Matt Caputo” is an ongoing feature where Matt answers commonly asked questions from the market. This week, he gives us a glimpse into the creation of a cheese board from a restaurant perspective. 

Q:  Matt, I just got home with lots of new, delicious cheeses. How do I store them properly and what’s the best way to wrap them?

A: Unfortunately, there is not one right way to store cheese. Depending on the style of cheese the micro flora responsible for it’s aging react differently to storage techniques. For example, most American produced cheddar is made to be aged (anaerobically) from start to finish in vacuum sealed bags. When storing this type of cheese at home it would react much better to being tightly wrapped in plastic than say an English style cheddar that was made to be aged in an (aerobic) open air environment. Absent of tight plastic wrapping the American example may get moldy more quickly than the English style. The right way to store cheese depends on it’s type.

PSST! Want to know more? Join us at an Intro to Fine Cheese class! Looking for even more cheeses to take home (or have them shipped to you)? Start here. 

Disclaimer: While Matt Caputo is a Certified Cheese Professional and specialty food fanatic, he is not a medical professional, doctor, or certified nutritionist. Please consult with your doctor or other qualified health care professional before making any healthcare decisions, diagnostics or treatment decisions based on Matt’s answers.

You’ll never guess what we’re bringing to our NYE parties. What? Ok, fine, we ARE bringing cheese. But, it’s not just because we’re total cheese nerds (still true), it’s because small soft-ripened cheeses are a natural and utterly perfect pairing for sparkling wines. Whether you’re toasting with the real deal Champagne, it’s Italian cousin, prosecco, or a domestic sparkler, we’ve got you covered. Here are the three pairings we’re noshing on as we leave 2019 behind:

Adami Garbel and La Tur

This Piedmontese blend of cow, sheep, and goat milks ripens from the outside in, making it creamy near the rind with a fluffy, mousse-like interior. A wash of Adami’s prosecco lights up the paste with a floral finish that will give fireworks a run for their money.

Mumm Napa Brut Rose and Park City Creamery Treasure Brie

The name says it all. It’s a small little treasure of its own, the perfect kind to harness all the new age vibes for a blissful and successful new year. The buttery richness we expect is there, but it’s also backed by some lovely grass notes. Paired with the Mumm, well, it’s makes the importance of a New Year’s rather uninteresting.

Perrier Jouet Brut and Camembert

For our high rollers and those of you splurging on your last night of the year. This farmstead French cheese has aromas of garlic, raw broccoli and Brussels sprouts, with faint notes of seawater in the background. Paired with this dry bottle, it’s a more savory pairing than the others, but more complex and intense on the finish. You’ll really set the bar high for 2020.

With the nature of my job as a cheese monger, I have the opportunity to help customers with creating the ideal charcuterie board to share with their loved ones. Many may assume I am some sort of expert creator of all things cheese and meat; but really, I can be just as indecisive and lost as anyone else. There are too many good things to choose from and trying to cater to a variety of palates can be quite a challenge for anyone.

For this holiday season, I’m going to keep it simple. I’m choosing some no fuss snacking that is guaranteed to keep my family occupied while I wrestle with pie dough. Robiola Bosina is the perfect cheese for the job. This small format, soft ripened cheese is a creamier alternative to Brie, and is made with a mix of cow and sheep’s milk, giving it a bit of delicate funk. It is made by Caseificio Dell’Alta Langa, based in a small village just south of Alba in Piedmont. This area of northern Italy is famous for its wines and truffles, laden with lush vineyards, quaint villages, and medieval castles.

Striving to keep tradition alive while still maintaining the highest quality standards, this cheese maker offers more than 20 handmade cheeses. Robiola Bosina is going to be the centerpiece for AT LEAST one holiday board this year.

Robiola’s form is a small 4-inch square, making it the perfect size to be served cut diagonally (or left intact, your choice) with the halves offset on top of one another for some height and surrounded by your favorite accompaniments. Those may be dried fruits such as figs or apricots, some crostini and jam, a rich and herby cooked ham from your local deli (ahem, Caputo’s), or maybe some bright and buttery olives. With its mild, palatable rind, I can’t imagine why Robiola wouldn’t be eaten in its entirety before anyone has a chance to ask questions. If you’re feeling fancy, consider wrapping it in some puff pastry with brown sugar and fruit and bake it until the pastry is a golden brown and the cheese oozes when cut into.

Tis the season to entertain, but if you find yourself stressing over an elaborate (and often spendy) board, there’s no shame in taking the simplistic route with one knockout cheese of your choice.

Tis the season for the warmest, most comforting of cheeses.

