“Ask Matt Caputo” is a new, ongoing feature where Matt answers commonly asked questions from the market. This week, he discusses bitters as a cure for a distressed stomach.

Q: I over-ate this Thanksgiving. And with holiday parties and Christmas coming up, I’m wondering if I should look into aromatic bitters to ease my pain. Will they make a difference?

A: Well, I actually have quite a bit of experience with eating too much. If there is one thing I love it is food, and during the holidays, I can’t stand the thought of not having each and every one of my old favorites. On top of that, how could I pass up a new gastronomic experience. Shun a new dish just because I am full? Pah! No chance.

As the years go by, it is slowly but surely getting more difficult to put up with the physical aftermath, though. Over the past year, I have had more opportunities than I am proud to admit to test the curative powers of aromatic cocktail bitters.

As one would learn in our Intro to Bitters class, the history of these elixirs includes wild claims from the producers, purportedly curing everything from flatulence to impotence and absolutely everything in between. Luckily, the FDA cracked down on the “snake oil” side of bitters a long time ago.

However, from my experience, there is certainly truth to bitters ability to aid in digestion. Anytime I have overeaten or I am not feeling tip top in the tummy, I have a nice big glass of sparkling water with a healthy dose of Peychaud’s. Within a few minutes, I feel notably better. It almost never fails. Put 10 to 12 dashes in a small white wine glass, and that ought to do. Yeah, I take it in a wine glass. Why not? It smells incredible.

Obviously, I am no doctor, scientist, or herbalist, so I will leave it to them to tell you exactly which ingredient in these bitters is doing exactly what. But this practice should not seem that strange. Monks, apothecaries, and even grandmas from all around the world have long known the digestive value of things with bitter flavors.

Disclaimer: While Matt Caputo is a Certified Cheese Professional and specialty food fanatic, he is not a medical professional, doctor, or certified nutritionist. Please consult with your doctor or other qualified health care professional before making any healthcare decisions, diagnostics or treatment decisions based on Matt’s answers.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. My name is Adri, and I am the queen of procrastinated gifting. Try as I might, I have yet to finish my to-do list for gifts on time. Each holiday season is the same for me: I realize my gift list is 30% accomplished and 9% wrapped, I run all over the city looking for gifts at picked-over stores and pop-up shops (arms flailing above my head the whole time), and then I go back to home base: Caputo’s.

Here’s what I know: Everyone likes to eat. Call me crazy, but food is the perfect gift, time crunch or not. Everyone has to eat, so why not let your friends and family eat the very best and most delicious treats available? Here’s your guide to the very best last-minute gifts. One gift for each of the 12 days of Christmas, a la Caputo’s:
1. Utah Dark Chocolate Collection – You can never go wrong gifting chocolate, especially in Utah. The Beehive State is internationally recognized as a well known hub for fine chocolate, in both sales and creation. Utah is home to five bean-to-bar chocolate companies that are putting themselves on the fine-chocolate map with their artisan bars and dedication to creating the best chocolate possible.  Give your pals a taste of Utah with this perfect collection of fine dark chocolate, all made in Utah.

2. Local Standouts Gift Collection – This is the ideal choice for the locavore in your life. We’ve hand selected seven items that are not only made locally, but they’re world-class artisan products. From bean-to-bar chocolate to smoky and savory chili oil, this is sure to please you local-lovin’ pals.

3. White Truffles – I’m quite sure that I would prefer truffles to diamonds, and I know I’m not the only one. This is it. The most luxurious and ultimately wonderful gift for your foodie friend, or you can use it as the focal point of you holiday meal. Just the aroma knocks you off your feet, so imagine what your finished entree will do.

4. Creminelli Salami – Utah is home to not only some of the best American artisan chocophiles, but also to some of the most die-hard locavores I’ve ever met. Cristiano Creminelli started his small production in the basement of our downtown store in 2007. Now, he and his company are a national example of the Slow Food movement. The flavors are a true delight, and I love sharing a piece of Utah with my friends and family. Creminelli salamis don’t need to be refrigerated until their packaging is opened, so you can rest easy when mailing these as a gift or when you travel on long road trips to see your family this holiday season.

5. OmNom Holiday Chocolate – Time for an ol’ holiday saying: When in doubt, gift chocolate. Here’s your stocking stuffer for 2015, in a sexy little package no less. Hate wrapping? No need here. OmNom is the king of packaging, and you won’t want to hide these bars for anything. Omnom’s seasonal holiday flavor this year combines dark cherries and caramel roasted almonds. This is the stocking stuffer you can give to everyone.

