Bacco's Wine & Cheese: A Place Where Tastings of Fine Products are Neverending

Bob Bacco runs one of my favorite specialty shops in Boston!  In the mood to sample and purchase a few new things?  Cheese, wine, or spreads?  Syrups, jams, breads?  Head over to 31 St. James Avenue in Back Bay to satisfy your curiosity and cravings!

I've been a patron of Bacco's Wine & Cheese for a couple of years.  Their daily wine tastings alone are worth the visit as there's always a professional available to teach a thing or two.  I've gone for their Bento boxes which feature various, ever changing cheeses, outstanding selections and cured meats, and fresh sandwiches, etc.  Bacco's has also been my one stop shop for caviar, cheese, bubbles, and crackers for girls' weekends on the vineyard (click here) and is surely a favorite stop on one of the local foodie walking tours in Boston (click here).

Before my big move from Boston, I stopped by Bacco's to sample a few products, including - jams, mustards, preserves, and caramels.  

Susanna served up some real gems.

American Spoon, winner of the 2012 Good Foods Award, makes brilliant preserve products.  On this particular day, we were able to sample the strawberry rhubarb preserve with its sweet and tangy notes that would easily pair well if spread across a water cracker or toast as it would served with a perfect medium rare duck breast or lamb.  Same goes for the pleasantly tart sour cherry.

I've had my fair share of onion jams (many combined with apple) and they've never moved me very much, but I must say American Spoon's apple & onion jam was superb.  It was mild and neither component overpowered the other.  It can easily be incorporated into meat or cheese dishes.

I must confess that I am a yellow mustard kinda gal and amongst the very few condiments I maintain in my home, brown/spiced/dijon mustard would never be found.  However, renowned chefs like Chef Gordon Hamersley of Hamersley Bistro who uses stone-ground mustard relatively often - my favorite having accompanied the seared sea scallops and foie gras with braised endives, cipollini onions and roasted lemon sauce, has made me a believer!  American Spoon does not disappoint with its whole mustard seed mustard!

Finishing off with rich sweetness, I sampled 
Big Picture Farm goat milk caramels!  Other than the addictive richness of the chai and the classic caramels, the company co-owner's hand drawn goat images on the boxes are adorable enough to draw in an audience.