Spring gourmet food and wine

Spring is on the horizon and along with it comes a bounty of fresh gourmet food and wine, colorful fruit, green foods and delicious vegetables. This rejuvenating season brings visions of beautiful evenings sipping wine al fresco and fresh appetizers in backyards, patios and decks.

Known as the season of rebirth, spring brings the promise of summer vacations and endless hours enjoying the great outdoors. This also means entertaining and making the most of fresh foods. For those whose busy schedules make buying online gourmet food the most convenient option, you can count on Taylor’s to provide the freshest options when purchasing gourmet groceries online.

In addition to a premier selection of gourmet food and wine, our store bursts with vibrant seasonal produce, as well as incredible vegetables. Juicy tomatoes, green zucchini and vivid red peppers rank high among the most popular specialty grocery items available in the Spring.

Spring brings an abundance of peas that stay fresh even when purchased as online gourmet food. Yellow, snow and sweet peas hit the market soon, freshening up salads and casseroles, or creating the basis for cool soups. Rich in vitamins, fiber and lutein, peas pack a nutritional punch like few other specialty grocery items. Edible flowers are also arriving, bringing a stunning and tasty esthetic to any meal.

Fresh fiddleheads are starting to appear at your favorite gourmet food market. Packed with antioxidants, these are only available in the early part of the season. It’s also a great time to start planning soups made with your favorite specialty gourmet items. Carrot and ginger make a delicious starter soup, and split pea and bean soups can make for a festive main dish, while Gazpacho creates a refreshing surprise for any course.

Gourmet food and wine guide: the alchemy of wine

Taylor’s is very proud of our wine selection, both in house and among our array of online gourmet food. That’s why we are more than happy to share some tips with our customers on the joys of gourmet food and wine and what you can learn certain items over time.

Wine doesn’t necessarily need to be expensive for it to be enjoyable—nor does it need to be kept or aged for a significant length of time. Any collector and gourmet grocery aficionado will tell you that while most wines can last for several years, they don’t necessarily improve with time. Those who are serious about wine will take the time to learn about the types that actually do get better over the years and which actually can last decades.

If you’re curious about making the most of high-end food and wine, then do some experimenting. For example, you can visit your local gourmet grocery store and pick up a case or two of wine. Store the bottles for a few years and perhaps sample one a year to see what changes about the contents. Whether it’s amazing one year and terrible the next, you’ll definitely learn something about the process. If you like to buy online gourmet food, you can always visit specialized sites to try different aged wines and learns about each.

What happens to wine as its aged is a complex process that not everything is known about. As molecules of the wine separate and break apart, others form long chains that can be so complex and heavy that they actually drop out as sediment. As the minute amount of air in the bottle dissolves into the wine, the acids and sugars transform and affect the flavor, aroma, texture and color.

Enjoy the experimentation, as no matter the age, the wine may taste different than it did the first time around. The alchemy of aging wine offers an incredibly enjoyable experience that can evoke nostalgia and memories of good times past. Savor it!

Gourmet food and wine tasting for Valentine’s Day

In one of our recent blog posts, we recommended some great items to put together for the ultimate gourmet food and wine meal for Valentine’s Day: a wine and chocolate tasting. We shared a wide array of items that you will find in our selection of online gourmet food, making this a simple and convenient undertaking that will show your thoughtfulness in a big way.

Pairing chocolate with fruit is also a natural combination that will further boost the antioxidant content of this meal. When ordering from our selection of online gourmet food, take that fact into consideration. You may want to get some strawberries or other fruit for dipping into the chocolate.

When you are putting any sort of gourmet food and wine tasting together, you want to follow a format that is easy yet makes sense. When wine is involved, you want to make sure to take time to savor every element—you’ll want to swirl the wine in the glass and examine its color and viscosity, and of course, note the aroma. Similar to a formal tasting that would be conducted at a premier gourmet food market such as Taylors, you’ll want to do some experimenting. For example, you’ll want to include a variety of chocolates, from light to dark. Start with the most subtle white chocolate and finish on a dark or bittersweet chocolate.

Savor every bit of the meal—sip the wine and take time to enjoy its complexity. Follow a sip with a small bite of chocolate that you let sit on your tongue. Just as it starts to melt, give your glass another swirl and tape a sip with the chocolate still in your mouth. Just like in any other tasting of specialty grocery items, the flavors are released in stages.

You’ll experience a wide range of notes—including a fruity acidity from the grapes in the wine, and the cacoa beans in the chocolate. This will be followed by a sweet phase and finished with tannins, flavor notes that both wine and chocolate bear. You'll also observe fruity, woody, nutty and spicy notes.

Another fun element of preparing a tasting with specialty grocery items is that you can do some experimentation beforehand to see what works best with your palette. You can simply pick up a few bars of premium chocolate from our gourmet food market and sample pieces with different bottles of wine. The potential for combinations is truly unlimited and there is no chance of disappointment—this kind of pairing has something for everyone.

