Here’s some food for thought. What happens when we die? Eternal darkness, the void, pure nothing? Or is there life beyond the veil, a Refresh button for existence? And most importantly, what the hell does this have to do with cheese?

Fear not, for we have seen the afterlife, it is alive and well, it tastes like heaven. Perhaps you’ve yet to bask in the wonder of Double Skull Taleggio, a special product of Caputo’s Cheese Cave, in which case waste no further time. Come taste it in the market. Buy it now. It’s basically edible Lazarus, a miracle of the regenerative power of our cheese caves.

Let’s start with Taleggio. It’s Italy’s second-most popular cheese, second only to Parmigiano-Reggiano, and believe me, the two couldn’t be more different. Taleggio is a semi-soft, washed-rind, smear-ripened cheese with enormously pungent aromas (read: stinky), but surprisingly mellow, fruity flavors. It comes from the Val Taleggio in Lombardy, Italy, where it’s matured for somewhere between six to ten weeks. During this time, the cheese is washed down regularly with a salt brine during maturation, which prevents mold overgrowth while simultaneously making the surface of the cheese amenable to B. linens, a class of bacteria that impart said pungency and develop the cheese’s characteristic reddish-orange crust. 

When we receive our squares of Taleggio from Italy, these bricks of deliciousness are pretty much in a state of decay. This is where the real magic happens. Our affineuse (aka the cheese whisperer) starts the washing cycle all over, this time daily, and using Epic Brewing’s scary-good Double Skull Doppelbock Lager in place of the traditional saltwater bath, thus breathing new life back into this precious Taleggio. The results are transcendental. Deep, rounded flavors of malt, bread, and fruit. Wildly complex aromas. The essence of umami.

We’re serious when we say that to taste this cheese is to taste rebirth, a new life of flavor wrought in 97% humidity and daily beer baths. It’s a truly singular experience. So head on down to the market, pick up some Double Skull Taleggio, and celebrate the Day Of The Dead in true form (disclaimer: we can’t guarantee this will actually pair well with a sugar skull).

If you’ve been following our Tower of Terroir series over the last week, then you know we’ve been obsessing over all things Halloween. In between the spider-webbing of our front doors, carving of crooked-teethed pumpkins, and brainstorming costume ideas (pretty sure I’m going with Disco Bunny), we’ve shared a couple pretty killer recipes. We’ve covered drinks and dinner, but now it’s time for the thing trick-or-treaters want most: chocolate!

Well, sort of. It’s actually coffee. Plus milk. And cocoa butter. With a touch of raw cane sugar thrown in. Okay okay, it’s a latte. But also a chocolate bar. Wait, what?

The good folks over at OmNom (read: highly awarded, truly delicious, beautifully packaged Icelandic chocolate Jedi masters) wanted to see what would happen if they replaced cacao beans with coffee beans, and we can say pretty much without pause that it’s one of the most delicious things on our shelves right now. OmNom worked extensively on this project with their fellow countrymen Reykjavik Roasters to develop a roasting curve that would deliver the best aromatic results and smoothest flavor. The result is, well, a deliciously edible latte. Actually it’s more like 5 lattes (eat the whole bar in one sitting and you’ll be jittering something fierce), and it’s only $9.99. Plus, the spooky bats on the package are just too perfect for Halloween.

Pick up a couple bars before the 31st, in stores or online!

#PSL, we love you and your squealing, iPhone-wielding, UGG-booted superfans, but this year we’re opting for something with just a little more kick to get us in the mood for fall. Halloween is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate all things grim and ghoulish than with a strong, pumpkin-spiced cocktail?

As you know, we’re big fans of bitters, and so the Old Fashioned (spirit + sweetener + bitters) is a go-to when we’re in the mood for a pre-Prohibition classic. It just so happens that one of our absolute favorite bitters companies, Workhorse Rye, just released some truly delicious Pumpkin Bitters as one of their masterfully-crafted seasonal offerings, made with five varieties of heirloom pumpkin and a pantry’s worth of festive herbs and spices.