6. Craft Cocktail Collection – There’s something incredibly attractive about shaking a cocktail shaker around like a mad person…or like you know what you’re doing. If your loved ones are getting into the craft-cocktail movement and experimenting at home, this is the perfect gift. We’ve put together some of the most-often used and well-known products to get your home bar started. If these bitters and bar components are good enough for the best mixologists in the world, they’re perfect for your holiday gifting.

7. Cheese Cave Tasting Sampler – Our market was founded on our love of cheese, and that adoration has only grown stronger. We’re one of five retail locations in the entire country with a cheese cave program. One cave just wasn’t cutting it for us. We need more room to to add additional wheels of cheese into their ideal aging environment (it makes them as absolutely delicious as possible). Our second cheese cave is fully stocked since last holiday season with plenty of projects and affinage happening every second.  Wanna know what the cave is all about, or want to share your knowledge? This is the perfect choice. Four of our favorite cave-aged cheeses come bundled and ready to eat. Hopefully they share with you!

8. Panettone – I’ve professed my own personal love for panettone from the proverbial rooftops of the world (read it here). This is a classic holiday treat and tradition that’s perfect for giving. No fruitcake here; this is entirely different. Light, sweet, transcendent, and the perfect match for coffee and digestifs alike. We have the very best Italian brands in stock. Just be sure to get yours before they’re all gone!

9. Chocolatier Blue – The ultimate in filled chocolates live right here at Caputo’s. Not only does Chocolatier Blue use locally-made Solstice Chocolate, they make products that are utterly divine. One taste will convince anyone of their superiority. The good news for you is that there are plenty of sizes to choose from. There’s a perfect size for each person depending on how naughty or nice they’ve been this year.
10. Caputo’s Gift Basket – On the go? We’ll have these made and ready to go at our downtown, Holladay, and 15th & 15th locations this month. Take the guessing and legwork out of your food gifting this year. We’ve done it for you. Classic favorites and best sellers are packaged and ready to go for you at a moment’s notice.

 
11. Balsamico Tradizionale – I become speechless(I know, so weird) when these babies come up in conversation. If the essence of Italy had to be squeezed into one tiny bottle, this is it. It’s the ultimate gift for your foodie pals and loved ones. Talk to your favorite mongers at your nearest Caputo’s location for our their preferred uses, but make sure you save some for summertime vanilla gelato and strawberries. ADDED BONUS: This is on sale for a HUGE discount. We’ve discounted it enough that you could buy a bottle for a gift and one for yourself as a reward for being such a fantastic gifter.

12. Class Certificates – Give the gift of food (or drink!) knowledge. It’s the perfect gift for a couple or a friend who might be new to either cooking or the Salt Lake valley. Pick up a certificate for the amount of the class, plus the optional beverage pairing, and let them choose the best class for their calendar and tastes. We’ll help you give the exact dollar amount or round up so your giftee can pick up a special little treat after the class. Choose from cheese or chocolate tastings, cooking classes, or whiskey classes. You read that right: whiskey classes! Remember that bucket list from SL Mag? Send them to the class!

Having grown up in New Mexico—where the state tree is the piñon pine—piñon-based sweets were a common and welcomed holiday treat. Candies, chewy brown sugar rolls, and toasted nuts are part of the holiday tradition. I lucked out as kid with both this sweet, local tradition and a large Italian family who had a habit of over-enthusiastically celebrating the holidays with copious amounts of sugary morsels. Pignoli cookies and piñon brittle were always favorites of mine, and they are some of the first treats I begin making as the holidays approach.

The excitement around here for our bitters selection is as palpable as that of a child on Christmas Eve. Every week brings us a new discovery and tasty new applications for them. December’s bitters Craving, Addition Rosemary cocktail spice, captures the essence of the holidays and begs to be used in both drink and treat. Mixing rosemary’s assertive, pine-like aroma and pine nuts from my past seemed like a natural, albeit necessary, union.

I love giving homemade treats to co-workers and friends. It feels more personal than store-bought candies, and I love the opportunity to spend time in the kitchen with a few friends. Pine nut brittle is an incredibly easy gift that is made even more delicious and sophisticated by the addition (no pun intended) of rosemary. Freshly chopped rosemary and fleur de sel give this adorable gift a lovely, complex flavor.

Make a batch for gifting and a batch for yourself. Beware of doubling this recipe, though. A double batch will require two separate parchment-lined cookie sheets, and evenly dividing the caramelized sugar is quite a challenge. It’s possible to evenly separate them, of course, but two batches come together just as quickly.

Stay tuned for more holiday treats and gifting ideas, and I hope everyone is as excited as we are for the upcoming celebrations!

Rose-Merry Pine Nut Brittle 
Makes enough for one small dinner party, or 8-10 gift bags

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons Addition Rosemary
• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fleur de sel 

In a large skillet, melt sugar over high heat, stirring constantly. Once sugar has melted, lower heat to medium high and stir until sugar is a dark golden brown. Stir in half the salt, pine nuts, Addition Rosemary, and butter. Stir to toast the pine nuts for about five minutes. Pour mixture out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spread to deisred consistency and top with fresh rosemary and the second half of salt. Allow to cool for one hour. Break into pieces and keep in an air tight container or pack into gift bags (like above).

(OFFER EXPIRED IN 2015)

Black Friday. Either you love it or you hate it, there isn’t much in between.

This year, we want to give you a gift for being such a great gifter yourself. Spend $50 dollars on our website beginning Friday (Nov 27, 2015: offer has expired), and we’ll send you three spectacular Amedei bars. Tis the season to treat yourself, after all. You’ll get Amedei’s Toscano Blond, Toscano Red, and Pistacchi. Keep them for yourself or gift them to your foodie friends, the choice is yours.

Simply use the code CHOCOLATE GIFT at checkout, then these bars are all yours.

Here’s how I’m gifting the deliciousness of Caputo’s this holiday season:

• Chocolate Gift Collections – We’ve curated the best selections of chocolate for any palate.
• Bitters and Bar Collection – What better way to start a home bar than with the classic essentials?
• Truffle Collection – For that foodie friend who enjoys the best the world has to offer.
• Caputo’s Tote Bag – Green shopping is so 2016, give your farmer’s market enthusiasts the bag they need.

Happy Thanksgiving, dearest Caputo friends. Have a delicious and safe holiday. And don’t get trampled while you’re trying to buy that TV at 4am on Friday.

Eating well and eating often is at the core of our values—not just as a business, but as a family. We’ll me enjoying the holiday, and we hope you have a foodtastic Thanksgiving with yours as well!

Please note: All locations of Caputo’s Market & Deli will be closed on Thanksgiving. 

It’s time, my friends. We’re all getting ready to travel, to cook, to deal with in-laws, and to enjoy Thanksgiving. Our menus are set, our plans have been made, and I just can’t wait.

With so much preparation required for such a meal, I love making as many things in advance as possible. The easiest one? Cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce is my second favorite Thanksgiving meal component. It sits right behind stuffing, because, duh, stuffing. I’ve tried every kind of recipe that exists for this necessary component, and I still love the most classic ones. I don’t want my cranberries shrouded in some boozy port reduction or over-powered by spices and citrus. I want cranberry. The turkey wants cranberry, too. Just ask him.

Beehive Bitters makes my favorite bitters, Spiced Orange. The flavors are balanced, bright, and perfect for both cooking and cocktail-ing. Warm baking-spice flavors play a key role next to the bright, tangy orange note. Since both of these are classic additions to cranberry sauce, it only makes sense to add them right in to the recipe. You can make this sauce up to four days in advance before the texture becomes more jelly-like, but it will keep for over a week. Make this today, and save yourself the stress, there will be plenty of other things to worry about once Thursday rolls around.

Now, since the best part of the weekend after Thanksgiving is all the leftovers, here’s what I’m doing with my leftover cranberry sauce. I make my sauce with just a bit more water than is necessary. I’ll drain off the excess into a jar and use it as a flavored simple syrup for cocktails. For the sauce, I love to spread ricotta over freshly toasted bread and top with cranberry sauce and grated orange zest. Boom, Black Friday breakfast.

Enjoy the holiday, and enjoy your cranberry sauce!

Beehive Bitters Cranberry Sauce
Serves 4-6

Cook time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Bonus Points: Local Bitters, Make Ahead

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cup water
• Spiced Orange Beehive Bitters

Bring sugar and water to a boil. Add cranberries and reduce heat to medium. Continue to gently boil for about 10 minutes and remove to a serving bowl. Remove 1/3 of liquid to be used for other recipes (ahem, cocktails). Stir in 2 dashes of bitters, add more to taste. Serve at room temperature or keep refrigerated until the day of your meal.

