Museum AfterHours- Science of Eats: Sweet

Epic sweet fare.
CHEZ MOI
Easily the most delicious rum cake I have ever, ever, tasted. Moist and flavorful. Generous samples were provided by the beautifully charming owner, Rhonda Jones, and her friendly assistant. Probably the tastiest morsel I had at this event. Bookmark!
THE PALACE INTERNATIONAL Such a beautiful display! Loved the presentation table with tiny African dolls, painted wooden giraffes (I have a small collection so they really caught my eye), and colorful table linens. Top notch. These ladies provided Mandazi East African donuts, Chai tea and plantains (although I missed the plantains). The Mandazi was very tasty and the Chai was delicious and not overly sweet. Perfect. They also provided a sample of loose tea in a super cute little satchel. Bookmark!
MYSTIC I could get in trouble here. The Irish cream and bourbon mix. Wow! Wait, already bookmarked.
LITTLE DIPPER Husband and wife team provided tasty treats with a choice of 3 chocolate sauces: milk, white, and dark. Pineapple, strawberries, marshmallows, and pound cake were offered along with a caramel sauce and graham cracker crumbs. One of the longer lines and definitely worth the wait.
COCOA CINNAMON Beautiful and informative table display. The ladies here provided an exquisite liquid chocolate beverage to which you could add your own spices. I enjoyed drinking the chocolate so much that I skipped the spices.
ESCAZU chocolates made with goat’s milk. LOVE these local chocolates! DEElish!
RELAY FOODS Described as «Amazon meets Whole Foods and they have a Baby.» Great concept. You place your food orders online in one location (Relay Foods) with locally sourced products including local and organic meats. Then you pick up your order in a specified location within a few days. You have a choice of locations in the triangle area and you have flexibility in choosing a pickup date. Score!
NORTH CAROLINA SWEET POTATOES Provided tasty samples of at least 6 varieties of NC sweet potatoes… all lower on the glycemic index than regular white potatoes. Score! I’m definitely going to expand my sweet potato horizons and will be looking for more varieties at the farmer’s market.
SPROUT CAFE Provided generous samples of organic smoked pork loin with cranberry-​Chipotle BBQ sauce on crostini. I’m not a pork fan but since it was organic, I tried it. Wow. The pork was beautifully smoked which enhanced the flavor of the meat rather than overpowering it. The smoky saltiness of the pork perfectly complemented the tart-​sweet cranberry-​Chipotle BBQ sauce. Quality ingredients. What a delicious score. Bookmark!
EDEN’S Soy red velvet squares, both vegan without icing and non-​vegan with icing. The vegan squares were moist and delicious. Yum!
VINTAGE BEE Provided samples of creamed and flavored local honey. LOVE local creamed honey. Score!
BIG SPOON ROASTERS Provided samples of 10 different nut butters. The Ginger Almond was nutty with a wonderful light ginger finish. Absolutely delicious.
MUSEUM BLIND MAPLE SYRUP TASTE TEST My blind preference was the Grade A pure maple syrup. The hubby’s was Log Cabin. Great, I can keep the good stuff to myself and let him have the high fructose corn syrup for his pancakes. Fun little exhibit.
NCSU Food Science Club provided a make-​your-​own ice cream demonstration. We added milk, sugar, and vanilla to a ziplocked sandwich bag, sealed it, then placed it inside a larger ziplocked bag with ice and ice cream salt (rock salt). We then carried our little bag around to check out other vendors while kneading and massaging our tiny, unformed ice cream baby. 10 minutes later, our sweet little ice cream baby was born and, we ate every last sweet little bite! Yum.
UNC Department of Chemistry demonstrated homemade gummy bears, actually gummy blobs and strands. I couldn’t bring myself to try these but apparently they tasted like gummy bears. Interesting and informative. Very informative.
Excellent venue, top notch vendors, fun and informative event. 5 shiny stars!