Walking down Essex Street, maybe you’ve seen the blue Kakawa sign, a chocolate shop that opened last fall. Hopefully, you’ve stopped in for melt-in-your-mouth truffles, rich, fudgy brownies (I’m head-over-heels for their caramel brownies), crisp cookies studded with pools of dark chocolate, and drinking chocolate with intriguing flavors. While I adore cheese, I love chocolate. Like I LOVE chocolate. I look for the Death By Chocolate and the “for chocolate lovers only” warnings. Often, those aren’t chocolaty enough.

However, Kakawa’s confections are ALWAYS chocolaty enough. I mean, their truffles are a dream. I was in their store the other day watching someone shave off tiny bits from around the bottom of the truffles to make them the perfect shape. The care they take with every confection is amazing.

So we were eager to hop on the Kakawa train when the owners, Tony and Bonnie, approached us about making a blue cheese truffle. After tasting a bunch of blues, they chose Persille de Rambouillet, a goat’s milk blue from France. It is a super creamy cheese, which ensures a silky truffle center, and the strong flavors of pepper, hay, and sweet cream match well with the rich dark chocolate. I was a little skeptical when the Kakawa crew brought over some tastes of the Persille truffle, but wow was it good! The dark chocolate is the main flavor, but the blue cheese nudges your taste buds throughout. It’s a classic pairing in a couple bites, and now I never have to choose between cheese and chocolate, thank goodness.

For the love of cheese and sweet collaboration (Small businesses of Salem, unite!),

Kiri

PS. We have a few boxes of Kakawa Chocolate Truffles with Persille de Rambouillet blue cheese here at the shop, and Kakawa also sells them on Essex Street if you want to try them. If you haven’t been to Kakawa, seriously for real, GO!