In 2014 the “Ultimate Chocolate Festival” began.
A year later, it came back as “The Chocolate & Cheese Festival,” starting an annual tradition that strives to show people how local vendors make these products, as well as letting people sample these foods and participate in workshops to make them. This year’s incarnation of the event promises to be a fun, family-friendly experience starting on Saturday, March 19 (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and continuing the following day at the same time at the Natural History Museum of Utah.
The event is free for students, faculty and staff with a valid UCard.
Throughout the two-day festival, visitors can learn about the different chocolate and cheese vendors throughout the Wasatch Front, such as Harmons Neighborhood Grocer, Millcreek Cacao Roasters, V Chocolates, Aseda Raw Honey and Beehive Cheese Co.
There are over five different workshops hosted by local artisans for the museum’s visitors to participate in including “Chocolate Tasting 101” with Matt Caputo of Caputo’s Chocolate, where tasters can “learn what makes one chocolate ‘fine’ and the other just ‘standard,'” according to the festival’s website. In this workshop people can find out how to identify flavors, meet great chocolate makers and learn other information about the treat.
Another workshop is Chocolate and Cheese Pairings with Brian Ruggles. Cheese and chocolate represent some of the oldest produced foods on the planet. People have been making and loving the former for thousands of years in places such as Europe, while the cacao bean has been a staple for just as long in North and South America. The pair’s flavor profile and textures are astoundingly complementary for coming from different parts of the world.
Registration for these workshops costs additional fees, ranging from $15 to $25.