We paired these bitters with a nice high-proof bourbon and a bit of maple syrup for our version of America’s oldest cocktail. Check out the recipe below:

Pumpkin Spice Old Fashioned
Yields 1

-2oz bourbon (or rye, for extra spice)
-0.5oz maple syrup
-4-5 dashes Workhorse Rye Pumpkin Bitters
-Orange peel garnish

Directions
Combine all ingredients in an old fashioned glass. Add ice, preferably large cubes, and stir until you hear the ice begin to crack. Squeeze the orange peel over the top of the drink (the oils release & add an amazing aromatic component to the drink), brush the edges of the glass with the orange, then garnish. Now sit back, listen to the fire crackle, sip slowly & enjoy. Not so #basic after all, eh?

Taleggio is many things. It is the second most popular cheese in Italy behind the reigning king, Parmigiano Reggiano, it is one of our stinkier selections (making it less popular here in the states), it is one of the darlings of Cheese Cave II, and it is now the beneficiary of a local beer wash.

What was once an already delicious, funky, creamy cheese now also has an even funkier, more savory, and more ‘Utah’version. Both our cave aged Taleggio and our cave aged Double Skull Taleggio ebb and flow in ripeness and availability based on the whims of both our mongers, local chefs, and your fellow stinky cheese lovers. This has given me the opportunity to cook with both and investigate the best uses for each. The original I find to be the most suitable for cold dishes and entrees with milder ingredients. Think of a raddicchio and pear salad with cubes of Taleggio and a lemon/mustard vinaigrette OR Taleggio spiked polenta with browned butter sauce.

The Double Skull iteration loves to beef up dishes with more complexity and serve as the centerpiece for a cheese and salumi board for myself and my most enthusiastic cheese fiend friends. The complexity that develops in the cave after many a beer wash make it exemplary nestled with assorted cured meats, olives, and other cheeses. My favorite use, however, is this dish.

As the cold evenings become more frequent, I crave the comforts of risotto. There really is nothing like the pillowy cloud of starchy happiness created by rice, stock, and time. A saute of mushrooms atop a taleggio riddled risotto is both full of comfort, but also full of big, fun flavors that play well with each other while stepping back just enough to also appreciate the lovely creamy, starchy texture and subtle bite of each grain. While stinky and sometimes menacing in its original state of being a cheese wedge, both Taleggios melt down into a more mellow version when used in a recipe. The texture becomes even more silky and the flavor mellows to a slightly milder, much more approachable version. It invites you in with the lightest whiff of earthiness and keeps you coming back for its sweet paste and creamy mouthfeel.

Enough of me, let’s talk about you. This is the kind of recipe you could whip up on a weeknight (say, before a stroll around the neighborhood hunting for tiny morsels of candy) for a small dose of a comfort and a large dose of sustenance. This is also the kind of recipe you could stow away and save to impress company. The idea that risotto is both a toiling all day exertion of energy and a royal pain in the butt to make is completely false. Just take a look below.

Double Skull Taleggio Risotto
Serves 4

• 4 cups chicken or veggie broth
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion or shallot, chopped finely
• 2 cups risotto rice
• 1/2 cup Double Skull lager or white wine
• 1 pound Double Skull Taleggio cheese
• Salt

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a very slow, steady simmer on a burner nearest to where you’ll be cooking the risotto.

Put 1 tablespoon of butter, the olive oil, and the chopped onion in a broad, sturdy pot, and turn on the heat to medium high. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes translucent, then add the rice. Stir quickly and thoroughly until the grains are coated well.

Add the lager or wine to the rice, stir and allow it to evaporate. (Note: you can skip this step and proceed immediately to stock if you prefer to not cook with alcohol, though all of it will cook off) Add ½ cup of simmering broth and cook the rice, stirring constantly with a long wooden spoon, wiping the sides and bottom of the pot clean as you stir, until all the liquid is gone. You must never stop stirring and you must be sure to wipe the bottom of the pot completely clean frequently, or the rice will stick to it.When there is no more liquid in the pot, add another ½ cup, continuing always to stir in the manner described above. Maintain heat at a lively pace.

