Big news, cheese lovers! We’re debuting a new cheese subscription box program. Each delivery includes 3 delicious American artisan cheeses with the option to add crackers and 3 curated gourmet accompaniments, including truffle honey and our favorite craft chocolates.
Here’s everything you need to know about eating chocolate on your cheese boards—and why you should sign up for our monthly cheese subscription.
Why Should You Put Chocolate on a Cheese Board? 
Well, aside from the fact that chocolate makes just about everything better, chocolate and cheese actually have a lot in common. The cacao beans harvested to make chocolate are fermented—just like cheese!
The natural microbes present on the cacao seeds are essential to the fermentation process, just as microbes in and added to milk contribute to the cheesemaking process and shape a cheese’s final character in the aging cave. Once they’re fermented, the cocoa beans are dried, roasted, and processed into luscious bonbons and bars for us to enjoy.
How to Pair Cheese and Chocolate
We’ve been helping cheese lovers like you pair cheese and chocolate for years.
The sweetness of chocolate plays well with fresh, milky cheeses (maybe with a drizzle of truffle honey on top) and can boost fruity, nutty, or roasted notes in complex Alpine wheels. A funky, herbaceous chocolate pairs well with a medium-bodied washed rind, while deep, dark chocolate contrasts beautifully with the bold saltiness of a rich, pungent blue cheese.
How Our Cheese Subscription Works
Our new monthly cheese subscription program brings the best of American artisan cheese right to your door. Subscribers have the option to add on pairings, including crackers and 3 luscious accompaniments, including craft chocolate, truffle honey, olives, and more.
We designed our cheese subscriptions to be easy, flexible, and customizable. Not a fan of goat cheese or funky cheeses? Need to accommodate nut allergies or gluten-free folks? No problem! Simply select your preferences on the product page to get a box of cheesy goodies you'll love each month. You can sign up here.
How We Source Chocolate for Our Subscription Box Program
We focus on sourcing from chocolate factories and chocolate shops that make their confections in small to medium batches. And while we’ll be sourcing pure, heavenly chocolate bars made from the best single-origin beans, we know there’s much more to chocolate than that. These chocolate makers are infusing and enhancing their chocolate with natural flavors that can make a nuanced cheese pairing really shine.
Our Favorite Chocolate Brands
Check out the list of chocolatiers we'll be including in our new cheese subscription box.
Milène Jardine Chocolatier
If you’ve purchased one of our tasting boxes, you know Milène Jardine—the first maker we ever worked with on pairing cheese and chocolate. Chocolatier Milène sources Valrhona chocolate from France and transforms it into artisanal chocolate bars and truffles infused with flavorful herbs and spices that are stunning when paired with a wide variety of cheeses.
Raaka Chocolate
Brooklyn-based Raaka Chocolate prioritizes transparency, purchasing their cacao directly from sustainable producers, paying a premium for their goods, and posting each purchase from growers on their website. Their high-quality chocolate bars are infused with flavors like chamomile and lavender or shot through with crispy, toasty shards of waffle cone.
Charles Chocolates
Founder Chuck Siegel got his start making chocolate in San Francisco in 1987. His handmade chocolate bars, chocolate-covered nuts, and other chocolatey confections are made fresh from top-quality ingredients.
Fruition Chocolate
Nestled in the Catskills, Fruition transforms ethically sourced cacao beans into confections like bars, coated nuts, and gianduja-filled bonbons. We’re especially excited about their dark milk chocolates and single-origin bars.
Dandelion Chocolate
This chocolate boutique is based in San Francisco’s Mission District. Dandelion is a bean-to-bar chocolate maker known for its single-origin dark chocolate bars, chocolate boxes, toffee brittle, truffles, and caramels. They work directly with producers to source their cacao and source organic sugar from sustainable sugarcane farms in Brazil.
What are your favorite chocolate and cheese pairings? Tag us @cheesegrotto on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to let us know!
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