Consider Wrångebäck your new best friend for fall’s cold nights. Hailing from a Swedish farm dating back to 1225, Wrångebäck is expertly created by fourth generation cheesemakers. Dense, ultra-creamy, with layer upon layer of browned butter flavor, this raw cows’ milk cheese tastes like sitting in front of a cozy fireplace feels. Perfect for autumn cheese plates, melty soup toppers, or whatever else needs a dose of cozy richness. It’s like browned butter in cheese form.

Here at Caputo’s, we love to marry tradition with innovation in the most delicious ways. You may or may not be surprised to know that chocolate and cheese actually make a marvelous match. If you need further convincing, take one of our pairing classes and allow your doubts to melt away in sweet cheesy bliss. Or come into a Caputo’s near you and ask us to illuminate you with some of our favorite pairings! You can even let Blue’s Chocolates do the pairing for you and try filled chocolates like parmigiano and honey, Double Skull Taleggio and red wine, and chabrin reserve and fig (using Caputo’s cheeses and Solstice chocolate!).

And lest you think a blue cheese truffle might come as a bit of a shock to your palate, rest assured that the blue cheese we picked for this recipe, called Fourme au Moelleux, is a dainty dame of a blue cheese. It’s not without a punch, but the brashness of the blue is a balanced by a tantalizing floral note. And because we are passionate about preserving food traditions, a cheese like Fourme au Moelleux serves not just as a palate-pleaser, but reads like a volume of history, preserving time and place in its rich blue veins. You can tell your friends while serving them that Fourme au Moelleux is actually a newer innovation to an ancient cheese called the Fourme d’Ambert. Originating in the Auvergne region of France, it has been produced using traditional methods since Roman times. Rodolphe Le Meunier (a.k.a. “the world’s best cheesemaker”) injects the creamy paste with Vouvray wine to amplify the flavors, a beautiful innovation to an ancient classic. Paired with Valrhona chocolate, a consistent and quality favorite among Michelin 3 star chefs, the truffles that result are unique and alluring, but subtle enough to please even your pickiest dinner guest.

Ingredients
6 ounces heavy cream
8 ounces Valrhona Guanaja, chopped, plus two chopped ounces for rolling
4 ounces Fourme au Moelleux, chopped in small pieces

In a small saucepan, heat the cream until boiling. Pour over the 8 ounces of chocolate in a small bowl, stirring until smooth. Let it sit until it arrives at room temperature. Then stir in the cheese and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap so it’s touching the ganache (to prevent condensation).

Refrigerate for about an hour until the ganache is firm enough to roll into balls.

Scoop out the ganache with a spoon and roll it into a ball, placing the formed balls on a plate. Any size is fine, but I prefer to make blue cheese truffles a little smaller since they are so rich. You can ensure that they are perfectly round or a bit more “rustic” looking. Chocolate truffles were named after the original truffle, as in the mushroom-like fungus that grows on tree roots, so if your truffles end up bumpy and imperfectly round, tell your friends that they more fully resemble their namesake!

When all of the ganache is rolled, cover them and put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the remaining two ounces of chocolate using a double boiler (or make your own by placing a metal bowl or smaller pan over boiling water). Pour the melted chocolate into a deep and narrow container (I use a short glass). You’ll want the truffles to be fully submerged in the chocolate, so keep that in mind when choosing a container. After the chocolate has cooled slightly, drop a ganache ball into the chocolate. Make sure it is fully coated, and then lift it out with a fork, letting the excess chocolate drain off before rolling the truffle off the fork and onto a plate or parchment paper. Continue with the rest of the truffles. Let the chocolate shell harden and the truffles come back to room temperature, when the ganache is most creamy and delicious.

It may seem overwhelming, but making truffles is actually quite simple (the hardest part is coating them with chocolate without making a mess!), and the blue cheese adds a savory, creamy dimension that you’ll love. Join us in delicious innovation on old classics, and tell us how your adventures go!

Fall is a special time in the life cycle of plant life. Perennials gently nestle into hibernation while we kiss some of our favorite sweet annual plants goodbye. While it feels slightly sad, this is my favorite time for food as we move from light, crisp flavors to bigger, funky, fermenty ones.

Testun al Foglie di Castagno embodies the best of this cooling season. Cow, sheep, and goat milks are blended into large wheels and aged over a year in the Cuneo region of Piedmont by Beppino Occelli. We carry a handful of selections from this lovely artisan, but this one in particular has stolen my heart. The wheels are wrapped in freshly plucked chestnut leaves and left to continue its year-long aging journey. The result is a sweet, complex paste tinged brown by the oxidized plant matter it’s been snuggled into. Testun’s paste is both creamy and crunchy from crystallized bits of tyrosine while the aroma smells just like the bottom of the leaf pile waiting for you in your back yard. Don’t believe. Go on, dive in there and give it a whiff.

If you’re really lucky, you’ll be graced with small flecks of naturally ocurring blue mold growing just beneath the surface of the cheese. I live for these bits and will wait days for even a hint of blue. This added flavor tips the scales for flavor right up toward transcendence.

