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Welcome to Fancy Food & Culinary Products' blog, your place to read reviews of the great fancy and gourmet products we find in the marketplace.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Editor's Choice: Sixth Course Chocolates

I do not claim to have a trained or sophisticated palate. I can only tell when things are really good, or really bad. Everything in the middle just kinda registers as not bad. Sixth Course has reinforced to me what really good tastes like.

When we received the lovely package of chocolates in the mail, I was first impressed by the variety of flavor combinations held within. Caramels with Rosemary, smoked salt, Ceylon, Chai tea, passion fruit and sage and brown butter were delightful to the eye as well as the taste buds.  They fairly exploded with exotic yet familiar flavors and melted on the tongue.

As is my wont, I went back for more. And there they were! Malt Chocolate Crunch, Cayenne Caramel, Hazelnut Praline, Honey and Fennel Pollen, Earl Grey and Coconut Rum chocolates in a box labeled "Chef's Choice." Again, the familiar with the exotic was enticing and intoxicating, but sadly, I had finally reached the end of the new flavors to try.

Sixth Course is the beautiful brain child of Bridget Labus and Gianina Serrano, who together have decades of experience in the Bay Area's finest kitchens and luxury five-star hotels. They use Guittard Chocolate Couverture, the freshest local dairy products and hand-selected organic herbs and wrap it all up in sustainable, recycled packaging. The result is, in their words, "the bestest, tastiest, dopest truffles you've ever tasted." I dare you not to make yummy noises. I failed miserably.

-Elizabeth Dugan


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Editor's Choice — Sugar Brook Farms


Cheese makes everything better. Need to spice up some plain macaroni — just add some melted cheese and you magically have a favored meal for adults and children alike. Add two slices of bread and some cheese and you have a sandwich. When your hamburger is a little dull, add cheese. When your wrap needs spicing up, add cheese. It solves all culinary problems. And, when Sugar Brook sent a wide variety of the company’s top cheese products, you can bet I was checking them out!

Sugar Brook Farms produces delicious cheese products from the company’s farm in Verona, WI. Their line includes everything from cheese balls to cold pack cheese, deli cakes, dessert balls and Chedda spreads. Our shipment included a variety of spreads including the award-winning CheddaBlu. The spread is a combination of Wisconsin Aged Cheddar and Wisconsin Blue Cheese. This gives it a strong, distinct flavor that would be perfect on a Buffalo Chicken sandwich.

The spread is synonymous with awards and won both the 2006 Best in Class and the 2008 2nd Place at the World Cheese Awards. And, while cheese is always a winner in my book — Sugar Brook’s CheddarBlu definitely stood out!

~Cathryn