We have friends who are French cheese snobs. They grew up on it, they love it, and they only vary their choice when in need of Parmigiano-Reggiano for pasta or risotto.

So we wondered what we would do without the Cheddar, cream cheese, mozzarella, ricotta and other standards in the American diet. We gave the experts at Cheeses Of France a long list of favorite American recipes with cheese, and asked them to “Frenchify” it.

The recommendations are below. Before jumping in, we have an editorial note:

Each publication creates its own “style sheet”—a consistent set of editing choices from the options available, such as p.m. versus pm and farmers market versus farmers’ market or farmer’s market. THE NIBBLE chooses to capitalize proper names, such as American cheese versus american cheese and Champagne versus champagne. Raclette is not the name of a place (it means “to scrape”) and chevre means “goat,” so they normally would not be capitalized under our conventions. Brie and Morbier are villages on France, so we typically would capitalize them.

Now, on to the cheese. If we’ve left out any of your favorite cheesy dishes, let us know. And if you haven’t heard of particular cheeses, great: The voyage of discovery starts here.

And these wonderful cheeses are not just for recipes: They belong on your cheese plate as well!
 
SO MUCH GREAT FRENCH CHEESE TO SUBSTITUTE

 
Hungry yet? We’re off to make an omelet with one of our new discoveries, fromager d’affinois aux truffes. It was around for the holidays and we loaded up. It will be back again for Easter.

Look for it in gourmet/specialty food stores, Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s (theirs is called “truffle brie”) and some Costcos. If you love truffles, don’t miss it!

In the 1700s, the chocolate making process (like most cooking) was very time consuming. Chocolate, made from the cacao beans grown in the Caribbean and Latin America, became a favorite drink among the colonists.

American Heritage Chocolate, a division of the chocolate giant Mars, has recaptured the sophisticated flavors of that early hot chocolate, as well as the “eating chocolate” that was first created in 1847.

The division focuses on historically authentic chocolate. The company sends educators to historical sites around the country to demonstrate early chocolate making: roasting the cacao beans, winnowing off the shells, breaking the bean into nibs and flavoring them with sugar, salt and spices from around the world: annatto, anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel, red chile and vanilla.

On Presidents Day, February 17th, American Heritage Chocolate will be at the New York Historical Society in New York City, demonstrating the drink that was enjoyed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

The kid-friendly demonstrations (held from 12 to 4) begin with the imported cacao beans, to the extraction of chocolate from the beans, to the finished hot chocolate. Attendees get to sample it, although the 21st century Cocoa Latte machine they employed sure beats the 18th century hand-whipping with a stick in a chocolate pot.

The entire process is on display, including all of the spices, plus the fascinating experience that even food writers will cherish: tasting the component parts of chocolate (the cocoa butter, the chocolate liquor and the milk powder that creates milk chocolate).

Participants also get to taste “chocolate sticks,” cylinders of chocolate that look historic but wouldn’t have been available until the second half of the 19th century (in time for Lincoln, but not for Washington and Jefferson).

AMERICAN HERITAGE CHOCOLATE PRODUCTS

The American Heritage Chocolate brand was developed in 2006 by Mars Chocolate North America to help educate consumers about the history of chocolate in America. The delicious products are sold exclusively at heritage sites and museums†, an exclusive revenue opportunity for those worthy organizations. You can find the site nearest to you online or online, including Colonial Williamsburg website.

The chocolate recipe was created from an ingredient list from 1750, and represents a true taste of the chocolate our ancestors would have enjoyed. The product line includes:

Individual portion chocolate sticks are 63% cacao and excitingly flavored. Photo by River Soma | THE NIBBLE.

And aside from being a bit of history, the products are truly delicious—and special. The spices wake up the palate in a way that the typical chocolate bar Americans enjoy cannot hope to do. Connoisseurs will love it, too.

The products are so special, they’re our Top Pick Of The Week.

This morning, we woke up and prepared a cup for Valentine’s Day.

 
†It is sold at more than 130 fine gift shops at historic sites, museums and historic inns across the U.S. and Canada.
  

The giftee can decorate a standard 3.5-ounce or a heart-shaped chocolate bar with the toppings of his/her choice.

First, the giftee picks the type of chocolate (dark, milk, white), from the fine Belgian producer Barry Callebaut. It can be topped with up to five selections from almost 100 choices:

You can send an e-gift card for $10 or more at Chocomize.com. (And design a bar or two for yourself, while you’re there.)

Next year, if you plan ahead, you can send all of your Valentines your own custom designs.

Who would want to eat these carrots and destroy their charm? But wiser minds argue that if they aren’t eaten, they’ll just wither away.

Point taken, and it’s a moot point too, since we are not in possession of these carrots in love.

But we do have a bag of baby carrots, and the photo inspired us to create a healthful carrot snack, tricked out for the occasion.

VALENTINE CARROTS

Ingredients

1. MAKE yogurt dip: If choosing plain Greek yogurt, season with herbs and garlic.

2. COLOR the dip (yogurt or hummus) with food color or beet juice.

3. CREATE a very small dice of beets. Mix them into the yogurt or hummus.

4. GARNISH the dip bowl with a rim of diced beets, if desired; and scatter with minced herbs.
 
*Beet juice is available at some supermarkets and at most health food stores. It’s delicious, high in antioxidants and low in calories. For a yogurt dip especially, beet juice adds flavor that red food color does not.

We love latte art: animals, cross-hatches, ferns (rosettes), hearts, flowers. The ephemeral milk foam adds a smile to the coffee.

We looked for a book on latte art, but surprise: There isn’t a dedicated book in print (there is, however, LatteArt.org). So we turned to the experts at DeLonghi, whose coffee and espresso machines are coveted by lovers of espresso, cappuccino and latte.

They in turn reached out to Laila Ghambari, Director of Coffee at Cherry Street Coffee House in Seattle—the home of American latte art. Here are her tips:

Latte art was enabled by the development of microfoam, created by the steam wand of a cappuccino machine, used to foam a pitcher of milk. The combination of the crema atop the cup of espresso and velvety microfoam allows patterns to be made. (Note that other types of milk steamers/foamers do not create microfoam.)

Latte art in the United States developed in the Seattle coffee culture of the 1980s and 1990s. By 1989 the heart pattern was a signature at David Schomer’s Espresso Vivace and the rosette pattern followed, based on a photograph Schomer saw of latte art in an Italian café.
 
FOOD TRIVIA

Cappuccino is named after the color of the hooded robes worn by monks and nuns of the Capuchin order. The red-brown color was a common descriptor in 17th-century Europe.

 
HOW DOES LATTE DIFFER FROM OTHER ESPRESSO DRINKS?

What’s the difference between latte and cappuccino? What’s a macchiato? Check out our Espresso glossary for the different type of espresso drinks.