Taylor's Kitchen Menu for the Week of February 8th

Starters

Potato Gnocchi
piperade, preserved lemon, bloomsdale spinach, midnight moon
$12.00

Winter Vegetable Fritto Misto
fennel, baby carrots, broccoli rabe, red beets, parsnips, meyer lemons, caper aioli
$9.00

Pork and Duck Meatballs
herb polenta, mushroom jus
$12.00

Bacon, Cheddar and Kohlrabi Soup
tempura broccoli and cauliflower
$8.00

Pork Belly Bruschetta
white bean puree, broccoli rabe, apricot-cherry jus
$10.00

PEI Mussels
Thai rice, fresno chilies, roasted peanuts, kaffir lime leaf broth
$11.00

Taylor's Artisan Cheeseboard
marcona almonds, honeycomb, membrillo
$15.00

Soup

Today's Housemade - ask Server

Greens

Roasted Beets
poached gulf prawns, horseradish panna cotta
pickled green beans, frisee, bloody mary vinaigrette
$10.00

Faurot Ranch Baby Greens
poached seckle pear, colston basset blue, red wine shallots,
star thistle honey vinaigrette
$8.00

Baby Spinach Salad
papaya, pickled red onions, piquillos, cojita,
charred jalapeno dressing
$8.00

Azolla Farms' Pan di Zuccero
boquerones, ruby red grapefruit, radicchio,
fried caper dressing
$9.00

Entrees

Day Boat Scallops
sunchoke puree, black trumpet mushrooms, rutabaga,
butternut squash, purple kale, bacon and sesame jus
$28.00

Maple Brined Berkshire Pork Chop
black eyed peas, cauliflower, blue lake beans, rainbow chard,
brown butter apple sauce
$26.00

28 Day Dry Aged Ribeye
potato puree, broccoli rabe, baby carrots,
brandy-peppercorn jus
$32.00

Mary's Farm Free Range Chicken
fontina and leek bread pudding, bloomsdale spinach,
chicken jus
$24.00

Seasonal Fish ~ Ask Server
A.Q.

Pasta Dave's Fettucini
forest mushroom ragout, amontillado sherry cream, fines herbs,
Oregon truffles
$17.00

Half Pound Lucky Dog Ranch Burger
handcut french fries, housemade brioche bun,
traditional garnish
$14.00

Desserts

$7.00

Gurnee's Bread Pudding
sweet potatoes, white chocolate
currants, brioche, bourbon

Tangelo Creamsicle
Azolla Farms tangelos
salted almond brittle

Layered Crepes
bittersweet chocolate
hazelnut butter

Toast and Jelly
french toast, white chocolate butter
panna cotta, concord grape gelee

Daily selection of sorbets
and ice creams served with a shortbread

Learning To Find Gourmet Food And Wine

Everyone likes a good meal. A great glass of wine does not hurt either. Looking into the gourmet scene can open up a world of possibilities for your taste buds. Do not talk yourself out of trying these delicious things by thinking that they are completely inaccessible. In fact, gourmet food and wine isn’t hard to find at all.

The first question is where you should go to sample these treats. Bustling cities boast countless restaurants serving up the finest fares, and this is an easy option. Even if you are outside of a big city, there are sure to be restaurants offering the best in both foods and wines near you. Look around and be prepared to taste and try new things.

Another fantastic way to sample the best without sitting down at one specific restaurant is expos and festivals. These are events that take place in different cities and allow guests to sample the best foods and wines from all around the world. This allows the opportunity for traveling to see someplace new while sampling so many treats.

Perhaps you are in a generous mood and are looking to give a gift. This, too, is easier than you may think. There are many specialty grocery stores out there that cater to this very need.

You can pick and choose the drinks and ingredients you want to gift. If this is not the way you want to go and want something more straightforward, finding gift baskets to send to a deserving friend is another easy option. Anyone is sure to appreciate this gift.

And if you feel adventurous, it is not difficult at all to find recipes. Instead of eating out, try to make the dishes yourself! Then, you can purchase a complimentary bottle and wow your friends with gourmet food and wine at home.

For the highest quality gourmet food and wine around Sacramento, California, check out Taylor’s Market. It is a family-operated store that’s long been in the business and offers an enormous range of specialty groceries of all types. From vegetables and fruits, to excellent deli selections, to fine wines and spirits, they have great foodstuffs to spice up any meal you can serve. Visit them today!

Chocolate and Wine Pairing for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is on the horizon, which makes it the perfect time to take advantage of our Sacramento gourmet food store for the perfect gift for your loved ones. Or if you prefer to purchase gourmet groceries on our website, we’ve got an array of online gourmet food that will provide for an awesome romantic evening for you and your partner.

Gourmet food and wine is a no-brainer for setting up the perfect Valentine’s evening. Try a pairing of chocolate and wine—they are natural companions as they both have complex flavors and notes, as well as similar components and nuances. You can follow the same type of process as you would if you were doing a wine or chocolate pairing individually, and you can find all that you need either at our store or when you’re purchasing online gourmet food on our website.

To get started with pairing these gourmet food and wine items, here are a few easy-to-follow guidelines. You’ll want to pair lighter chocolates with lighter wines and darker chocolates with full-bodied wines. In the session itself, you’ll want to start with light and move towards dark in your tasting sessions.

The best pairings for semi-sweet chocolate include Zinfandel, Tawny Port, Syrah, Armagnac and Cognac. Perfect matches for darker chocolates include well-aged Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir or Sangiovese reds. You can also try a Merlot, Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc, and note that dessert wines are other great matches for darker chocolate.

A cool thing about pairing these types of gourmet groceries is that darker wines and darker chocolates are packed with antioxidants, which are lauded for their benefits against disease and for anti-aging. Antioxidants are molecules that fight and neutralize the oxidants and free radicals that enter our body from smoke inhalation, pollution, overexposure to sun, alcohol, eating fatty foods and exposure to radiation levels. Who knew that such an indulgent evening could be so beneficial to our health?

If you have time to visit our Sacramento gourmet food store, you can have an amazing experience on your own by sampling some of these gourmet groceries to find all the perfect elements for your Valentine’s day chocolate and wine pairing.