When you’re done diving into your leaves, treat yourself to a this lovely cheese. Pair it with bold, tannic red wines, whiskey, or Epic’s Smoked & Oaked beer, and a fireplace. This is the perfect time to enjoy this cheese and the season wanes into winter.

Hello sunshine, hello swimming pools. Hello icy cocktails, hello sundresses, HELLOOOO SUMMER.

It’s here, finally. My most favorite season has arrived. The Downtown Farmer’s Market is just around the corner, my outdoor pool of choice is open, outdoor concerts abound across the valley, and I’ve already had my first barbecue of the season. For me, summer is the perfect time to reconnect with my favorite farmers at the market and friends from all over the world. But all these typically involve food in one way or another. And for that, we’ve got you covered. Grab that poolside chair and your favorite summer sipper and sink your teeth into these:

CHEESE: Mesa Tome

Reason #639 for loving all things Mesa Farm: Randy only milks his goats during the natural spring season. Animal husbandry, treatment, and overall well-being is incredibly important to us at Caputo’s, and Mesa excels here. Freshly formed wheels of pasteurized goat’s milk cheese (from the happiest goats in Utah, mind you) arrive from Torrey and make their way straight to our cheese caves. One month later, these are released for our happy consumption. The small size of this cheese allows for quick aging and development of flavor thanks to our very own flora of cave bacteria and TLC from affineuse, Antonia. What appears to be an unassuming nibble of cheese turns out to be full of bright, complex flavors with a rind that only adds to the overall taste experience. Get this soon, and get it often. This is stuff to nibble on while making your #summersixteen memories last forever.

***In 2023, Randy of Mesa Farm entered his beautifully earned retirement. The farm and its singular cheeses will live on in our hearts and stories for years to come.***

CHARCUTERIE: Olympia Provisions Sweetheart Ham

We’ve told you about Salumi master Elias Cairo growing up right here in Salt Lake City. We even told you Cairo’s father had a constant supply of home-cured meats, so we can only assume his passion and precision began from a very young age. Fast forward a few decades and we’re in love with his offerings being made in Portland, Oregon. Not only are we obsessing over their cured salami, their sweetheart ham is stealing our very own hearts, one employee at a time.

Pork sirloin tips are brined for ten days with juniper berries, fresh herbs, fresh garlic, and fresh onions before being smoked over applewood for 10 hours. Sweet, smoky, and savory combine forces to create an artisan ham worth forsaking all other hams. Sandwiches, croque monsieurs, omelets, and midnight snacks all beg for this kind of ham. You’ll be amazed at how often you’ll find yourself reaching for this once you bring it home. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

CHOCOLATE: Fruition Heirloom Costa Rica Coto Brus 74%

Fruition began as the brainchild of Bryan Graham, a pastry chef from New York who fell in love with making chocolate after working with Chef Peter Greweling. Committed to fair trade, organically produced, bean to bar production, and above all wonderful flavor, the company that began in 2011 has steadily excelled, becoming an example of what chocolate should be.

For those of you that have been to our annual Chocolate Festival, this bar hits close to home. All proceeds from our annual event are donated to the Heirloom Cacao Preservation, HCP for short. Our friends at the HCP funded the very farmers and beans used to make this bar. All our hard work put into our Chocolate Festival has come to fruition. See what I did there? Eh, eh?

Now, go, friends. Take your tasty nibbles and dance off into the sunset. Nosh at will, and nosh often.

Moms deserve a day of spoiling, and it is our duty to do so. After all the dirty diapers, temper tantrums, homework help, fighting over curfew, learning to live alone, and then finally realizing she was right all along, it’s fair to say she is owed more than a few indulgences. Here’s what our moms are getting this year:

Take a Class

There is nothing cliche about giving Ma the gift of continued education, especially when said education revolves around chocolate, cheese, and other delicious ways to enjoy herself. Our summer schedule is filling up quick, but there’s still plenty of time to get in on the fun. The best part about this gift is joining her for some quality family time and reaping the benefits of both chocolate education and chocolate consumption with her!

The Chocolate Box

If Mom is a busy one these days and can’t join you for a class, upscale chocolate never hurt anyone. Chocolatier Blue started in Alpine, Utah, but has since relocated to Berkeley, California. Despite the move, Chocolatier Blue uses Salt Lake made Solstice Chocolate for each filled chocolate. There is not a better filled chocolate in the country and you know your mom deserves the best there is. Select from a range of box sizes and flavors, we’ll fill them to order so you can select which flavors your mom will like best.

Dessert – Flowers & Cacao Pavlova

There’s always something incredibly satisfying about cooking for mom, and doing it well. This beautiful dessert is a welcome treat for any gathering and perfect to wow mom with. Added bonus, the hardest part can be done in advance so mom doesn’t have to see you struggle or hear any expletives that might leave your mouth during the process. You can arrive with premade components, easily assemble them, and present a treat fit for any mom.

