Caputo's Chocolate & Cheese

Last night we had the opportunity to attend Caputo's Chocolate and Cheese class. Our good friends Casey and Amanda arranged for us to attend this class with Skylee as an early Christmas present. It was a thoughtful gift. 

After work we picked Skylee up and headed downtown. The class was at Caputo's Market & Deli. We parked across the street and Skylee immediately lit up. Her dad worked on a contracting job right by Caputo's and one night he took Skylee with him. She recognized the area and began telling how much she loved Bruges waffles. There is a Bruges waffle shop next to Caputo's. She kept telling us the waffle are so good. It turned out we were about 25 minutes early for the class. So we walked next store and got a S'mores waffle to share. Much to Skylee's delight. 

When we finished our waffle we headed back to Caputo's. They assigned us to our table. At our table we had bread and water (to cleanse our pallet between tastings) and a paper to use to write down our thoughts and impressions. Once everyone arrived they kicked off the class. They started with a lecture on craft chocolate and artisan cheese. The class would be all about tasting the chocolate and the cheese and evaluating them. Then we would try them together, the teacher liked to say there is magic in the pairing - together the flavors could elevate each other and accentuate different aspects that may not be noticeable individually. 

As the class kicked off I was a little a nervous it would be disappointing for Skylee. I wasn't sure if she would enjoy the lecture. I also looked ahead at the listing of chocolates and cheeses we were going to taste. Many of the names were somewhat exotic and Skylee can be a bit picky. The worry was unnecessary as Skylee would whole heartedly embrace this experience. 

After the initial lecture they passed out the first pairing. The way the class worked the facilitators would pass out a pairing of cheese and chocolate. We would try each item separately and discuss it as a group. We would then try them together and discuss some more. Sometimes the facilitators would give additional background about the origin, or methods of production of the chocolate and cheese. The facilitators would also discuss why they chose to pair this particular combination together. It was very insightful. Once we finished one pairing we would move on to the next. In total there were five pairings of cheese and chocolate:

1. Solstice Madagascar with Casatica Di Bufala 

2. Pump Street Ecuador 85% with Revived Ossau Iraty

3. Goodnow Esmeraldas with Challerhocker

4. Sapore Del Piave with Naive Porcini 

5. Ritual Vanilla with La Peral

We wrote down details about the taste, smell, and texture of each cheese and chocolate. Skylee loved this part. She likes filling things out and without any prodding from us she filled her sheet right in. Some of my favorite comments she recorded are: "the chocolate tastes medium dark and smells like a flower." or "the cheese tastes very spicy and smells like stinky peppers."

Skylee tried all of the cheeses and chocolates. For the most part she seemed to enjoy them. She didn't like the Ecuador 85% - it was a very dark, bitter chocolate. She also did not enjoy the La Peral - it is a very strong blue cheese. When she went to take her first bite of the La Peral she was going to take a big bite, and I warned her she would probably want to take a small bite. It was good I warned her - she made a really funny face after that small bite. It was by far the strongest tasting cheese we ate. 

We all really enjoyed the class. We had fun talking about the tastes and smells and learning about how to pair cheese and chocolate. When we were done Skylee told us she thought the teacher was very knowledgable. The teacher told us they have never had a child attend the class before. She said they have had teens and pre-teens, to which Skylee promptly said, "I am 7!" 

After the class, many of the attendees stopped by our table to comment on how Skylee must have a refined pallet to enjoy such a class. She did in fact enjoy it. In the notes section of her worksheet she wrote: "I love most of the cheese, but not much of the chocolate. I had a very great time here and so much more." 

Before we left we bought some of our favorite cheese - the Casatica Di Bufala (although Alison's favorite was the Revived Ossau Iraty) and our favorite chocolate - the Naive Porcini to take home to Skylee's parents so they could try it. Skylee also packed up the rest of her blue cheese because she wanted her dad to try it. One interesting note about our favorite chocolate the Naive Poricini is actually made with Lithuanian porcini mushrooms. Who knew mushrooms would be a key ingredient is such delicious chocolate? I didn't until tonight. 

We had a fantastic evening. We are grateful to Casey and Amanda for this thoughtful gift. We may never have stumbled upon this without them. Now Alison is already planning to attend another one of Caputo's classes.