"El Rey" of Blue Cheese

Today's taste tests included El Rey dark chocolates. I expected to like all three of them a lot since I had liked other El Rey chocolates we have tried. However, that was not the case for all three of the chocolates:
- Bucare - 58.5%, hard to bite into, earthy, bitter, smokey, strong aroma
- Mijao - 61%, fairly sweet, vanilla flavor, creamy, more intense cocoa flavor, nutty, this was my favorite of the three and I think it is due to the extra cocoa butter added to this variety to increase smoothness
- Gran Saman - 70%, astringent, earthy, bitter, most intense, chalky, charcoal, fruity, this one did grow on me as I continued to taste it throughout class, but it was not my favorite

Our next taste test was a cinnamon test. I never knew there were so many different types of cinnamon and that the taste could vary so much. We tried the cinnamon on toasted bread croutons with butter, rather than eating the cinnamon raw. We also had to decide which cinnamon most closely resembled the Cinnabon cinnamon of which we had a sample of one of their cinnamon rolls. This was a very delicious taste test since cinnamon sugar toast has always been a favorite breakfast of mine. Here are the results:
- Ceylon - smokey, spicy, complex, "true cinnamon"
- Chinese Cassia - potent, tangy, ideal for baking
- Caigon Cassia - tastes most like a cinnamon stick or red hot, lingering aftertaste, strong bite
- Korintga Cassia - sweet, mild bite, smooth, my favorite

I picked the Cinnabon cinnamon to be the Chinses Cassia, but it was actually the Korintga Cassia. It was a hard taste test to do since the Cinnabon cinnamon is gooey and very sweet.

Before we moved onto to cheeses, Dr. Sloan had one last olive for us to taste that we didn't get to yesterday. It was an oil cured olive and looked like a prune... or something worse. The smell was absolutely horrible. Given my poor experience with olives the day before, I couldn't bring myself to try it. The smell alone was more than enough of an experience for me.

We then, thankfully, moved on to Blue Cheeses. We watched a video on the best blue cheeses that are made in Stilton, England. It's incredible how much time and care goes into making fine cheeses. I now understand why they are so expensive. Our taste test included one of the Stilton cheeses:
Valdeon - strong aftertaste, sour, bitter, musty, tasted like garbage, chemical taste
Stilton - creamy, not as strong of an aftertaste, salty
American - my favorite, least "blue" flavor, creamy, soft, salty, sour, weaker taste
Cambozola - softest, sour, flavor develops, creamy, moist, doesn't crumble

I am still not a blue cheese person; however, I did appreciate the Stilton blue cheese more than some others in the past. The only reason the American was my favorite was because it tasted the least like blue cheese. I don't mind it when it is mixed in with other things, like a salad or dish. I just do not like that strong, stinky taste plain.

One of the most exciting parts of class today was getting to plan our Southern cooking menu for next Tuesday. We had no trouble brainstorming possible dishes. Everyone had their family favorites. We ended up on this delicious menu:
- Biscuits
- String beans
- Mac and Cheese
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Mashed Potatoes
- Fried Chicken
- Peach Cobbler
- Lemonade and Sweet Tea

I can't wait to try all of this! Below is a picture of the cinnamon taste test. Yum!