Wine, Cheese, & Chocolate

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian


Have you marked your calendar for the Litchfield Library Foundation’s wine, cheese, and chocolate event on Thursday, October 25th? Tickets are available now from library board members, at the library and from me, and at the liquor store. The Foundation is asking for a donation of $20 per ticket, which benefits the library.

The Foundation was established in 2003 to secure and manage funds in perpetuity to enhance the needs of our library. The funds are all from private contributions, and they are invested with the oversight of the library board. Earnings are to be used for land acquisition for expansion, building expansion, major capital improvements, major technology needs, or other unforeseen extraordinary needs.

The wine, cheese, and chocolate tasting will be held at the Litchfield VFW on Highway 12 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on October 25th. If you attend, you’ll have the opportunity to taste a variety of wines paired with a variety of cheeses and chocolates. My husband and I will be going, which should be a good opportunity for us to find different wines we enjoy. We’ve been trying a few things, but we only like moscato so far. I suppose that could mean that we’re not really wine drinkers or that we need some guidance. So if you’re not a connoisseur of wine and you feel intimidated about coming to try them, know that you’ll be in good company. We’ll just try to be adventurous and have a good time.

In the meantime, here are some books you can find in our library on wine, cheese, and chocolate:

Wine Made Easy: A Complete Guide to Understanding and Enjoying Wine is edited by Susy Atkins. It covers how to taste wine, different types of wine and how to read the labels, the health aspects of wine, and wine and food pairings.

The Joy of Cheesemaking: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding, Making, and Eating Fine Cheese by Jody Farnham is a book from 2011 that does get into the process of making cheese at home. But it also covers things like putting together a cheese board and pairing wine and beer with different types of cheese.

Mastering Cheese: Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maitre Fromager by Max McCalman is a guide to understanding cheese and what makes certain cheeses great.

Real Chocolate: Sweet and Savory Recipes for Nature’s Purest Form of Bliss by Chantal Coady is a cookbook of unusual recipes using what the author calls “real chocolate”, not the overly sweetened chocolate with additives that most of us eat.

The Healing Powers of Chocolate by Cal Orey covers the health benefits of, again, natural chocolate. It also includes Mediterranean-style chocolate recipes and beauty treatments made with chocolate.

I hope you’ll decide to join us to sample some interesting types of wine, cheese, and chocolate in October. It should be a fun event, and you’ll be helping the library at the same time.