Begin to taste the rice after 20 minutes of cooking. It is done when it is tender, but firm to the bite. As it approaches that stage, gradually reduce the amount of liquid you add, so that when it is fully cooked, it is slightly moist, but not runny. When the rice is about 1 or 2 minutes away from being fully cooked, add all the Taleggio and the remaining butter. Stir constantly to melt the cheese and wrap it around the grains. Off heat, taste and correct for salt, stirring after adding salt. Serve promptly.

If you wish, serve along with sauteed mushrooms. Here, I sauteed them quickly in a pan with olive oil, 1 tablespoon minced shallot, 1 clove smashed garlic, and a teaspoon of thyme. You won’t regret it.

There are certain cookies we make for the delicious tastes of the season and there are other certain cookies we make to celebrate the themes of the season. Christmas is an easy example. Gingerbread is for taste, sugar cookies for decorative fun. But now consider Hallow’s Eve. Sure, there are cookie cutouts and images aplenty, but there’s little left for taste other than the spices behind the now cult favorite Pumpkin Spice everything.

In the spirit of both taste and decoration, we’ve combined the two here with a simple swap of ingredients. Bitters are much like vanilla extract in that the flavors of a raw ingredient are extracted into an alcohol based solution over a long period of time. When used in baking, the alcohol evaporates and leaves behind the ghost of its place presence in the form of those extracted flavors. While sugar cookies are often a blank canvas for spooky cookie cutters and sweet icings, seasonal bitters are an invaluable resource to also breathe some flavor into what was once just a fun cookie to look at and never sink your teeth into.

Instead of a recipe, here’s the pro-tip for tip top tasty treats. Substitute equal amount of bitters for vanilla extract and take a taste. Add more flavor if needed, but the same amount should do the trick.

During my lunch date with Gia and Frankie, both our sugar cookies and royal icing had Workhorse Rye’s Pumpkin bitters in place of vanilla extract. There’s just a hint of spice in both, but nothing too potent to change the place a sugar cookie serves. They’re tasty and almost as adorable as these two little ladies, but now with a hint that fall flavor we love so dearly.

Have you made the switch to bitters in any of your recipes? What’s been your favorite?!

Just like last year, I’m still not the Pinterest loving, paper-crafting, holiday-decorating millennial my grandmother wishes I would be. I’m just not. I’ve gotten away with wearing an animal onesie for the last few Halloween’s (this year’s rendition is a llama) and my pals have since refrained from lamenting about my lack of creativity and excitement surrounding such days.

Again, just like last year, all the festive fun I’ve held in my fun-bank savings have been reserved for the kids in my life. With none of my own, the littles of the Caputo clan are my go-to gals for holiday baking and festive, spooky treats of both the sweet and savory sorts. While Matt and Yelena were out of town, I borrowed their cuties for a lunch date filled with pasta, cookies, and festive decorations. It was carb-laden, delicious, and my favorite way to celebrate.

Our pals at Ritrovo are the source for our favorite Halloween time pasta, tagliolini colored with squid ink, and also the inspiration behind lunch. Baked sugar pumpkins are the perfect vessel for serving pasta. The roasted inside is easy to scoop out while attacking the pasta, and an easy way to trick your kids into eating some semblance of vegetable along with their promised pasta treats. With such a fun presentation and high quality ingredients, there’s no need to heap on loads of sauce here. Instead, we opted for browned butter with fried sage leaves. The sage pairs so well with the pumpkin and the nutty complexity of browned butter compliments both noodle and vegetable perfectly. This was the perfect meal to fill us up before an afternoon of cookie decorating…and eating.