Brunch – Baked Adelle

Any holiday is a good time for cheese.  ANY DAY is a good day for cheese, but especially Mother’s Day. Wrap our favorite bloomy rind cheese in puff pastry, douse it with your favorite jam (mine is Amour’s Apricot Rose for this recipe) and serving a warm, gooey, bubble of cheesy goodness to your mom, and the rest of your family if she decides to share it.

Bar and Bitters

Remember all those nights your mom spent worrying about you for one reason or another? No? I’m sure she remembers, and I’m sure she could use a drink to recover from those long, stressful years. If your mom appreciates a well-made cocktail, get her the ingredients to make her own at home! Luxardo cherries, countless bitters, and assorted bar syrups are a great place to start. Plus, one she hones her skills, maybe she’ll share those cocktails at the next family gathering. One can hope, right?

There you have it. Our top gifts for the best moms out there. Hey Moms, happy Mother’s Day! We hope you get showered with love and spoiled with treats!

So there I was, happily noshing away at a slice of Adelle in my kitchen. I’m relishing in the funky flavor, fresh texture, and all around amazingness that has been created by Ancient Heritage creamery in Portland, Oregon. The mix of sheep and cow’s milk make this both creamy and flaky in texture, sweet and funky in taste, and has a rind that only adds to the flavor. It may be just a tad too funky for some, and I wanted to find a way to make this a hit for everyone this weekend at a brunch party. I often reach for fruit to make any cheese more approachable, and this was no different. Amour Spreads’  Apricot Rose jam loves cheese as much as I do, and cheese and jam belong together at every brunch. Oh, you want to make it fancier, you say? Wrap it in puff pastry and bake it. Boom. Melty, gooey cheese with sweet, floral jam and baked pastry dough… Mom is going to love you.

Baked Adelle
Serves 4-8

• 1 wheel Adelle
• 3 tablespoons jam, plus more for serving
• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg, beaten
• Crackers, fruit, or baguette, for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll pastry out to about a 10 inch diameter. Slather the top of the wheel of cheese with jame and place jam side down on the puff pastry. Wrap pastry around the wheel of cheese and press to seal seams. Place in the center of a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with beaten egg. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow cheese to rest at least five minutes before serving. Serve with crackers, sliced fruit, or baguette and more jam to spread on top.

Melted cheese is a thing of beauty. Never mind your preference regarding the type, I’m sure we can all agree that gooey, melty cheese is just the thing to pull us out of the winter doldrums. My go to melty meal of choice? Raclette.

The name of both cheese and meal is often met with sighs of appreciation and longing at first mention. Anyone who has experienced this centuries old tradition likely remembers it fondly. If you haven’t, think back to your first grilled cheese or macaroni and cheese that used high quality cheese. Remember that comforting feeling and delicious experience. Now I want you to imagine multiplying that feeling by at least five. That’s what Raclette will do you.

Raclette is a traditional Swiss alpine cheese made of cow’s milk that is aged at least three months and finished with brine baths to further develop its aroma and flavor. The result is a slightly stinky, but very creamy, decadent semifirm paste that, of course, begs to be melted. Most people will tell you the meal based on this cheese was started around the campfires of hunters who mainly ate potatoes, pickles, and this cheese while on long hunts. The story goes that the cheese ended up too close to the fire, melted over the potatoes, and voila, Raclette (the meal) was born.

Over the past few centuries, many iterations of raclette grill contraptions have arisen. Some have a long, thin heating element to melt on face of a quarter wheel of the cheese. Others resemble an Easy Bake Oven with small plates inserted under larger heating elements that can be removed and the cheese scraped over your starch and protein of choice. If you’re dying to experience this melty meal but aren’t so crazy about aquiring another crazy kitchen contraption, fear not, I love this meal and have never used anything other than my oven.

You’ll need Raclette, potatoes, and cornichons for the most basic version of this meal. I love to also include thin slices of Speck, crusty bread, pickled onions, and a big green salad when I’m making this for friends. Whatever you choose, you’ll remember it fondlt and crave it often. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Raclette
Serves 4-6

• 2 pounds sliced Raclette, rinds removed
• 1.5 pounds boiled fingerling potatoes
• 1 loaf artisan bread, sliced
• Sliced speck, prosciutto, or roasted meats
• 1 jar cornichons
• 1 jar pickled onions
• Other vegetables, mustard, or condiments, if desired

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lay slices of raclette on the bottom of a shallow baking dish or small baking sheet. Bake for about 5-10 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted and beginning to bubble and liquefy.  Scrape over potatoes, bread, and any protein selections. Season with salt and pepper, serve immediately with cornichons, pickles, and other vegetables and sides.