Making Chocolate

The process to delicious chocolate is, surprisingly, very similar to the process of making coffee! The cacao tree produces fleshy pods that contain the seeds we make chocolate from. These seeds are fermented and then immediately dried (about 5-7 days)then the beans are cleaned, roasted and graded. At that point, the shell is removed from each bean to reveal the "nib", the part of the bean that is used to make chocolate liquor (not to be confused with chocolate liqueur!). From the liquid state, chocolate liquor can be either turned into cocoa solids or cocoa butter!

Chocolate has been enjoyed by humans for and estimated 2600 years! Earlier, chocolate was used in drink-form, but we have come a long way to stretch the use of our love for chocolate today...bars, powders, liqueurs, you name it! We have it.

Roquefort Blue Cheese

Roquefort blue cheese comes with a very romanticized legend. It is the story of a young shepherd who is minding his flock in Roquefort, France, when he sees a beautiful woman in the distance. He leaves his herding dog to watch the sheep and places his lunch of bread and ewe's milk curds in a nearby cave to keep cool. After days and days of hunting but not finding the woman, he returns back to his flock and his lunch for he is starving. He retrieves his lunch and finds the bread and curds have molded, but due to his hunger he takes a bite anyway and discovered the delicious taste of what is now called Roquefort blue cheese.

Roquefort cheese is made with Lacaune ewe's milk only, part of what makes it so special. The milk is brought into dairy's and tested for it's quality. What passes the test is heated and placed in large vats. Penicillium roqueforti is then added to the vats in order to curdle the ewe's milk. The curdles are cubed and placed into molds to drain and be salted, and there they sit for ten days before transported caves for ripening. The cheese loaves are punctured about forty times to aerate the cheese and ensure mold growth. These loaves are hung for three to ten months, then the loaves leave the cave as Roquefort cheese.

Gorgonzola Blue Cheese

Gorgonzola cheese, a type of blue cheese, has been made out of Milan, Italy since the eighth century. It is made by warming the milk with a rennet in order to curdle the mixture. The cheese curds are then inoculated with mold (the "blue" part of blue cheese) then put into molds that press and drain the cheese. The cheese is aged for at least three months, but often longer. Gorgonzola cheese aged for only three months is considered young and is called Gorgonzola Dolce (sweet Gorgonzola). This cheese is often white, soft and somewhat sweet. Gorgonzola aged six months or more is aged and called Gorgonzola Piccante (mountain Gorgonzola). Gorgonzola Piccante has a much stronger flavor, and is often flaky and crumbly in texture. Both kinds are delicious and used for different reasons. Gorgonzola Dolce makes an incredible spread on crackers and Gorgonzola Piccante is wonderful in salads!

Blue Cheese- How Do They Get That Cheese So Blue?

Blue cheese is cow or goat milk cheese inoculated with penicillum, which is mold. The blue streaks, patches and veins in blue cheeses are, as they look to be, pieces of mold. Blue cheese has a tendency to be extremely pungent, and has a distinct, sharp and tangy flavor. When you see blue cheese labeled as “bleu cheese” it is simply the French term used for “blue”. The process of bleu cheese includes heating the milk and mixing it with rennet to curdle the milk, then mixing the mold into the mixture, and letting it sit for three to six months. Then, tada! Bleu cheese.

Several popular types of bleu cheeses include Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Stilton, and Datable.