Roasted Pumpkin with Squid Ink Tagliolini 
Recipe from our friends at Ritrovo

Yield: 4 Servings

• 1 package Ritrovo Squid Ink Tagliolini
• 4 small sugar pumpkins
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• A handful or so fresh sage leaves
• Grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• Salt & pepper – to taste

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Wash the pumpkins, cut the top stems off, and scoop all the seeds and pith out (keep the seeds to make roasted pumpkin seeds). Brush the inside of the pumpkins with around four tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then place face down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for an hour or until the meat of the pumpkin is fork tender

While the pumpkins are baking boil a large pot of salted water on the stove top. Once the water has reached a rolling boil add the Ritrovo Squid Ink Tagliolini and cook for 8 – 10 minutes until pasta is al dente, Add the butter to a skillet and heat to medium high, stirring frequently. When you begin to smell a nutty aroma and the solids become colored dark gold, add the sage leaves. Stir until the sage starts to crisp and remove from heat.

Using tongs remove the pasta from the water into the skillet with the olive oil and sage. Add the Parmigiano to the skillet with the pasta, butter, and sage. Mix and distribute among each of the pumpkin “bowls” and season with  more salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy by digging into the sides of the pumpkin bowl to eat with the Tagliolini.

I don’t consider myself a serious baker, but I enjoy baking. I also don’t consider myself a festive person, but I do enjoy getting in the spirit of things with the right people. And the right people are often kids. I will not go crazy decorating with friends, but I will with my little sister or with my friends’ children,  a number rapidly growing with each passing year. I love crafting with kids, and Matt and Yelena were gracious enough to let me steal their two darling littles for some fun Halloween-themed cake decorating.

I love cake pops. Say what you will about them, but small portions of delicious cake that don’t require utensils are always a yes in my book. Plus, it got us in the mood for the upcoming holiday. Marou’s Heart of Darkness bar is an incredible option for chocolate cake pops.

In making cake pops, the actual cake matters, but the binder matters even more. Most cake pops use icing to keep the crumb together. Here, we’re using an easy ganache that’s a real knockout. As a refresher, ganache is the magical combination of chocolate and cream. Different ratios serve different purposes—from glazes and icings to truffle fillings and beyond. The high percentage of cacao in the Heart of Darkness bar make it rich and complex, while those intriguing tasting notes shine through any kind of decorating you succumb to. Sprinkles and icing are no match for the intense flavor of this bar. You’ll have no trouble sneaking these while the kids are out trick or treating or while fast asleep after their sugar high come down.

SPOOKY MAROU CAKE POPS
Makes about 20 cake pops

• 20-25 lollipop sticks, available at any craft store
• One 8-inch chocolate cake (I love using this recipe)
• 3 Marou Heart of Darkness bars, or about 9 ounces of your favorite dark chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces
• 3 ounces heavy cream
• 6 ounces white chocolate for icing, optional
• Immersion blender, optional, but so handy

In a large mixing bowl, crumble the cake between your fingers into fine crumbs. Set aside.

Simmer a small pot of water. Set a metal or glass bowl over it, making sure there is air between the bottom of the bowl and the simmering water. Pour cream into bowl and heat until it’s warm enough to melt the chocolate. Add 3 ounces of chocolate and stir to melt. Once the chocolate is melted, immerse your blender fully, making sure there is no air stuck in the top of your blender. Blend until your ganache is fully mixed and shimmering. If you don’t have a blender, continue stirring until the ganache comes together. Set aside to cool.

Once ganache has cooled, add small amounts to your cake crumb and mix with your hands. Continue adding ganache until the crumb holds together, but isn’t totally dense and weighed down. Scoop out portions for your cake balls. Roll each into a ball on a small baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and freeze 5-10 minutes.

While your cake balls are chilling, begin melting the remaining chocolate over simmering water to coat your cake balls. Poke a lollipop stick into each cake ball, spoon melted chocolate over each ball until fully coated. Coat all in dark chocolate or use another bowl to melt the white chocolate and use the same process to coat. You can set these on a plate to set and have a flat bottom, or stick the bottom of each stick into styrofoam to set in a more circular ball. Allow 30 minutes to set, then decorate to your heart’s desire. Or you can just eat them—that works too!

