Sheep cheese, cranberry and… chocolate
Once upon a time, a herd of sheep lived in the picturesque pastures of the Beskids. They had plenty of juicy grass, time to rest and sun. No wonder, they always gave such good and rich milk. Thanks to that milk and thanks to the passion of the owners of the local shepherd’s hut, there was produced the finest oscypek – original sheep cheese of the mountains.
Once, however, the sun ran out. Clouds as heavy as uncropped fleece covered the sky, so the sheep had to find another source of energy. This is how they found a spring gushing with real chocolate! And this is how the unique chocolate with oscypek was created! Well… almost.
So, what was the exact version of the story? The truth begins just where the fairy tale begins – in the Beskids. Specifically in Węgierska Górka, a small town, where excellent bean-to-bar chocolate is produced in a small workshop by the owners of Beskid Chocolate. Jan Woźniak has had the idea of launching the „Beskidzkie flavors” chocolate line with regional delicacies for a long time ago (almost since the brand was founded). The first choice was blueberries from the local forests, but the experiment was unsuccessful. Hence, another characteristic product of the region was chosen, namely oscypek – smoky cheese made of sheep milk.
The idea was nothing but brilliant! Still, there was one significant question – how to put oscypek into chocolate and (hopefully) does not spoil the taste of a bar. Oscypek has this strong salty and smoky taste, which can easily cover any other flavor. That was quite difficult task. Therefore, as Jan Woźniak relates – the trials lasted almost a year! There was also another reason for such a long period of work …
– The attempts to create this chocolate lasted almost a year due to the fact that oscypek is also a seasonal product – explains the chocolatier, Jan Woźniak. – Ultimately, we selected three shepherds’ huts from the area, finally choosing Bacówka in Bukowina, which is located, like our manufactory, in Węgierska Górka. We knew that we could not just slice the oscypek and melt it on a bar of chocolate, because it would be a product with a very short shelf life. And not necessarily tasty.
What does an unusual delicacy eventually look and taste like?
The oscypek cheese was thoroughly dried and grated and in this form immersed in chocolate mass. The next addition of this bar is dried cranberry (for sheep’s cheese lovers it is totally understandable) from organic farming. In this way, the smoked flavor and aroma are evenly distributed, and the sour taste of the red fruit breaks the whole thing. Chocolate is available in two forms: dark one (70%) and a milk one (40%), both based on a blend of Venezuela and Peru Satipo cocoa beans. It is an exclusive product, also just because sheep cheese is not available all year round in shepherd’s huts. Nevertheless, Beskid Chocolate producers didn’t accept the idea of using a cow alternative, which is cheaper and easily available but not the same as sheep milk!
That’s why the bar is so unusual and unique. In fact, some time ago, there appeared Góralskie Praliny with oscypek filling on the Polish market, but it is a completely different story to make ganache and produce a (bean-to-bar) bar that can be stored on a shelf for a long time. Around the world, ideas of combining chocolate with smoked cheese have already taken place. Jan Woźniak admits that his conception was inspired by the bar of the Scandinavian brand Fjåk Chocolate, which he had seen in the past at the Amsterdam fair.
And what does such chocolate taste like to not the sophisticated palate of a globetrotter, but to an ordinary sweet eater?
The reactions are varied and even extreme! Some people don’t even want to try – says the producer, who had the opportunity to offer this chocolate to the participants of the Chocolate Festival in Sandomierz. – But when someone dares to put the piece in a mouth, the reaction is mostly positive.
For me, this chocolate is just right! Well, maybe not for every day and circumstances, because I don’t always feel like smoky flavors, but there is something magical about this bar. It just takes me to the Beskid Mountains. Literally! And that is why I start this article just like it would be a fairy-tale. Anyway, let’s be honest with each other – combining sheep’s cheese and milk chocolate is an almost fairy-tale story. Fortunately, chocolate works like magic. Would you like to find out about its amazing properties?
For the brave ones >>> CLICK!
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