For many of us, cheese or chocolate make for fantastic (and welcome!) Christmas gifts – whether as a stocking stuffer, a special Christmas box, or a pairing with wine, tea, coffee or whisky.
We definitely agree with, and encourage this sort of gifting – for starters, everyone will be happy with a delicious gift, but secondly, it’s not a piece of plastic that will eventually disintegrate into nasty little micro plastics that pollute our planet. If you want to read more about the cult of consumption at Christmas, please click here for George Monbiot’s searing article – one that really chimes with me every year.
This week we’d also like to suggest another use of chocolate, or cheese, inspired by Jenny Linford. Jenny is a true food “all rounder”, with a special penchant for cheese and chocolate. And she is host to a new Food. FM podcast called “A slice of cheese”.
After listening to that podcast, we have some ideas for making a great cheese or chocolate board, with some good recommendations too!
- Be generous .. make sure you’ve got “big wedges” so everyone can taste”
- Beware too much choice – don’t be afraid to curate and select three to five different items
- Within these three to five cheeses or chocolates, cover a range of flavours, colours and textures
- Think about the order you try them (e.g., leave the strongest for last)
- Make sure you have the cheeses at the correct (i.e. room) temperature before serving.
… and then apply, and adapt, these to creating a Chocolate Tasting Board:
- Curate a range of 3-5 craft chocolate bars
- Try to cover a a broad range of chocolate types — a couple of darks, a classic or dark milk
- Include within these bars at least one with a different texture
- Don’t be afraid to suggest the “tasting order”; don’t start with Milk or White chocolate .. try to start with the Dark and higher cocoa percentage bars and break up each bar one at a time .. and share the bars one at time. You can always come back for more later if you are the host, maybe check out the product detail pages so you can unwrap the stories behind each maker, bean and bar
- Don’t forget to try and pair with any wine you may have left over, especially dark chocolate with red wines
And remember, ending your meal with some craft chocolate really DOES aid digestion by activating your second stomach and digestive tract. Raise, and break, a bar this Christmas
