Looking for something fun to do at your next at-home gathering of friends or family? Book club? Dinner Party? Grown Up Birthday Celebration? How about serving up both dessert and a way for everyone to play local food critic for the night?
Meet Taste the Carolinas
TASTE THE CAROLINAS is a new local food tasting concept that came to being last spring when local women & foodies Jamie and Rachel became concerned about locally owned restaurants and bakeries during the challenge of covid. What started as an idea to add some fun to “stay-at-home” times and support local businesses has blossomed into a one-of-its-kind monthly dessert box tasting program.
Here’s How It Works
Each month, Taste the Carolinas puts together a dessert box of 6 delicious cookies, doughnuts etc. sourced from local food vendors. You order these online and pick yours up at the designated Charlotte or Huntersville location. So far Taste the Carolinas has tasted locally made boxes of Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lemony Desserts, Cupcakes, Donuts, and Chocolates (for Valentines of course).
Pick Up and Tasting are the last Saturday of each month. Order online, pick up during the designated afternoon time slots and take your box(es) home. Then have a fun Saturday night with family and friends tasting all the offerings and playing food critic for the night. Scoring sheets are provided, and tasting notes are encouraged. Once you are done tasting, you compile your final votes and use the QR code provided to send your votes in to Taste the Carolinas. They compile all submitted scores and announce the winner the next day on their social media channels.
How Our Brownie Tasting Party Went
The July tasting box was brownies, and we were not sad about it. We decided to skip dinner and taste our brownies with a nice red wine, combining our vices of course.
Here’s what we tasted. #sorrynotsorry
Tasting Tips and Thoughts
- The individual servings are pretty big; we divided each brownie into smaller bite sized pieces and had plenty for our group of 5 to taste and rate, with a ton left-over.
- There were definitely some brownies that tasted better straight from the fridge, still quite cool, and some that were better at room temp.
- While there were a couple where everyone pretty much agreed on the ratings, there was also a lot of variety in the opinions and the ratings which made for a fun time.
- You can use the forms provided or rate directly via the QR code. We ended up having folks fill out their cards and then we did the uploading ourselves after the tasting.
- Tasting even small 1/4 bites of 6 brownies was surprisingly filling and a bit overwhelming for some of us. Be prepared to be STUFFED. You will more than get your money’s worth.
- This was a super way to get to know and try out several bakeries we had never been to, several we follow on instagram but had not yet made the time to visit. So that was definitely a benefit.
- Our group’s winner? The Suarez brownie. The overall Taste winner? The salted caramel brownie from The Percantile.
What’s Next from Taste the Carolinas
Interested in trying this out? Next up is Cake Donuts launching this week with a pick up date of September 3rd.
Follow @tastethecarolinas on instagram for updates, upcomings, product photos and bakery info.
Save when you use scoop’s coupon code! 20% Off with the code SCOOP20
Pick ups in Charlotte are off of Fairview Rd in tall white building # 5950 behind the Panera on Park South. Turn on Park South and pull in the parking lot, look for the white tent. Be sure to give them your phone number and get their in case you can’t find them or are running late, as no-shows boxes are donated to local healthcare workers.