Beehive Bitters Cranberry Cocktail
Makes 1 cocktail

Cook time: Less than 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Bonus Points: Local Bitters, Make Ahead

• 1 teaspoon cranberry simple syrup from cranberry sauce
• 1 dash Spiced Orange Beehive Bitters
• 6 ounces Prosecco or other sparkling wine
• Spiced Orange Beehive Bitters
• 1 orange, for garnish

Pour prosecco over cranberry syrup and bitters in a cocktail glass. Add more to taste if desired. Garnish with an orange wheel and fresh cranberries.

The pictures are in! What a wonderful time we had at the 4th Annual Chocolate Festival, featuring Solstice Chocolate. Thanks to Two Paper Horses Photography for their work capturing the moment with their photo booth. Click here or on the photos below to see the full album from the event!

We can’t wait till the actual Chocolate Festival for you to see what’s on the menu, because it’s just so exciting! So here it is.

At this year’s festival, five chefs and local mixologists will use one of Solstice Chocolate’s five bars to showcase sweet, savory, and boozy applications of the Salt Lake City craft-chocolate maker.

The all-star culinary lineup includes Chef Logan Crew of Current Fish & Oyster, Chef Tyler Stokes of Provisions, Pastry Chef Courtney McDowell of Pallet Bistro, Pastry Chef Amber Billingsley of 3 Cups, and Pastry Chef Alicia Pacheco of Rye Diner & Drinks. The tantalizing evening will begin with an amuse-bouche prepared by Chef Marshall Bryant of Caputo’s. Wine will be served by Francis Fecteau of Libation, Inc., beers will be poured by Avenues Proper, craft cocktails will be mixed by Beehive Bitters and Sugar House Distillery, and pour overs provided by La Barba Coffee Roasters.

It’s hard to believe that we’re approaching the 4th annual Caputo’s Chocolate Festival this week. What a delightfully delicious and cacao-filled fun ride it’s been!

Each year, our goal has been to highlight one craft chocolate maker—and this has varied from the best chocolate born abroad and in the United States—while also showcasing the dynamic culinary power of our local chefs. On top of that, it’s been a great way to get nerdy with the chocolate community and would-be chocolate connoisseurs.

Always educational and and brimming with tasty bites—the forthcoming festival featuring Solstice Chocolate surely won’t be any different. But before we get to carried away with excitement, let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

These vignettes just so happen to get us extremely excited about chocolate. So give them a watch.

Caputo’s 1st Annual Chocolate Festival, featuring Amedei Chocolate

Caputo’s 2nd Annual Chocolate Festival, featuring Ritual Chocolate

Caputo’s 3rd Annual Chocolate Festival, featuring Dick Taylor Chocolate

Guys, IT SNOWED! Never mind that it lasted 15 minutes, and never mind that none of it stuck around. The important fact here is that frozen precipitation fell from the sky the first week of November. I began dreaming of all the hot drinks in my near future as I watched those big, fluffy flakes fall gracefully to the wet ground. Cider, hot toddies, tea, but most importantly, drinking chocolate. Not the powdered milk and cocoa with weird dried marshmallows, but real drinking chocolate.

The key to this recipe is high-quality chocolate. Any low quality bars won’t create the right consistency or flavor that you and your loved ones deserve. With so few ingredients, we rely heavily on the flavor of our chocolate to make this drink shine. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Solstice Bolivia bar. Notes of honey, cream, and very subtle warm baking spices are the perfect flavor I want when I’m craving drinking chocolate.

We made chocolate cake pops just a few weeks ago with a special focus on ganache. For cake pops, the ganache served as a binder to keep the cake crumb together and on the pop sticks. Here, we’re making what I like to call a “loosey-goosey ganache” that is the perfect consistency for drinking. This is the same process as making a thick ganache, we’re just using more cream than chocolate. The very nature of drinking chocolate is luxuriously
thick, so a little goes a long way here. I only need about 1/4 cup when I make this on special occasions with friends, so let’s not lose our marbles over the use of heavy cream. However, should you feel that your marbles are still in jeopardy of being lost, use whole milk or half and half.

This is a fun, easy, and quick recipe that comes together in less than 10 minutes. Make this with your kids, your friends, or your family. This is my favorite and most decadent way to welcome the cold weather. Blankets, thick socks, and a fire make it the perfect early winter evening.

