Cheese N' Sweet of the Week: Highway 1 and Athena's Silverland Desserts Sugar Free Double Chocolate Brownie

I just recently acquired a new local cheese named Highway 1, made by Valley Ford Cheese Company in Valley Ford, CA located off of...Highway 1.  My sales rep had described it as a Fontinella style cheese, but modeled after the Tomme De Savoie, and to some degree she was right.  It comes in a dusty brown six-pound wheel, so it looks like a large Tomme, but I have to say, the flavor and texture is far from a Fontinella...but consider that a good thing.  My exposure to most Fontals, Fontinas, Fontinellas, etc. has been mostly bland and uneventful, unless we're talking about the Val D'aosta, which is phenomenal...but I digress.  Highway 1 is a raw cow's milk cheese from Valley Ford's Jersey herd.  Aged for a minimum of 80 days, its paste is pale yellow dotted with small eyes.  It smells of butter and earth, with a dense, creamy mouthfeel.  The initial taste is sharp and tangy, mouthwatering with a bit of nuttiness and not too salty.  The flavor then morphs to a sort of artichoke/asparagus finish.  This is a fantastic table cheese - not only is the color contrast appealing to the eye, but the flavor is most definitely pleasing to the palate!

Highway 1 - Valley Ford Cheese Company, Valley Ford, CA

One day, Bernie, our resident Bakery Manager here at Mollie Stone's Sausalito, asked me to taste a brownie.  Now, ordinarily when asked to taste a brownie, I'm more than happy to oblige.  However, Bernie had a questionable look on her face, and when a co-worker asks me to taste something with a questionable look on their face, it's usually to confirm  that the particular foodstuff has gone the way of the Dodo.  Nonetheless, I tried the brownie...and was confused.  It tasted like a brownie - a very delicious fudgy brownie.  But the look on Bernie's face remained the same.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"It's good - it tastes like a brownie.  Why?"

"It's sugar free."

Ahhh...and now I knew.  Typically sugar free food tastes sugar free, thanks to a chemically film left behind in your mouth.  But this was not so - not with this brownie, which Bernie was glad I confirmed because she was hoping to use these brownies as a substitute for the real sugar brownies she was out of for a catering order.  Anyway, the brownie she bestowed upon me was Athena's Silverland Desserts Sugar Free Double Chocolate Brownie...whew.  It's dense and fudgy with melt in your mouth dark chocolatiness.  And the teeny tiny chocolate chips on top add a nice contrasting texture.  But the amazing element about this brownie is its freedom from sugar, yet the ability to taste full of sugar.  The secret is Maltitol, a sugar alcohol that has nearly the same sweetness and chemical properties of sucrose, but fewer calories and a lesser effect on blood glucose.  However, like most sugar substitutes, if consumed in larger quantities it will give you the runs.  But don't let that stop you from enjoying this truly decadent treat, just don't eat an entire case.

Athena's Silverland Desserts Sugar Free Double Chocolate Brownie, Forest Park, IL