So, did September actually happen? Between the warm weather and busy schedules we’ve kept here at Caputo’s, I’m quite positive we jumped right from August to October. I’m just starting to pull my sweaters and comfy socks out of storage and see cute posts of friends getting their hands on the the season’s first pumpkins. I’m ready for cozy dinner parties, hot drinks, comforting stews, and all the wonderful traditions of autumn. We’re keeping things fun and festive this month to help you welcome the cool weather in tasty fashion. Here’s what we’ll be noshing on this month.

PANTRY: Maestri Squid Ink Spaghetti

There is really nothing better in life than a plate of high quality pasta. If the quality is there, I could not care less about the sauce accompanying it or the vessel in which it is served. I would argue that bronze dye extruded shapes and artisan style pasta is a dying art form that is giving way to slippery, cheap teflon-cut noodles. Dear friends, they are not the same. The ideal pasta is roughly textured on a molecular level, creating a sponge-like surface that holds sauce to itself rather than floating in a puddle of it. There is a toothsome texture and flavor from the grains it was made from. To have the best pasta is to have life. Seriously, this is the stuff of gods. I say you’ve earned the right to a better pasta, don’t you?

Maestri is handmade and extruded by master pasta maker Giovanni Castiello in the most attentive, dedicated fashion. Castiello has traveled across all of Italy to learn and perfect over 80 shapes of pasta. Each shape receives the same TLC and attention to detail as the next. This black—dare I say spooky—spaghetti is colored with squid ink and is the perfect base for a seafood-laden dish. Keep it simple with garlic, oil, herbs, and your shellfish of choice, or let your creative juices flow with a combination of flavors. We’re loving an ‘nduja-spiked tomato sauce with scallops, shrimp, and clams. I dig it so much, I’ll likely have to share the recipe it with you.

BAR: Bittermen’s Hellfire Habanero Shrub

More from the master of all things specialty food, Matt Caputo: “As bitters makers go, Bittermens has mastered the technical skill needed to perfectly execute consistent, quality bitters. Despite all that precision, none of the artistry is lost. In fact, these are some of the most creative concoctions found anywhere, flavors that pay homage to pre-Prohibition era cocktail culture but have a wide arc all their own. Bittermens is for the barkeep who has mastered the classics and is ready to create.”

Bittermen’s spicy little shrub is a perfect way to add a spicy kick to cocktails and food alike. I find myself adding this to everything from sauces for tacos and enchiladas, tomato sauces for pasta, tequila cocktails, and spicy brownies. This shrub is the perfect balance of acid and spice.

The hardest part of getting your hands on this bottle is then deciding whether to store it in the bar or pantry once you’ve brought it home.

CHOCOLATE: Marou Heart of Darkness

Don’t you wish Matt Caputo could narrate your entire food journey for your entire life? This is as close as we can get, but it’s pretty fantastic, right?

“Marou evokes many thoughts and emotions. From exhilaration, lust, fear, and back to comfort. It is an incredibly complex and exotic chocolate. It manages to be ethereal and visceral at the same time. On the one hand, it is like an exotic and mysterious woman whispering in a language you can’t remotely comprehend. On the other, it is like a musical journey from slow Asian instrumentals to death metal.

Using 100-percent Vietnamese ingredients, including shade-grown cacao from five different provinces, Marou captures aromas and flavors never before experienced by our Western palates. While it will take us much more tasting to really get to know the soul of Marou’s chocolate, one thing is perfectly clear: The two French expatriates behind Marou who live in Vietnam make chocolate that is a cousin to French cuisine, but distinctively Vietnamese. Marou makes globalization look sexy.”

It can’t get much darker than 85% without beginning to lose its palatability. Marou has mastered the art of creating a super-dark chocolate that is still super delicious. Some chocolate with this percentage of cacao content are far too bitter, and I find myself wishing for just a touch more sugar. Not here. You’ll love its deep and dark complexity and its full flavor and nuance. Plus, the nod to the eerie novel from whence its name comes makes it an ideal bar for October.