SOLSTICE DRINKING CHOCOLATE
Serves 4

• 14 ounces heavy cream
• 5 ounces or two dark chocolate bars, 70% cacao or higher, preferably Solstice Bolivia
• Fleur de sel sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk 4 ounces of heavy cream until whipped, but still loose. We don’t want stiff peaks, but enough volume to hold cream together when we top our chocolate with it. 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 10 ounces of cream into bowl and heat until it’s warm enough to melt the chocolate. Add 5 ounces of chocolate and stir to melt. Once the chocolate is melted, use and immersion blender or whisk to combine. Whisk until your ganache is fully blended. Stir in vanilla, then add fleur de sel in small pinches, to taste.
Pour into small espresso cups, Mason jars, or other small glasses. Spoon whipped cream on top and serve immediately.

This is an easy recipe to add your own unique twist. Here are a few easy ways to make it your own:

• Steep the cream ahead of time with your favorite spices
• Add a cinnamon stir stick upon serving
• Add a dash of cayenne for a spicy kick
• Add booze. Any booze. I’m a personal fan of whiskey or Bailey’s
• Mix equal parts drinking chocolate with coffee
• Top with marshmallows or whipped cream
• Substitute your favorite bitters for half of the vanilla extract

As I write this, the first light snow is falling from the sky, and it really feels like sweater season. I often dread the beginning of this cold weather. I miss the farmer’s market, the madness of the holidays are looming over my head, and, I’m just plain cold. This year is different. The weather cooled very gently and after nine years of working at Caputo’s for the holidays, I’m feeling shockingly calm—almost zen, if you will.

So as the holidays approach and the snow starts to fall more frequently and in bigger doses, let’s enjoy it with our best friends and family over treats and nibbles. You’ll need a cocktail too, of course. Here’s how we’re enjoying the transition to winter:

CHEESE: Ossau Iraty Reserve

One of the most-celebrated and well-known Basque cheeses is made even more delicious in the hands of Caputo’s own affineuse, Antonia Horne, in the chilly comfort of our Cheese Cave. Ossau Iraty arrives in great condition to eat immediately. It tastes mildly grassy and sweet, and is a great choice for the table when you crave the comfort of a creamy, alpine-style cheese. But this is Caputo’s after all, so, of course, we couldn’t just let you settle for a good cheese. We want you to experience great cheese, and we want everyone to know first hand how our caves affect and improve even the most delicious wheels. Antonia gives the ultimate TLC to Ossau for six months. That sweet, grassy cheese transforms to have a deep, complex, brand new flavor. Ossau Reserve offers newly developed notes of caramel and browned butter with a still-perfect interior and more interesting and aromatic rind.

Enjoy this with your favorite cheese accouterments and wine alone, or get your cheese geek on and try the original Ossau and Ossau Reserve in a side-by-side tasting to see exactly what the differences are. You’ll want to hug Antonia afterwards. I always do.

CHOCOLATE: Solstice Chocolate

We give you one, fantastic chocolate almost every month, but this month is special. Here why:

1. We couldn’t agree on one Solstice bar. We didn’t have time to sell tickets to the WWE-style brawl it would take to select one, because of…
2. SOLSTICE CHOCOLATE FEST. That’s right. Our 4th annual Chocolate Fest features our first locally-made chocolate. Each bar will be featured in a dish made by a talented local chef in a sweet or savory application, plus all proceeds will be donated to the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Initiative (read more here).
3. Have you had Solstice? Could you pick one? Of course not, and neither could we.

Solstice is locally-made and has been blowing our minds. We’ve never seen the kind of support for a local chocolate like this. Solstice is on the menu of some of the best restaurants downtown, and it’s being used by Chocolatier Blue for its amazing chocolates. What’s more, Solstice is crafting chocolate with a no-waste and eco-friendly operation.

BAR: Beehive Spiced Orange Bitters

Bitters are the future, friends. Seriously. Local bitters are even more exciting. Imagine, little ol’ Utah making top-tier, high-quality bitters. Yeah, it’s happening.

Beehive Bitters is making a small selection of bitters that belong on the bar cart of any cocktail enthusiast. Not much for cocktails at home yet? You’ll find these bitters behind the best bars in the city, or you can add them to your personal pantry for cooking, baking, and marinading. The Beehive Spiced Orange Bitters is the perfect welcome to the cold weather. I’ll be using this in everything from plays on hot toddies to cranberry sauce. I’m even experimenting with turkey brine recipes that call this. The possibilities aren’t just endless, they’re exciting and, more often than not, quite rewarding.