Photo by Brian Goodman Photography
Warm weather means eating meals outdoors and a grab-and-go approach to your menu. We visited artisans local to our business to learn what we could stash in our picnic baskets. Their advice is laid out here and in several of this issue’s articles, featuring cheese, chocolate, spirits, beer, wine, and cider. We recommend talking to your local butcher, brewer, or cheesemonger to source and pair fresh, small-batch, cured, aged, and fermented food and drink all summer long.
- Serve lambic; tangy soft cheese; spicy compote; and fruit-infused or milk chocolate together: New Belgium Transatlantique Kriek lambic; Hemme Brothers Quark cheese; Janet’s Finest Raspberry Jalapeño compote; and Christopher Elbow Cherry Streusel or Dominican Republic 50% Craft Milk Chocolate.
- Blend traditional German Pilsner; bandaged, aged cheddar cheese; and sweet milk chocolate: KC Bier Co. Pils (discover a historic brew in History, Untapped: The Story of Hillbilly Gold); Hemme Brothers’ 48th Street Reserve cheese; and Christopher Elbow Peanut Butter and Toasted Corn Milk Chocolate.
- Orange wine, with its dry sweetness, pairs well with strong, salty, washed-rind cheese (read about a source local to the Fermentation office in Voices of the Earth: TerraVox Wine and Green Dirt Farm Cheese]: TerraVox Winery Vignoles Amber and Green Dirt Farm washed-rind Bossa.
- Pinot noir pairs with aged, crumbly cheddar: Pinot noir from a kit and Milton Creamery Flory’s Truckle cheese. (Learn more about raw-milk cheeses in Wild Dairy Fermentation).
- Gin cocktail? Pair it with white chocolate (visit Crafting Chocolate Pairings for more sweet ideas): Tom’s Town Botanical Gin and Christopher Elbow Crème Brûlée White Chocolate.
- Try hard apple cider, (get set up to make your own in A Slick Cider Setup), grassy cheese, and dark chocolate: Dave & Dani Craft Cider; Green Dirt Farm Tuffet cheese; and Christopher Elbow Ecuador 73 percent Dark Craft Chocolate.
Thanks to the local brewers and artisans whose unique passions made this photo possible.
- The Better Cheddar | Kansas City, Missouri
- Green Dirt Farm | Weston, Missouri
- TerraVox Winery | Weston, Missouri
- Christopher Elbow Chocolates | Kansas City, Missouri
- Tom’s Town Distilling Co. | Kansas City, Missouri
- KC Bier Co. | Kansas City, Missouri
- New Belgium Brewing Company | Fort Collins, Colorado
- Dave & Dani Craft Cider | Manhattan, Kansas