A Match Made In Heaven

Valentine’s Day is around the corner and no cheese should be left standing alone, so we’ve sought out some suitable mates with chocolate!  These perfect pairings were truly made for one  another and we think your love for them will be everlasting.  Read on to meet our chocolate cheese couplings to try yourself or perhaps share with a special someone.

St. Mary’s and Tony Chocolonely (Amsterdam, NL) Milk Chocolate Honey Almond Nougat Bar

Relationships are all about compatibility.  This milk chocolate highlights the sweetness in the Gouda, yet at the same time, the Gouda balances out the sweetness in the milk chocolate.  The honey in the nougat pairs perfectly with the grassy undertones in the grass-fed Gouda.  Added bonus - the crunchy bite of the almonds adds a much needed texture change to this fatty cheese.  It helps break up the richness of the bite and also acts as a bit of a palate cleanser.

 

Jeffs’ Select and Vosges Haut Chocolat (Chicago, IL) Banana Coconut Chocolate Bar

Your soulmate can bring out the best in you.  When paired with the right items, Jeffs’ usual caramel sweetness can transform into tropical flavors.  We love this combo because the dark chocolate holds up to the heavy hitting flavor of Jeffs’ Select and the coconut and banana flavors spotlight the tropical fruity notes that lay deep within the flavor layers of the cheese.  We also love how the Jeffs’ enhances the coconut flavor in the chocolate and creates a coconut cream texture by adding a rich mouthfeel to the chocolate bar.

 

AmaBlu and Terroir Chocolate (Fergus Falls, MN) Caramel Crack Dark Milk Chocolate Bar

You could say these two are high school sweethearts.  One tried-and-true pairing will always be Blue cheese and chocolate.  Our first Blue pairing is with the OG Blue, AmaBlu, and a local MN chocolatier.  The AmaBlu is our most delicate Blue but it is still full of flavor and salty (it does go through a second hand salting, after all).  The MN Maple Toffee (that’s right, caramel and maple syrup) also helps balance out that salty flavor.  What we love most is that even with the sweetness from the chocolate and toffee, we still taste the sharpness in the Blue and that salty finish lingers.  The layers of flavor in the pairing are deep and delicious.

 

AmaGorg and Endangered Species Chocolate (Indianapolis, IN) Oat Milk, Mixed Berries + Dark Chocolate Bar

They say opposites attract.  AmaGorg is our sweeter style of Blue veined cheese at the Caves of Faribault.  This cheese is lovely with all different berries so it made sense to pair it with a mixed berry chocolate bar.  This bar is dark chocolate, mixed berries, and oat milk.  The berry and oat milk spotlights the sweetness in the cheese but the bitterness in dark chocolate helps this pairing from being overly sweet.  The mixed berries also add a bit of a crunch to the chocolate bar, which highlights the grittiness in the veining in the cheese.

 

 

St. Pete’s Select and Terroir Chocolate (Fergus Falls, MN) Café au Lait Dark Chocolate Bar

These two always find a way to keep the spark alive.  As you may know by now, we love chocolate and Blue cheese!  But adding coffee flavors to the mix really gives this pairing an energetic zing!  St. Pete’s Select has a wonderful piquant tang that can sometimes compete with more acidic coffees.  Because the Stumbeano’s Coffee (keeping this pairing 100% MN) used in this bar is super roasty and toasty, it lightens the tang in the cheese and creates a more subtle flavor, adding a rich nuttiness to the cheese.

 

Felix and Raaka Chocolate (Brooklyn, NY) Bourbon Cask Aged Unroasted Dark Chocolate Bar

 

Let’s grow old together.  Felix is a full flavored, fudgy, dank blue cheese that yearns to be paired with something just as smooth and full flavored.  Enter the Bourbon Cast Aged unroasted Dark Chocolate bar from Raaka Chocolate.  This bar is dark, bitter, oaky and smooth with a hint of cherry cordial*.  This intense chocolate bar holds up well to our powerful Blue.  The oaky-ness in the chocolate creates a “smoky” flavor in the natural rind.  The stone fruit flavor in the bar creates a slight fruitiness in the cheese that doesn’t usually appear when snacking on it alone.  We also love that the fudginess in the cheese creates a deeper, creamy texture in the actual chocolate bar.

 

*side note, we noticed this after reading the description on their site! Remember, makers usually can help you identify some flavors in their products you may miss!