Cheese and Chocolate Tasting Event at La Cave au Fromage
Yes, you read that right – cheese and chocolate. And yes, it implies eating cheese and chocolate at the same time, in the same bite. I kid you not.
While some of you may have images of a caramilk bar with cheese filling instead of caramel or Mars bars dunked in Dairylee, this was a serious event aimed at demonstrating that the two flavours could balance each other out. Not only that but it also introduced people to high quality chocolate and fantastic cheese.
The evening started off with everyone seated around this table with a glass of 
wine and a slate plate with the cheese and chocolate pairings in front of them. We got a chance to chat as the rude people who RSVP’d but never bothered to show up never bothered to show and as the evening wore on we decided to start. I got a chance to talk to the chocolatier from Melt and the Gingerbread Girl who was a fellow Canuck – WOOHOO! Soft fuuuuudge!
We had a talk by the owner of La Cave au Fromage about cheese and for each cheese we tried, he explained a bit about how it was made. We had Bleu de Basque which was a ewe’s milk blue cheese from the Pyrenees. I’m not a blue cheese fan but this was OK. Salty, slightly blue but not too blue. The Monterey Cheddar from cow’s milk made in Somerset was a nice cheese and I’d likely go back and buy it with a cool bag to take hole. I think my favourite was the Tomme Brulee from ewe’s milk made in Pays Basque but perhaps not as a cheese on its own as it was too strong but with the chocolate. Yes, I said I’d only eat that cheese again at the same time as chocolate :-). Next was the Colline Aux Chevre which was a goat’s milk cheese and being very soft it was OK but I had it on bread rather than eating it all with the chocolate then we finished with what looked like a brie but was actually Gratte-Paille from cow’s milk made in France.
For each cheese, Louise the Chocolate Consultant told us about the chocolate we were pairing with each cheese. We started light and worked our was to fully dark. The first chocolate up was the Askinodie 34% white chocolate which was OK but actually when eaten with the blue cheese was delightful. It has a slightly sugar grainy texture though so if you like it sweet, grab a bar. Next up was the first of three Valrhona chocolates being Jivara a 40% milk. I found this too sweet and creamy for my liking but once paired with the cheddar it was delightful. For someone looking for a higher quality milk chocolate, this is a great bar. Then we had a favourite I’ve reviewed before the Manjari 64% – delicious and my favourite pairing. I would happily made a sandwich of this cheese again and fellow girl geek attendee whose name escaped me also liked making these cheese chocolate sandwiches! Then we had the Grenada Chocolate co 71% which was nice but slightly earthy for me though a really delightful dark chocolate and one 
of the most ethical bars on the planet. If you like dark chocolate, switch to this as you’ll be making a difference by eating chocolate. Lastly was the intense, slightly nutty to me 100% from Valrhona. Wow not even the Gratte-Paille cheese could conquer the intense flavour although they did taste better together.
As part of the extracurricular activities, Dom from Chocablog shared some Matcha Chocolates and some Grenana 85% as well as giving me some chocolate to review – YAY! I shared my precious Soma Chuao bar which is sadly now all gone but I hope to get some more shipped to me (I do have more of their bars though :-))
Would I do this again? Dear goodness YES! Would I send other people? Actually, I’d use it as a team building evening, a treat for great employees or anything special it was that good and that different! If you’d like to do one, and I’d say go for it, contact The Chocolate Consultant Louise to arrange an evening.
