Friday, October 2, 2009

A Perfect Autumn Bite

Now that the weather's getting cooler and the days are getting shorter...

...it's time to stay inside and eat.

While on the island a few days ago, I sampled the most amazing and easy snack/appy at the Qualicum Foods grocery store. It was so good, in fact, that my mom and I HAD TO buy the two ingredients to make it and eat it that night (as an appitizer before my mother's and mine "World Famous Meatcakes").

The two ingredients are: 

This amazing cheese:

I did a little research on white stilton courtesy of Wikipedia. Stilton is either blue or white. Blue is the more common form. The white version has not had the mould introduced to it, so it doesn't have that pungent taste. Some people liken it to plain yogurt- it has somewhat of an unfinished taste by itself; therefore, white stilton is often mixed with dried fruit, so it should not be a problem tracking this little slice of love down in any grocery store. It is nothing like brie cheese with fruit or a cream cheese spread. The texture is soft, yet crumbly and it has a slightly tangy flavour.

Just be careful when eating it:

A 2005 survey carried out by the British Cheese Board reported that when it came to dream types, Stilton cheese seemed to cause odder dreams than other cheese, with 75% of men and 85% of women experiencing "odd and vivid" dreams after eating a 20-gram serving of the cheese half an hour before going to sleep. [Wiki]

And thin, crisp gingersnaps. The less sweet, more gingery kind. The mixture of the tangy cheese, pears, apples and ginger is unbelievable and is full of perfect fall flavours.


Paired with concord grapes and an english-style apple cider, such as that found at the Merridale Estate Cidery  in the Mill Bay area of Vancouver Island (yes, I went. Yes, I will gush about it in a later post), and you've got an autumn party in your belly.



It doesn't sound like much, and it certainly doesn't cost much, but if you are having or going to a get-together and have no clue what to bring- than pear stilton gingersnaps is it. I am a sweet-tooth and loved it. My mom and brother prefer salty snacks and they loved it. Try it. Love it.

1 comment:

  1. That sounds awesome!

    I love regular stilton but I've never heard of white Stilton! I will be keeping my eye out for something similar in Calgary.

    Sadly Calgary doesn't have a lot of my island favorites...
    such as Merridale Cidery's "somerset cider." Mmm... so good.

    or Island Farms Vanilla Plus Yogurt, Moose Tracks icecream...

    or Mild winters. Yep, Calgary is lacking in that department too. Tear... it's suppose to snow tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete