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This page contains an archive of all entries posted to 365 Cheeses in the Cheese category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
Cheese Board is the next category.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
© 2009 Kirk Samuels
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Cheese Archives
Mario Batali and others call it "the undisputed King of Cheeses"--Parmigiano Reggiano. I would not agree with the undisputed part--I do know some Frenchmen and this cheese isn't French--but I do say yes to its royal pedigree. Most often used grated or shredded because of its granular texture, grana, parmigiano is great shaved thin to top salads and pasta or broken into small shards for a cheese plate.
The first comment I thought I would write about this majestic cheese is the taste of salt. After all, it is used time and again to punch up other tastes with its saltiness. But tasting parmigiano again and alone, I was surprised that salt was not the first flavor on my tongue. First comes the texture. The peaks of the granules brush the tongue and the sides of my mouth. Then the taste buds around my tounge perk up. I sense the sweetness of milk. Then the tang of a cheese like Swiss Emmentaler followed by a slight nuttiness. Only then does the saltiness emerge. Occassionaly my tooth will hit a grain of saltier, harder cheese tucked into a larger bite.
Like a lot of Americans my first experience of "parmesan cheese" came out of a green cardboard can with a yellow smiling top. When my family had spaghetti with store-bought sauce we always topped it with the yellowy-white cheese. I liked it but then I didn't know any better. After tasting the real thing I could never go back. (That's not 100% true. I promise I will never buy the stuff but if I am visiting my parents and we eat spaghetti at home, there is a nice nostalgic comfort in the combination of Ragu and Kraft Parmesan, much like the affection I will always have for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner--not the best of its kind but a comfort from childhood.)
I have tried Argentinian "parmesan" and it can be an adequete substitute in cooked dishes. But its texture is worlds apart from the true thing. It lacks the marble-like layers of grana that flake away when cutting into real parmigiano.
Try the big PR, Parmigano Reggiano. Truly one of the world's best.
Name: Parmigano Reggiano
Type of Milk: Cow, Part Skim, Unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy, Emilia-Romagna
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
I had never heard of Crucolo before buying it. After tasting it I was glad I picked it up.
One online source describes the flavor "resembling Parmegiano-Reggiano" but "with a creamy texture". In my mind it was closer to an Emmentaler or mild gruyere in taste and texture, not really creamy at all. Nice tang. It has a milky pale color and small holes throughout.
A delicious cheese.
Name: Crucolo
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in:Italy, Trentino-Alto Adige
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $17.99/lb.
The difference between young provolone and aged is the difference between Beaujolais Nouveau and ten-year-old Port, between an '87 Mustang and a '64, between Brittany Spears and Ella Fitzgerald. Age and experience can be wonderful things. This aged provolone, labeled "piccante”, is not so much spicy or sharp like an aged cheddar but piquant in the tangy sense.
The name "provolone" may be derived from the Naples’s dialect for "globe" since one of the traditional shapes for this cheese was a round ball. Now it is most often seen in a large sausage-like shape. The texture has concentric onion-like layers that you can peel away, much like a fresh mozzarella ball. This is not surprising since provolone is the older brother of the mozzarella family. Take a fresh ball of mozzarella, hang it by string in a cool, dry room and rub the surface with salt water for the first few days. After a few months you have provolone. Auricchio, the manufacturer of this cheese, has been making it since 1877.
Serve it sliced or in chunks on an antipasto platter.
This is a wonderful cheese for cooking. It makes a great addition to a grilled cheese sandwich or to top salads or pasta.
Name: Auricchio Provolone
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in:Italy, Auricchio Company
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $14.99/lb.
Eating mold can be a tricky thing. There is a fine blue line between a perfectly ripe cheese and one that has gone on to wilder pastures. Cheese is a living food--not the kind with a heartbeat but one that ages and changes and goes through a life cycle. I tasted the cheese I'm writing about today, Fourme d'Ambert au lait cru, twice. Not different pieces either but the same chunk. Each time was at a different stage of the cheese's life and a vastly different experience.
The name is a little pretentious if you don't know French. "Fourme" comes from the Latin word for "form", a in which the cow's milk curds were held or pressed. The Italian word for cheese itself, "formaggio", has the same origin. In some French dialects "fourme" simply means cheese. So Fourme d'Ambert is cheese that originated in the town of Ambert. "Au lait cru" means "from raw milk" or unpasteurized. It is a blue cheese, a moldy molded cheese of France.
Fourme' d'Ambert is often called French Stilton. The grayish-green veins of blue mold run thick throughout. When I bought it, the cheese was cut to order (a good sign) and wrapped in cheese paper instead of plastic (a very good sign). When I opened it the next day after bringing the cheese to room temperature for an hour the texture was moist but still crumbled when cut. Spread on a cracker it was creamy and sweet yet pungent with the blue cheese flavor. Strong but not overpowering. It was a delicious cheese. My fiancée Fleming and I ate half of it then I wrapped it in plastic and returned it to the refrigerator.
Three days later I took the cheese and a few crackers with me to work for my lunch. By the time I unwrapped the cheese it had been at room temperature for a few hours. The smell, fungal and overpowering, almost knocked me out my chair. This was not the same cheese I had eaten days before. Undeterred by the pungency I cut of a chuck and spread it on a cracker. Even before it reached my mouth I could feel the fumes of something--mold maybe--entering my nose. The creaminess and sweet milk flavors were gone, consumed by the living cultures that had taken over. I ate the last of it but it left a bad taste in my nose and mouth.
Lesson: Cheese or any great food product must be taken care of properly and prepared and served at the peak of ripeness or freshness. Buying in bulk, even a bulk of two servings, may be fine for some ingredients, but not all and especially not some really great cheeses.
Name: Fourme D'Ambert Au Lait Cru
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: France
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006, 10/30/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $9.99/lb.
You either love or hate blue cheese. I love it. I love it by itself. I love it on bread. I love it cooked or baked with other cheeses. Neal's Yard Dairy Colston Bassett Stilton does not disappoint.
The colors of this blue cheese are not milky white with bluish streaks but a gradation of brown to buttery yellow speckled with gray to green pocks of mold. The cheese crumbles into large pieces making it great for bread or salads. We ate it last night in a green salad with pear and walnuts, a classic pairing for blue cheese. The cheese was wrapped in plastic from the store and when unwrapped the Stilton had an overpowering odor that I mentioned in the Fourme d’Ambert article. But this time I let it sit out unwrapped by itself for about 20 minutes and the obnoxious smell had evaporated and the cheese tasted great.
This leads to my general rules for the best storing and serving cheese:
1) Whenever possible store firm cheeses in paper instead of plastic. Cheese needs to breathe and plastic wrap can suffocate a cheese. I don’t always follow this rule, in fact, paper wrapped cheese is currently the exception in my fridge but I can see the difference in how well it works.
2) Allow cheese to come to room temperature before serving. Unwrap the cheese and let it sit out. Ten to twenty minutes is usually enough. Cold cheese hold on to its flavor instead of releasing it in your mouth. If the cheese gets too warm, fat may come to the surface or it may dry out. Unwrapping the cheese lets any built up odors or “cheese exhaust” escape and should return the cheese to a state of balance.
Overall the Stilton from Neal’s Yard Dairy Colston Basset had a great flavor and texture and when properly cared for, produced great results.
Name: Neal's Yard Dairy Colston Bassett Stilton
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: England, Colston Bassett, Nottinghamshire, Colston Bassett & District Dairy, by Richard Rowlett & Billy Kevan
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006, 11/5/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $17.99/lb.
Lancashire is called the "best toasting cheese in the world". It melts easily without dissolving into a pool of oil and curd. Its melting quality make it the traditional choice for Welsh rabbit, which to us Americans is simply melted cheese on toast. We can use it for grilled cheese to great results. It is similar to white cheddar in appearance a taste. The piece I bought was crumbly but not overly dry. The flavor was cheddary with fresh dairy flavors. A good cheese.
Name: Trotterhill Lancashire
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Lancashire, Inglewhite
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
Wensleydale is one of Wallace and Gromit favorite cheeses. Wensleydale is also the name of the store owner in the Monty Python "Cheese Shop" sketch. The cheese itself is good. It has a pale yellow color. The texture is crumbly but not physically dry. The flavor is milky like fresh cheese curd and very pleasant. Wensleydale has a fresh balanced taste.
Name: Wensleydale
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: England, Yorkshire, Wensleydale
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $10.99/lb.
Schwing!
Entelbucher Schwingerkäse comes from the Swiss town of Entelbuch in the Canton of Lucerne. Entelbuch is probably most famous for a breed of cattle dog called the Entelbucher Sennenhund or simply the Entelbucher. I'm not sure what the actual translation of "Schwingerkäse" would be in English, maybe "swing cheese". The verb "schwingen" means to swing or to beat or to oscillate. The name may come from some production process that involes beating or swinging the cheese around or may be named after someone named "Schwing". My research uncovered no origins for the name. "Käse", pronounced kay-za, is the German word for cheese.
The cheese is similar in flavor, color and texture to what we most think of as "Swiss cheese". It lacks the sharpness of a Gruyère or Emmentaler but has the same undertones of flavor and notes of fresh bread. The color is a very pale whitish yellow and there are only a few small holes.
It's a good cheese but the price is steep and not one I'd recommend when its equals can be found much cheaper.
Name: Entelbucher Schwingerkäse
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Switzerland, Tirol, Spezialitätenkäserei Doppleschwand AG
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $21.99/lb.
La Tur is one of my favorite cheeses. The best way to describe it is like butter with an attitude. At the proper temperature and ripeness it is soft, smooth and spreadable but still dense with pungent, ripe flavor. It is sold in small 4-inch disks about one inch deep placed in pleated paper like a cupcake. The outside has a light white undeveloped mold and the inside is the color of cream. It goes well with a warm French baguette. We also tried it with two condiments, a Spanish quince paste, Membrillo, and fig jam. The fig jam didn't work. It was not sweet enough to compete with the stronger cheese flavors. The quince paste was delicious though, sweet but not cloying, a little acidic, a little tart.
La Tur is a triptych blend of cow, sheep and goat milk. It is pastuerized but at the lowest temperature allowed by law which helps retain some of the flavors of unpasteurized cheeses. It is aged for about two weeks before being shipped around the world.
If you can find it buy it. Did I say it was one of my favorites? Yes I did.
Name: La Tur
Type of Milk: Cow's, Sheep's and Goat's, Pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: Italy, Alta Lange, Caseificio Dell'Alta Langa
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/4/2006
Date Eaten: 11/5/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $19.99/lb.
"What's the difference between Buffalo milk mozzarella and cow milk mozarella?" That's not the set up to a joke, at least not any one I know, but somethingI wanted to know and decided to find out. First let's make the distinction between fresh mozarella and the other kind. Fresh mozzarella is fresh, as in recently made. It has a pretty short shelf life like fresh milk. It is formed into gumball to baseball sized globes and kept in a watery brine. Fresh mozzarella is bright white and seeming formed of layers of fresh cheese. "Plain mozzarella", the stuff sold in bricks and found topping most pizzas is dryer and yellower. It tastes more like cheese whereas fresh mozzarella tastes like milk.
So what's the deal with these Buffalos? Well, first think water buffalo, like the Flintstones' Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo, and not like "tatonka" in "Dances with Wolves". Their milk is creamier, has a higher fat content than cow milk, I have read. I have never drunk any as of this writing, but I have tasted the cheese.
I bought the fresh mozzarella the day before trying it. There was no produced by date and only a mysterious "Use by" date that seemed to lack enough digits to be a date, so I do not know how fresh it really was.
Fleming and I agreed that the fresh buffalo mozzarella was softer that other fresh moz. "Softer, but that doesn't mean creamier," she noted. "The taste is so much stronger but the texture is so much softer". Other fresh mozzarella I have tried was softer outside than in, absorbing water from the brine. This was just the opposite, softer in the middle.
It tasted like slightly sour milk, "lemony", but with no after-taste. Pleasant, clean flavors. I don't know if the slight sourness was typical or due to shelf life. When I try it again I will follow up.
If you're making a Caprese salad I think the real buffalo milk cheese would play well with tomatoes' acidity and basil's spice. Great on its own too.
Name: Mozzarella di Bufala
Type of Milk: Buffalo, Pasteurized
Type: fresh
Produced in:
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/4/2006
Date Eaten: 11/5/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $15.99/lb.
Port Salut is what I call a breakfast cheese. Soft, mild, inexpensive but still fresh tasting, it is not a great cheese but it is a great way to start the day. I love a slice with toast and jam (raspberry is my favorite).
Port Salut has a distinctive orange rind beneath an orange paper label. This is edible (the rind, not the paper) but don't. Stick to the white, milky soft cheese. The name comes from the trappist abbey of Notre Dame du Port du Salut (Our Lady of the Port of Salvation). I don't think this cheese will get you into heaven but it will keep you satisfied until lunch.
Name: Port Salut
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: France, Brittany
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/04/2006
Date Eaten: 11/08/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $7.99/lb.
I once heard Parrano described as a Dutch cheese with an Italian accent, or maybe it was an Italian cheese with a Dutch accent. Either way, it's an accurate description for a cheese from the Netherlands named for an Etruscan village. Think Gouda mixed with Parmesan. Parrano is a versatile cheese that I reach for when I want flavor for not a high cost. After reaching for the cheese I usually reach for the grater.
Ways I use grated Parrano:
Macaroni and Cheese
Grilled Cheese (two no brainers)
Omelets
Topping Duck Confit, Roasted Garlic and Arugula Pizza
Name: Parrano
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Netherlands
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/04/2006
Date Eaten: 11/08/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $7.99/lb.
Hoop cheese is cheese curd that has been pressed in a round hoop-like mold. Depending on the curd it is either fresh, white, moist and unsalted or firm, orange and cheddar-like. North Carolina Hoop cheese is the latter, fresh cheddar curds pressed in molds then covered in red wax. The flavor and texture is like fresh cheese curds, even a little squeaky. It used to be sold in country stores next to the cracker barrel. It was cut to order by a device called a hoop cheese cutter, a round pedestal with a blade that swung out and down to cut off a measured amount of hoop cheese.
North Carolina Hoop cheese locally is a good price. Compared to factory cheese in the grocery store aisle it is incredibly more flavorful and tastes, well, like cheese. This may sound strange, but most cheese hanging in bags in the dairy aisle is insipid, tasteless, rubber.
Name: North Carolina Hoop Cheese
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in:
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/9/2006
Date Eaten: 11/13/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $6.99/lb.
Here's how I remember that Manchego, most famous of Spanish cheeses, is made from sheep's milk:
Manchego comes from the Spanish region of La Mancha of Don Quixote fame. Don Quixote through some form of senility or madness confused the windmills and flocks of sheep of his home with giants and armies. These sheep are where the famous cheese comes from.
It may seem a long way to go to remember two things, a name and an animal, but despite the fact or maybe even because I know so many things, I often need to figure out ways to remember new information. But knowing Manchego = sheep's milk and knowing what that cheese tastes like, I can use it as a basis for tasting other cheeses and figuring out if they too are made from the milk of sheep and if they are as good as this very good Spanish cheese.
Often I see sheep's milk cheese labled as "ewe's milk". I do not say ewe's milk as I do not say "nanny's milk" when talking of goats or "she-cow's milk" when talking of cows. A ewe is a female sheep and therefore the obvious producer. If it has horns it is a ram and do not try to milk it.
Manchego is often labled to indicate its age. "Fresco" is fresh, "curado" is three to six months old, and "viejo" is at least a year. I could not find what Manchego that is between six months and a year old is called. I assume it is not allowed to show itself in public.
Manchego viejo has a white baked-potato-like color surrounded by a dark wheat-ear patterned rind. The flavor is subtle but lovely. I love to shave it over salads.
Name: Manchego
Type of Milk: Sheep, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in:
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/9/2006
Date Eaten: 11/14/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $13.99/lb.
Sa Canova is a Spanish cheese from the Balearic Island of Minorca. At first glance the orange rind and pale center may cause one to mistake the cheese for Port Salut. They are however quite different. Sa Canova like the best Spanish cheeses is made from sheep's milk. The cheese is less soft, easier to crumble apart that Port Salut. The rind of Port Salut is thick and plastic. Sa Canova's is easier on the palate.
Other than that I don't have much to say about it. If you were serving a cheese plate of Spanish cheeses you could include Sa Canova and not be disappointed as long as the other cheeses were really great.
Name: Sa Canova
Type of Milk: Sheep, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in:
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/09/2006
Date Eaten: 11/15/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $10.99/lb.
When most people think of "Swiss cheese" they most likely think of the original or some variation of Emmentaler, a pale yellow, semi-hard cheese with large air holes. The name and spelling can be a little confusing. You will often see it listed as emmental, emmenthal, emmenthaler and emmentaler (both capitalized and lower case). The Emme is a river in Switzerland. "Thal" or "Tal" means "valley" in German. The "h" is silent so both are pronounced the same and in modern usage the "h" is usually left out altogether. So the "Emmental" is the valley through which the Emme river flows. Someone or something from that valley, like a cheese, would be an "Emmentaler", capitalized because the river and the person are proper nouns and because ALL nouns in German are capitalized. So my perferred name and the name protected by denomination is "Emmentaler". ("Emmentaler Switzerland®" is the protected name.)
Emmentaler is a pleasant swiss cheese. Compared to most "Swiss cheese" found on supermarket shelves it is packed with flavor. Compared to so many other cheeses, say Gruyere or Leerdammer, though it is a little bland. I like it with fruit like apples or pears or for breakfast on toast with berry jam.
For economy-sake look for center-cut pieces, offering more edible center and less inedible hard rind. More holes may look nicer and you aren't paying for the air that fills them so if you like the looks, choose cuts that have them.
Name: Emmentaler or Emmenthaler or Emmental or Emmenthaler
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Switzerland
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/17/2006
Date Eaten: 11/18/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $7.99/lb.
There's a story about how St. Marcellin, a cheese from a remote region of France, became popular, at least as popular as French cheeses go.
The dauphin, the prince who would be King Louis XI, was out hunting in his lands in southeastern France called the Dauphiné. (Incidentally "dauphin" literally means "dolphin" and goes back to a guy named Guy VIII, the French count of Vienne who had dolphins on his coat of arms.That has nothing to with cheese except that dolphins are mammals and might produce a wonderfully rich dolphin cheese if you could find a short stool to milk them.) The prince got lost in the woods and was attacked by a bear. Two local woodsmen rescued the prince and brought him back to their cabin in the woods where he was revived by peasant bread and local cheese. The prince recooperated and never forgot the two men whom he later gave lands and title nor the cheese called St. Marcellin that afterward became famous throughout the land.
The cheese is soft and when brought to room temperature, runny. Sold in a small ceramic pot St. Marcellin is wonderful. I reuse the pots in my kitchen for mise-en-place. The flavor is nutty and slightly fungal, slightly acidic, but very creamy.
Per pound the price of St. Marcellin seems high but it is I bought my 100g (~1/4 lb.) crock for $4.99. Plenty to serve a party of four. Unless they're really hungry. Or French.
The only way I eat this cheese is on a fresh baguette. Incredible.
Name: St. Marcellin
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: France
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/17/2006
Date Eaten: 11/18/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $22.45/lb.
I searched through every book I have on cheese but couldn't find any reference to Rocastin or Berger or any form of Le Berger de Rocastin. That is telling.
Berger means "shepherd" in French. Rocastin is made from sheep's milk, creamy smooth, and sold in neat little triangles. Other than that it is not really an interesting cheese. The flavor is not strong and the texture seems too processed, maybe too pasteurized. Not awful but I don't think I will buy it again.
Name: Berger de Rocastin
Type of Milk: Sheep, Pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: France
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/17/2006
Date Eaten: 11/18/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $16.99/lb.
Leerdammer is one of my favorite Swiss-style cheeses. Big holes. Lots of flavor. Nice bite.
The cheese is named after the Dutch town of Leerdam and is a fairly new cheese, first sold in 1984. For the price it is a bargain for flavor.
Name: Leerdammer
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized, Part-skim
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: The Netherlands
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/17/2006
Date Eaten: 11/18/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $7.99/lb.
Here is an American Gruyère, made in Wisconsin that's as good as any produced in France or Switzerland, Roth Käse’s Grand Cru Gruyère Surchoix. I think of Gruyère as "the other Swiss cheese". Swiss-style cheeses tend to be either like Emmentaler (big holes, easily melting, mild flavor) or Gruyère (pungent, firmer, packed with flavor). Together they make a perfect, traditional fondue.
Aged at least nine month's Gruyère Surchoix ("surchoix" means "top choice" in French) is a great tasting cheese. It has a bit of funk to it and I mean that in the best possible way. Some cheeses tickle the roof of your mouth with pungent flavor without being sharp like an aged cheddar. This cheese does that. There are some other flavors I can only describe as tannic, but also in a good way.
It is wonderful with apples or fresh bread, walnuts or arugula salad.
Name: Grand Cru Gruyère Surchoix
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: USA, Wisconsin, Monroe, Roth Käse
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/17/2006
Date Eaten: 11/18/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $12.99/lb.
No, not "ricotta salad", as I first thought. "Ricotta salata" means "salted ricotta" or literally "salted re-cooked". Ricotta is the cooked down whey left over from the curd ("curds and whey") that went into making some other cheese. Often this is fresh and sweet and sold in small tubs to be used in lasagna, calzones or cheese dips. Ricotta salata is salted and pressed to form a firm, crumbly, death-white disk of cheese.
By itself ricotta salata is a little too salty to eat as is. Its saltiness pairs well with fresh fruit though and makes it a great ingredient in pasta dishes. In a traditional recipe of Orrechiette with Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil, ricotta salata is crumbled over the finished dish to add the cheesy components of salt and creaminess and a little sheepy tang.
Name: Ricotta Salata
Type of Milk: Sheep, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in:
Date Purchased: 11/23/2006
Date Eaten: 11/23/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $5.99/lb.
Here is a wonderful cheese from the Italian Alps, Fontina Valle d'Aosta. Another of my favorites. True fontina has great natural flavor, the good tastes and odors of the farm--hay, grass, milk, straw, air. The alpine Italians have been producing it for hundreds of years. Look for the name on the cheese paper or the blue Matterhorn stamp to get the real thing.
Fontina Valle d'Aosta melts well (think baked pastas or on warm bread) but is delicious at room temperature with a hearty red wine and sliced salumi.
Name: Fontina Valle d'Aosta, DOP
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 11/23/2006
Date Eaten: 11/23/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $14.99/lb.
Soft and creamy are the first words to come to my mind when tasting Asiago Fresco. The cheese has havarati like holes (small, flat, plentiful) and a delicate flavor. Unlike older, drier Asiago (Asiago d'Allevo) Asiago Fresco Pressato is great on sandwiches or panini. It is good with salami and cold cuts. A very nice, every day cheese.
Name: Monti Trentini Asiago Fresco Pressato or Asaigo Ppressato Monti Trentini
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Italy, Asaigo, Casearia Monti Trentini
Date Purchased: 11/25/2006
Date Eaten: 11/26/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $9.99/lb.
Piave is named after the Piave River Valley of northern Italy where it is produced. It is made from part-skim pasturized cow's milk like many other hard cheeses. The cows are milked twice daily. Whole milk from the first milking is used as well as milk whose cream has been skimmed from the evening milking. Piave when aged is a sweeter cousin of the parmesan family. Look for a waxy rind and the "PIAVE" name imprinted on the edges.
Like other hard Italian cheeses it can be grated over pasta or vegetables or shaved on salads or bread. It may be a poor man's Parmesan but that poor man will not be deprived and will eat well tonight.
Name: Piave, Aged
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in:
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $7.99/lb.
Pecorino Romano is one of the gratable, hard sheep's milk cheeses of Italy. Pecorino is devrived from "pecora", the Italin word for sheep. My go-to Italian sheep's milk cheese for pasta is Pecarino Locatelli, but the Romano stands up to it. The cheese has a nice sheep's milk flavor. It is a little more moist than Locatelli, but that may be the age of this particular piece. Its flavor is not as salty, not as sharp. The color is a paler shade of white. A good cheese. By the real thing. Buy it whole, never grated.
Name: Pecorino Romano
Type of Milk: Sheep, Pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 10/23/2006
Date Eaten: 10/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $6.99/lb.
Locatelli is a brand of Pecorini Romano cheese distinguished by its dark brown rind, pale yellow color and sharp, salty flavor. It is my go-to grating cheese and one of two kinds I almost always have in the house (Parmigiano Reggiano the other). I almost always use it in combination with Parmigiano.
Name: Locatelli Pecorino Romano
Type of Milk: Sheep, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in:
Date Purchased: 11/25/2006
Date Eaten: 11/28/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $10.99/lb.
Nostrano, a cheese from the town of Fiavè in the Trentino region of Italy, has a unique flavor that makes it a nice addition to any Italian cheese tray. The cheese has an Emmental-like texture. The taste has a hint of gruyere but with some other subtle flavors I find difficult to describe. I would serve it with mild hams or mortadella so as not to overpower it.
Go ahead an try it. I'm not saying it will become your new favorite cheese but it will be a nice change from the norm.
Name: Nostrano Fiavè
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 11/25/2006
Date Eaten: 11/28/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $11.99/lb.
Spressa is one of the oldest cheeses of Europe. Spressa Fiave is a dry cheese but not as granular as parmesan. Compared to to hard cheeses it is a little chewier, more elastic. I guess the way I would describe it is "not unpleasantly rubbery". Salty. Tangy. Complex flavors. The appearance has marked striations, almost layers, as if the cheese were pressed. The name itself is derived from the word for "press"
A note on names: Spressa delle Giudicarie DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) is a protected designation of origin, i.e. only cheese produced in the region can call itself Spressa delle Giudicarie. There is also a Spressa Pinzolo presumably from the town of Pinzolo, also in Trentino. The label for this cheese has it as Spressa Fiave (not Fiavè) as with Nostrono.
Name: Spressa Fiave
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 11/25/2006
Date Eaten: 11/28/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
Though it looks a little like a roast pork loin, Smoked Ricotta Crotonesa, is a smoked sheep's milk log from the Italian town of Crotone. Smoked cheeses almost all have the same flavor, smoke, so one has to look for other features, mainly texture, to distinguish them. The smoking process has not completely dried out this cheese. It still has a fairly moist texture but will not keep long . The ends of the log, dark from the smoking process, are a little dry and as Fleming says , "are to be avoided".
It is a very inexpensive cheese and for the price, worth checking out.
Name: Smoked Ricotta Crotonesa
Type of Milk: Sheep, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 11/25/2006
Date Eaten: 11/28/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $3.99/lb.
Grana is one of the best cheeses in the world. I would go so far as to say that I prefer it to Parmigiano Reggiano. I love it. I eat it by itself more often than dilluted in recipes. Seek out this cheese and buy it. It may not be a staple of your cheese shop but often during the holidays, especially those celebrated large by Italians around the world, the special cheeses are brought out. I first had it a dozen Christmases ago at the home of an Italian friend. Her mother brought/smuggled it from Italy and my first thought was, "Wow, this is the best Parmigiano I've ever had!" Turned out it was Grana Padano and this year I saw it in my local store for the first time. This is a special cheese.
Name: Grana Padano Trentino
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 11/25/2006
Date Eaten: 11/28/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
Perhaps the number one question I hear people ask when served a soft, ripened cheese is, "Should I eat the rind?" My answer is "Sure, if you want to. But if you don't want, that's okay too." Taleggio is one of those soft cheeses and its rind can be a little intimidating. Usually you will find it cut from a square cheese into triangular pieces, giving it two fresh-cut, exposed sides. As Taleggio ripens it will soften and "melt" from these sides. For the mildest cheese, cut off the cheese the seeps from the sides and spread it on fresh bread or apple or pear. If you’re more daring start at the exposed point and cut all the way into the cheese to get a sandwich of soft cream between crusts of white rind. This delivers more aroma and stronger flavors. If it proves too much, go back to scraping out the milder Taleggio interior. If you enjoy it, keep working toward the wall of white-orange-blue outer rind until you can go no further. Remember though, you should not eat the paper label or the synthetic rind or any cheese, unless you're an omnivorous goat.
Taleggio dates back to before the 10th century and may be one of the oldest soft ripened cheeses. I love it. It is available both in a raw milk (unpasteurized) form as well as pasteurized. In general a raw milk cheese is undoubtedly better, more complex, more interesting.
Name: Raw Milk Taleggio
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 12/4/2006
Date Eaten: 12/5/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $11.99/lb.
Cacio de Roma is a solid, all-purpose, every-day sheeps milk cheese. It's good for sandwiches or munching. "Cacio" means cheese in regional Italian. This cheese of Rome has athe texture of a young provolone and clear flavors of sheep's milk. Though not the best cheese in Italy, it gets a solid B/B+ in my grade book. Still better than Sargento any day
Name: Cacio de Roma
Type of Milk: Sheep, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 12/04/2006
Date Eaten: 12/05/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $8.99/lb.
Plassas is an odd cheese. It is either very new to the cheese world or not highly thought of, since I found not a single mention of it in any of the cheese books I own nor did the Internet turn up much other than a photo of the cheese on the manufacturer's web site. If the cheese is not well thought of I understand why.
First off Plassas is the opposite of salty, which mainly means "bland". It taste like some kind of cheese that was specially designed to be good for you, possibly made out of yoghurt or tofo, but the label assures us it is made from normal pasteurized cow's milk. The texture is dry and chewy. I really didn't like this cheese. If it was made to be healthy it won't help since I don't plan on eating it again. Maybe that was the intent.
Name: Plassas
Type of Milk: Sheep, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy, Santa Marina Formaggi
Date Purchased: 12/8/2006
Date Eaten: 12/9/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $12.99/lb.
Strelvio is an Italian cheese with a German accent. Coming from Alto Adige or SüdTirol, depending on whether one uses the Italin or German names for the most northern alpine province of Italy, Stelvio resembles more the cheeses to its north than its southern compatriots. The texture is soft and buttery. The taste hints of butter and nuts. It is really a delicious cheese that can be served like many other alpine cheeses, with fruit on a summer hike or with warm bread and wine on a chilly winter night.
Name: Stelvio
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy, Alto Adige
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $14.99/lb.
I am wrapping up a fifteen-in-a-row Italian cheese spree with Montasio Vecchio. "Vecchio" is Italin for "old" and this cheese from Friuli gets better with age. (An even older form bears the name "Stravecchio".) Aged but not crumbly Montasio shares flavors with parmesan and cheddar but texture a little like aged provolone. The taste has a hint of smoke that may come with age or improper storage in its life but not to bad effect. A delightful cheese.
Name: Montasio Vecchio
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 12/06/2006
Date Eaten: 12/08/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
Yes! This Red Leicester is a beautful cheese and so far my favorite new cheese I discovered this year. Not too sharp. Perfect bite. Lingering flavors of delicious cheese. Port wine flavors. "Addictive and distinctive" says Fleming. "Not a phony cheddar, it tastes like what cheese should taste like--really great cheese!" I agree.
Seek this cheese out this holiday season. You will be hooked.
Name: Rothbury Red Leicester
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Rothbury
Date Purchased: 12/082006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
Farmhouse cheddars are some of may favorite cheeses. "Farmhouse" typically means two things: the milk is unpasteurized and comes from the milking herd of a single farm. This kind of cheddar produces complex flavors with distinctive farmyard flavors. It is hard to really describe "farmyard flavors" if you've never set foot on a farm but if you have and try this cheese it will bring back many different sense memories. Milk, of course. Hay, straw, grass. Earthy tones. Musky, leathery cow aromas that are not unpleasant to the initiated.
The cheese I recently tasted had some onion- and chive-like flavors that are supposedly not a good sign according to the cheese books. Still I did not think it spoiled the taste and and just added to the layers of complex flavor. Fleming commented that this cheddar packed a ""one-two punch, both punches equally delicious".
I recommend this cheese though serve it in small amounts. A little goes a long way.
Name: Goulds English Farmhouse Cheddar
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Somerset, EFJ Gould & Co.
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
Comté is a delicious cheese from eastern France. It is a French Gruyère which is to say, a French Swiss Cheese. Comté has wonderful unique flavors of the Gruyère family, that sharp twang of Swiss that tingle the roof of your mouth. Nice nutty flavors. Center cuts are the best value. Look for only two of the six faces to have inedible rind. I found it on sale for the holidays so look for it in your local food marts.
Name: Comté or Comte or Gruyère de Comté
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: France, Franche-Comté
Date Purchased: 12/04/2006
Date Eaten: 12/05/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Food
Price: $10.99/lb.
Put down your Manchego. Yes, Zorro may not have been carving his initial into his foes but that "Z" may have been for one of the finest of Spanish cheese, Zamorano. Zamorano is delicious or as Fleming put it, "a darned good cheese. Wow, a great @%$& cheese!" I guess "nutty" is a good description of the flavor.
It looks a lot like Manchego. White, baked-potato color with a brownish, wheat marked rind.
If you have an occassion where you would normally serve Manchego, ask for Zamorano and give it a try.
Name: Zamorano
Type of Milk: sheep, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Spain, Zamorano
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $18.99/lb.
Straight on the heels of Spain's Zamorano comes Drunken Goat or Queso de Cabra al Vino. Is it as good? No. Is it still a good cheese worth trying? Why, yes it is. Drunken Goat gets it name from the milk it is produced from, goat, and the intoxication from the Doble Pasta wine it is bathed in to impart a purplish outer shell. The cheese is soft, pleasant and smooth. The goat's milk instills a light tang to the cheese but the effects of the wine are not as easily noticed. In short it is a good cheese but nothing stellar. If the theme of your cheese plate is Spain or goat's milk cheese, it will make a welcome addition.
Name: Drunken Goat or Queso de Cabra al Vino
Type of Milk: goat, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
"Tête de Moine" is French for "monk's head" (not to be confused with "Têtes des Moines"-- "Des Moines heads"). I have heard three possible origins for the cheese's name. One story claims that when the inventory of cheese was done at the Bellelay abbey where the cheese is made, it was counted out as one per monk, one per monk's head. The second story states that the abbey paid its taxes with its only valuable good, its cheese. Like all taxes these were thought to be rather high and rather than say they cost "an arm and a leg" they said the cost was a whole monk's head. The third tale is of Napoleon's army moving through the town and thinking the round cheese with its missing top resembled a monk's tonsure. They called the cheese "Tête de Moine". It's possible one, none or all of these stories are true. Names are tricky things.
Traditionally Tête de Moine is served via a device called a Girolle. Think if a round wooden board with a long nail through the center. The nail punches through the center of the cheese and then has a handled blad attached that shaves away the top of the cheese. When done slowly and with enough pressure, florettes of cheese, also called Girolles, are produced.
Of course, you can serve Tête de Moine without purchasing a Girolle and the cheese will not suffer for it. If you don't use a Girolle, use a cheese plane or a very sharp knife to shave off thin slices from the cheese straight out of the refrigerator. Cold cheese assures thinner slices. One of the delights of this cheese comes from being served wafer thin. A whole wheel of the cheese weighs 1.5 to 2 pounds but your cheesemonger should be able to cut it to any amount desired.
The flavor resembles many other Swiss cheeses. Not too sharp. Pleasant. A great cheese for a comfortable crowd of guests.
Name: Tête de Moine
Type of Milk: Cow Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Switzerland
Date Purchased: 12/13/2006
Date Eaten: 12/13/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, A Southern Season
Price: $17.99/lb.
First thing I noticed about this Goosnargh Gold Double Gloucester cheese is how good looking it is. What a handsome cheese. It looks like a solid, fine, upstanding, leading-man cheese. The marbled brown outer rind fading into a rich orange, layered center. Nice.
Double Gloucester comes from only whole milk wheres his little brother, Single Gloucester is produced from skimmed milk and served a little younger. Both come from the English county of Gloucestershire and were originally made solely from the milk of Glouster cattle, a breed that almost went extinct.
The taste is delicious. Earthy, complex, but still mild.
Name: Goosnargh Gold Double Gloucester
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Gloucestershire
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
The first thing you notice about Morbier is the line throught the middle? What is it? It's not a blue-gray mold found in the bleu cheeses. It is a layer of ash. Ok, so what's the deal with ash?
Well, Morbier comes from the eponymous French village in Franche-Comté and traditionally was made in two stages. The first was from morning milk and the second was from the evening milking. To protect the morning cheese from flies throughout the day, a layer of ash was put on top. The ash has little or no flavor. The phrase "au lait cru" indicates the cheese is made from raw, unpasteurized milk.
Morbier has a distinct appearance and pleasing flavor. You taste the rawnees of the milk without it being too funky or strong. Nice creaminess and bite. A wonderful cheese.
Name: Morbier Au Lait Cru
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: France, Franche-Comté, Morbier
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/19/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
Bruder Basil (Brother Basil) kind of sounds like he might be a monk and the cheese he makes probably a Trappist-style, raw milk monastery cheese of complex, delightful flavors. Alas, he is the Aunt Jemima of the cheese world, a corporate invention to try to fool consumers into thinking something common and cheaply produced is rare and special.
Ok, so that said, I don't hate Bruder Basil or Aunt Jemima for that matter. Both will do in a pinch. Bruder Basil is a rectagular, smoked semi-soft cheese. The flavor: smoke. Texture: a little soft and creamy. Totally munchable. Pairs well with ham on a sandwich or a frosty German lager. Don't seek it out but if you are served it at a party, give it a try.
Name: Bruder Basil
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/16/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $7.99/lb.
I received this cheese as a birthday present. A nice gift! Carr Valley Cheese Co. of central Wisconsin has produced a beautiful cheese blended from the the milk of cows, goats, and sheep. Menage won the 2005 1st place prize in its category from the American Cheese Society.
On first glance, the cheese is unimpressive. A pale, smooth texture in an ugly green wax rind does not draw the diner in. What captures your attention is the taste. Nice tangy bite. Beautiful blend of indeterminate milky flavors. A delight.
Name: Carr Valley Menage
Type of Milk: Cow, Sheep and Goat, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: United States, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese Co.
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/16/2006
Purchased Where:Birthday Gift
Price: ?
Named for the town in the Italian alps, Alta Badia is another of the northern Italian cheeses that more closely resemble those of Switzerland and Germany than those in Parma or Rome. With nutty, straw-like flavors and a slightly firm texture, the cheese is made only from whole milk of a few cattle herds. Alta Badia melts well and and pairs delicously with warm, fresh bread.
Name: Alta Badia
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy, Alta Adige
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/19/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
The Borough Market is London's oldest farmers' market, selling organic produce, artisinal food products and farmhouse cheeses. This wonderful Stilton from Neal's Yard Dairy is named after and often sold in that market. Like all Stilton, Borough Market is a blue cheese made from cow's milk curd that have been injected with Penicillium cultures of mold to produce blue-green-gray veins. The texture of the cheese itself is firm and almost cheddar-like, though not too dry. Like other blues, this one pairs perfectly with sweet white wines, walnuts, and arboreal fruit. Stilton is the King of British Cheeses and like the magi traditionally sows up around Christmas. Hope you find some Borough Market Stilton in your Christmas stocking beside the fruit and nuts.
Name: Borough Market Stilton
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Neal's Yard Dairy
Date Purchased: 12/22/2006
Date Eaten: 12/25/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $11.99/lb.
The United States produces some amazing cheeses. Award-winning Humboldt Fog is one of them. Named for the morning vapor rising from the ocean in Humboldt county of Northern California where the cheese is produced, Humboldt Fog is first and foremost a chevre or goat's cheese, with the distinct characteristics of a dry, chalky, ghost-white young curd and slightly acidic goat milk tang. Immediately identifiable by its medium-sized wheel, center vein and outer rind of ash, and ripening white goat curd from the outside in, Humbodlt Fog can be quickly picked out of a line up (at least I am yet to see its Doppelgänger). The riper this chese gets, the more the drier inside becomes soft, creamy and runny. Ripe is good. Ripe is more flavorful, more complex, more pungent. Humboldt Fog is one of my favorite goat cheeses and one of my favorite cheeses, period.
Name: Humboldt Fog
Type of Milk: Goat, Pasteurized
Type: soft ripened
Produced in: United States of America, California, McKinleyville, Cypress Grove Chevre
Date Purchased: 12/22/2006
Date Eaten: 12/23/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $19.99/lb.
Yes, it LOOKS like brie. No, it is not brie. Yes, in many ways, especially appearance, it is very similar to brie. No, if you mistake it for brie as most people will do I will not throw a hissy fit(I'm not sure I could tell which was which in a strictly visual lineup). Fromage d'Affinois is a little softer and creamier than a brie of the same age, due mainly to the extra cream added to enrich this flavorful cheese. We sampled it alongside several other cheeses, one being the triple cream Explorateur. And yes, triple cream is creamier than double, but Fromage d'Affinois holds it own. Spread it on a great cracker or some fresh baguette.
Name: Fromage d'Affinois
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: soft ripened, double cream
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 12/22/2006
Date Eaten: 12/23/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
If Parmigiano-Reggiano is the King of Cheeses, Parmigiano-Reggiano Vacche Rosse is the Emperor. Made from a once near-extinct breed of red dairy cows, the Reggiana, Vacche Rosse tastes the way the cheese did in the days before World War II, richer, higher butter-fat content grana cheese produced in smaller batches. Can I taste the difference between modern Parmigiano-Reggiano made from more productive black and whites and the red cow product? It is hard to say. Red cow is damn fine. As wonderful as every other properly handled Parmigiano. Yes, I will say it is better. But...
Red Cow is expensive. I mean the most expensive cheese I've ever paid for, and there weren't any truffles or Sauterne inside. At Christmas time sales I found it for $31.99 per pound, well twice what I'd pay for a standard Parmigiano-Reggiano. Unless it's a very special occassion, like Christmas or the day I win the lottery, I will stick to the normal Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Name: Parmigiano-Reggiano Vacche Rosse, Parmigiano-Reggiano delle Vacche Rosse, Red Cow Parmesan Reggiano
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in:
Date Purchased: 12/22/2006
Date Eaten: 12/23/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $31.99/lb.
Steve Jenkins put it perfectly in his essential cheese book, Cheese Primer, "Explorateur is to cheese what Champagne is to wine." Explorateur is ultra-decadent. This triple-cream cheese oozes creaminess and effervesce. The tangy, mushroomy outer white mold plays perfectly with the buttery, light interior. It pairs well with Champagne. A brilliant cheese!
The name comes from the first United States satellite in space, Explorer I, launched in the 1950s shortly before the cheese was developed.
Name: Explorateur
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: Soft Ripened
Produced in: France, Petit Morin
Date Purchased: 12/22/2006
Date Eaten: 12/23/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $9.99 for 9 oz.(255g)
When one of my local cheese sources was out of Stilton before Christmas, they immediately suggested an alternative blue cheese, Whitestone Windsor Blue Cheese from New Zealand. It is is soft, almost creamy cheese with blue-gray tubes of mold. A really delicious cheese, though a bit expensive. Save it for a special occassion or for when your shop is out of Stilton.
Name: Whitestone Windsor Blue Cheese
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: New Zealand
Date Purchased: 12/22/2006
Date Eaten: 12/25/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $26.99/lb.
I have to admit that I mistakenly called Fiscalini San Joaquin a Spanish cheese right up until I googled it a few minutes ago. Fiscalini sounds like an Italian accountant but is Fiscalini Farms in Modesto, California and the saint name comes from the San Joachin Valley in central California.
The cheese is wonderful with a buttery baked potato color and gratable firm texture. The flavor resembles the grana cheese like parmesan but hints of the softer fontina.
Name: Fiscalini San Joaquin Gold
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: United States
Date Purchased: 12/22/2006
Date Eaten: 12/23/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $14.99/lb.
After a bite Fleming said, "Wow! This is now my favorite blue cheese!" I can't say Rogue Creamery's Smokey Blue cheese knocked off my title holder but it is a strong young contender. Last week I heard Steve Jenkins mention this cheese on the radio so I put it on my shopping list and sought it out.
The first bite for me was wonderful but ambivalent. "Is it smoked blue cheese or a blue smoked cheese?" Smoked cheeses are particular favorites of mine since the flavor is usually a single note--smoke. Smokey Blue is different. The blueness, the tang of piquant blue mold and the rich creamy cheese create a harmonic of powerful flavors. Smoked over burning hazelnut shells the cheese has a great balance between the forces of smoke and mold. This cheese has a kick but it is well-worth finding and tasting.
Name: Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft blue
Produced in: United States of America, California
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $19.99/lb.
Modern Esrom is the reinvention of the cheese that went extinct in the 16th century. Named for an abbey in Nordseeland Denmark, the Trappist-style, raw milk cheese died out after the monastary that made it was closed in 1559. After the Second World War, cheese scientists somehow believed they had recreated it. Whether they had detailed recipes to produce it or had bits of 400 year-old cheese lying about to sample is doubtful. Most likely they had a short description of this pungent wash-rind cheese and came up with a suitable stand-in.
The taste is not my favorite. The smell is a little strong, like Limberger, but the flavor is less funky though still strong. A little oniony. The texture is semi-soft with holes like Havarti.
Name: Esrom or Esrum
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Denmark
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $8.99/lb.
Urgelia comes from the Pyrenees of northern Spain and is named after the historical Catalan province of Urgell. The cheese itself reminds me of Port Salut but a little saltier and with a more flavorful rind. Urgelia's rind is infused with a brine of yeast before the cheese is left to cure, giving it a bready hint of beer and making it a good companion to either bread or cerveza.
Name: Urgelia or Urgell or queso de l'Alt Urgell
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $14.99/lb.
Literally meaning "herdsman's cheese" Hirtenkäse is wonderful cow's milk cheese from the Allgäu regionof southern Germany. One reason for the name and the brilliant flavor is the cows that produce its milk are all fresh grass fed. No sileage is fed to the herd during the cheese producing months. The texture is a little granular with an aged provolone/parmesan taste. Very delicious.
Name: Hirtenkäse
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
When I lived in Germany I would often eat cheese, cold cuts and fresh bread for breakfast. Tilsit was one of the cheeses that made a great breakfast cheese. Mild and soft, Tilsit is very close to Havarti in taste and texture but usually a short rectangle compared to Havarti's squareness. It has a yellow wax rind that should be removed and not eaten, unless your the kind of person who likes to chew on wax. The name comes from the former name of a town in former eastern Prussia, Tilsit that today lies in Russia with the name Sovetsk. It is not a great cheese but a pleasant one and sometimes that can be the needed thing at the start of a day.
Name: Tilsit
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $8.49/lb.
The name "Appenzeller" can refer to the people of the Appenzell region of Switzerland, or, like Entelbucher, a breed of Swiss cattle herding dog (the Appenzeller Sennenhund), or a 700 year-old type of Swiss cheese. Along with Emmentaler and Gruyere, Appenzeller stands in the triumvirate of Swiss cheeses. Over 70 Swiss dairies produce versions of this cheese and it appears in many fondue recipes, either by itself or alongside its partners.
The age of a particular Appenzeller can often be determined by its name or the color of its label:
- A silver label, like the one I tried, designates a cheese aged three to four months before shipping and may be labeled "Classic".
- A gold or wheat colored label, named "Surchoix", French for "top choice", is the penultimate level of aging, from four to six months.
- Appenzeller aged longer than six months will bare a black label with the word "Extra" imprinted on it.
(Note that these terms for aging apply only to Appenzeller. For example "Surchoix" for the Gruyère from Roth Käse Diary in Wisconsin is aged nine months.)
The more age Appenzeller has the sharper and stronger the flavor.
We used it in fondue on New Year's Eve and its was delicious.
Name: Appenzeller
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Switzerland
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $14.99/lb.
Limburger is synonymous with "stinky cheese". When I was young I remember old cartoons and shorts in which strong smells of any kind were symbolized by this pungent cheese. If you ask someone what the worst smelling cheese is, possibly even the worst smelling anything, odds are they will say Limburger. Odds are also that many people who name it haven't even tried it.
And yet...
Limbuger is far from the stinkiest cheese I've come across. Munster
beats it by miles. Many other rind-washed cheeses are just as bad. But Limburger has the reputation over the decades for foul smells and unless ripened cheese catch on in the United States will probably hold on to it a few more years.
So why is Limburger smelly? Limburger and other rind-washed cheeses are fermented by a bacterium called Brevibacterium linens, the same bacterium found on human skin which is responsible in part for our bodily odor. Aside from the smell this bacterium provides the orange-brown color to the rinds of these cheeses.
Limburger originated in Limburg, Belgium but today it is also produced in Germany and the United States. The Limburger I tried today was labled "bayerischer Limburger" or Bavarian Limburger and was wrapped in copper-colored foil. The smell upon unwrapping was strong but not overpowering. Maybe, I've gotten used to strong smelling cheese but the aroma was not awful. Butting through the brownish rind revealed the soft cream color of the inner cheese. The taste was surprisingly mild, almost overprocessed. This was a pasteurized, factory produced cheese so there was not much exciting about it.
Name: Bavarian Limburger, German Limburger, Bayerischer Limburger or Limburger
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
Tomme Aydius is a farmhouse goat's milk cheese from the French Pyrenees named for the small town of Aydius.The cheese has a pasty pale color often with odd shapes interior air holes but rich buttery nut flavors. Though it is made from unpasteurized goat milk it does not have a strong goat's milk flavor. If I didn't know I might mistake it for a cow's milk cheese. Tomme means "cheese" in regional French and this tomme has a granular texture like parmesan of the outer edges but the interior is softer and more elastic.
A delicious cheese.
Name: Tomme Aydius or Tomme d'Aydius or Tomme de chèvre d'Aydius
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: France, Pyrenees
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
Saint André is not for anyone scared of fat. It's a triple cream cheese like Explorateur, made from cow's milk enriched with whole cream giving it a butterfat content of at least 75%. That sounds pretty darn good to me. Saint André taste darn good to me too. With its white bloomy rind Saint André resembles brie and it is in the same family, though it is the fat rich uncle to the light young relative.
The name is French for Saint Andrew but refers more to a French administrative region, Saint-André, than the patron saint of Scotland.
Name:Saint André or Saint-André or St. André
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $12.99/lb.
It looks like Taleggio and could easily be mistaken for it in a dark nightclub. Both come from the Lombardy region of Italy, though Brescianella comes exclusively from the province of Brescia for which it is named. When ripe ("stagionata" means aged or ripened) Brescianella is oozingly runny with a pungent aroma, an orangish white rind on its way to blue, and a creamy center. The taste is sweet and creamy with a hint of funk.
I once was served a Taleggio risotto so I tried to make a similar dish with Brescianella. I made a traditional Risotto alla Milanese with arborio rice, garlic and chicken stock which I finished with dollops of Brescianella. The cheese melted well giving the rice a smooth, silky sheen. It was wonderful.
Name: Brescianella Stagionata or Aged Brescianella
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
Pimentón, a smoked red paprika, is worked into the rind of some young Ibores cheeses, giving them a vibrant color and hint of piquantness. The raw milk that goes into Ibores comes from two hearty breeds of Spanish goats, the Retinta Extremeña and Verata, and the flavor is definitively goaty with a hint of smokiness and nutty sharpness. The texture is semi-soft, almost creamy. A very nice Spanish goat's cheese.
Name: Ibores or Queso de los Ibores
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain, Extremadura
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
Twenty-seven dollars and ninety-nine cents per pound! Costing as much as some aged prime rib, Piacentinu had better be a spectacular cheese. Sadly it is not. The high price is due in part to one of its ingredients, wild saffron, one of the world's most expensive spices. Saffron gives this pecorino a rich golden yellow color and whole peppercorns add the Dalmatian-like speckles. Basically this is bright yellow pecorino cheese from Sicily. The taste is not greatly improved by the pepper or crocus stigma. I can't think of a reason to buy it again.
Name: Piacentinu or Piacentino
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy, Sicily
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $27.99/lb.
A major difference between Idiazábal and other Spanish cheeses like Manchego and Zamorano is a hint of smoke. Idiazábal (pronounce the "zá" like a strong lispy "THA") is lightly smoked over cherry wood or beech which darkens the rind but does not permeate to the heart of the cheese. The cheese is nutty with a salty grana. Delicious.
Name: Idiazábal or Queso Idiazábal or Idiazabal
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $21.99/lb.
A pecorino that tastes like a parmesan, Granitu is a delightful cheese. The documentation on this cheese is minimal. It is imported directly from Sardinia by my local gourmet store, A Southern Season, and the manufacturer's web site describes it only as "Formaggio Pecorino Dolce Stagionato", an aged sweet sheep's milk cheese. For a sheep's milk cheese it has an unusual golden straw-like color and a nuttiness found mostly in cow's milk cheeses. Where I would normally grate both parmesan and pecorino over pasta, I can now use only Granitu and come close to the same effect. Seek it out.
Name: Granitu
Type of Milk: sheep's, pasteurized, part-skim
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy, Sardinia, Santa Marina Formaggi
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
Does the name of Midnight Moon come from the pale white disk surrounded by an inky purplish black exterior? Perhaps, but by any name Midnight Moon is a delicious cheese. Texture is firm with a slight salty grana. Flavor is nutty with a very wonderfully goaty tang.
Name: Midnight Moon
Type of Milk: semi-hard
Type: goat's, pasteurized
Produced in: United States of America, California, Cypress Grove Chèvre
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $17.99/lb.
Can a Swiss cheese be made outside Switzerland, say, in Norway? (I won't even ask about France.) If the answer is no, Jarlsberg is as close as you can get, looking and tasting like a member of the Emmentaler family . As great cheeses go, Jarlsberg is pretty simple, but it still blows the flavor socks of most grocery store varieties of "swiss" cheese like Kraft and Sargento. Slice it for bread or melt it over anything you want au gratin.
Name: Jarlsberg
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Norway
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $7.99/lb.
The name "fougerus" makes me think of the French word for "werewolf" -- "loup-garou"-- as they sound nearly the same. Like a werewolf, Brie Fougerus wears a bit of a disguise. Decorating a rather ordinary looking wheel of Brie cheese are green fern fronds from which the name is derived ("fougére" is French for "fern"). When brought to the peak of ripeness or affinage, this Brie will begin to ooze at room temperature and has a smooth buttery finish with a hint of mouldy twang. Really a delcious cheese!
Name: Brie Fougerus or Fougerus or Le Fougerus or Le Fougéru
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: France, Ile-de-France
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 1/11/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
In the United States most people think of blue cheese as a white cheese spotted with veins of blue mold. Some of my favorites are the orange blue cheeses like Blacksticks Blue. Smooth and spreadable as opposed to the crumbly blues, Blacksticks goes well with warm baguette or melted into warm buttered pasta. The orange cheese is creamy and the blue mold is piquant but not overpowering. A real treat.
Name: Blacksticks Blue
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: England, Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses
Date Purchased: 01/11/2007
Date Eaten: 01/13/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
I love the way this English Cheshire from Neal Yard Dairy crumbles. Not like a cheddar with large curd, Appleby's Cheshire has curds like a cottage cheese--small pressed orange lumplets that cling to each other for dear life. The color is an uneven pale, natural-looking orange. The flavor is complex but not difficult to munch on. An easy snack cheese made by master cheesemakers, the Appleby family. Check out the great photos on the cheesemaker's, Neal Yard Dairy, web site.
Name: Neal Yard Dairy Appleby's Cheshire or Appleby's Cheshire
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England
Date Purchased: 1/11/2007
Date Eaten: 1/16/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $18.99/lb.
The name of this raw milk cheese changes depending on the country it is being sold in. In the English-speaking world it is called Beech Tree Mountain, named for the Beechtree Mountain of central Switzerland, and is produced by the Von Mühlenen family cheese business. Beech Tree Mountain lack the lingering tang of a sharp Gruyère but has other complexities of flavor that make it an interesting guest at your next cheese party. The raw milk flavor is distinct. You also may taste the fresh hay flavors found in many cheeses from Switzerland. Spectacular flavors.
Name: Beech Tree Mountain or Bucheggberg Schlosskäse or Buckschlosskäse or Buchschlosskaese or Mont Buchegg or Monte Buchegg
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized, part-skim
Type:
Produced in: Switzerland, Solothurn region, Von Mühlenen
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $19.99/lb.
Straight on the heels of my last post for a raw milk cheese from Switzerland, comes Bergblumenkäse, another Swiss cheese with a mountain in its name. Instead of a geographic hill this "Berg" is a Mountain Flower (" Bergblumenkäse" literally translates to "Mountain Flower Cheese") and different in flavor from other Swiss cheeses. You get a sense of what the cows ate as you eat this cheese. The taste reminds me of grass and hay and pleasant barnyard aromas. Wheels of Bergblumenkäse are aged in herbs and straw for six months which imparts an unusual but delightful taste. It will probably be hard to find and expensive if you can get it but for a rare treat give it a try if you can.
Name: Bergblumenkäse or Bergblume or Mountain Flower
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Switzerland
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $22.99/lb.
Would you like to sample one of the finest cheeses produced by France, a raw cow's milk, young soft ripened cheese from the historic mountain of gold? For a taste of the legendary cheese, Vacherin Mont D'Or, you will have to leave the United States. Vacherin and all unpastueurized cheeses soft cheeses are prohibited from import into the U.S. To fill the void left by that ban comes l'Edel de Cleron, a pasteurized version of Vacherin, sometimes referred to by cheese snobs as "faux Vacherin". There is nothing faux about htis cheese. Though it may not be made from raw milk, it has a delcious flavor not to be missed.
First glance at the cheese reveals two things: it is a round white mould covered disk ("Ah, Brie!" many will say) and the ring of woody bark that surrounds it. Unlike Brie, l'Edel de Cleron has a more complex flavor. Many bries sold in the United States taste ultra-pasteurized, heating to high temperatures for short bursts of time to kill any microorganism within regardless of its desirability to flavor. The wood on the outer rind is red spruce known in French as a "sangle", meant to impart a woodland intensity to the cheese. While not permeating to the center, the wood does give the cheese closest to it a slightly smoky, slightly piney flavor. Do not eat the wood and do not chew on it either unless you are a beaver.
Name: L'Edel de Cleron or Edel de Cleron
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $18.99/lb.
They say you always remember your first Canadian cheese. Oka from Oka, Quebec is mine. Her milky interior was soft, buttery but with a hint of resistance. Her bloomy pale flesh exterior gave no clue to the creaminess beneath the cool surface. Oh, yes, back to the cheese.
Oka is a semi-soft, rindwashed wheel with a pale yellow interior and orange mold rind exterior. If you east just the buttery center the cheese is pleasant. Combined with the top and bottom rind a delightful note of maturity and complexity is added. Good cheese, eh!
Name: Oka or Oka Classique
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Canada
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
I read someone describe Doux de Montagne as "French Havarti". That is an overstatement but the cheeses share some aspects. Both are made from cow's milk, usually pasteurized. Both have a pale yellow cream color. Both are soft with small air holes. The very word "doux" means "soft" or "sweet" in French.
If you find a Doux de Montagne in its whole, uncut state it will be a round ball with a dark maroon wax rind. The flavor is more complex than Havarti, more buttery, richer. Not a stellar performer but it can support more powerful cheeses on an evening's cheese course.
Name: Doux de Montagne
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: France, Pyrenees
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $12.49/lb.
I have to confess that I sat on this cheese for a while. Not literally of course, but the time between when I purchased it and when I first tried it was well over a week and a half. What started our as a light yellow cheese with a white rind, the Tomme de Savoie became a rich gold with a dark, black and gray exterior. Cheese people call this process of aging cheese to perfect ripeness, affinage. In this case the results were good.
The first whiff after unwrapping this tomme was a bit harsh. Very much ammonia-smelling. I let it air out for 30 minutes and the odious odor had evaporated. The outer rind was still overpowering to eat in great amounts but small strips of it surrounding the healthy inner cheese were fabulous, reminding me of a master sushi chef who can dissect a posionous blowfish so that he leaves just enough of the fatal toxin to make your throat tingle.
A "tomme" in French is any small round farmhouse cheese and the full name of these cheeses usually ends with the town or region of its origin. In this case, the Haute-Savoie region of France. It is a pretty standard cheese on restaurant cheese plates and deservedly so. Well worth finding.
Name: Tomme de Savoie
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 1/11/2006
Date Eaten: 1/24/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $11.99/lb.
According to a book on Italian cheese titled Italian Cheese, Caciotta Toscana is one of the most popular cheeses in Tuscany. Made from a blend of cow and sheep milk, the cheese is soft and pleasant. Sampling first only the center I thought the cheese okay but nothing extraordinary. Next I cut a bit of the washed white rind to taste along with mild center. It transformed the flavor entirely. The Tuscans know a thing or two about cheese.
Name: Caciotta Toscana
Type of Milk: cow and sheep, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Italy, Tuscany
Date Purchased: 1/24/2007
Date Eaten: 1/25/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
Sometimes on trips to the cheese counter I will see a small, often handwritten, sign next to a new cheese describing interesting information about the new product. More often than not I do nothing more than read it and owing to my awful memory, hope to find the same information online or in one of my dozens of cheese books. Sometimes, as with today's cheese, Tintus, I can find no information at all.
Fortunately this cheese has a label and though written in Portuguese offers a few clues. The maroon and gold piece of paper has a picture of a spiny orb with a flowering purple blossom and words "Flor de Cardo o Queijo". Flor de Cardo translates as Cardoon or the artichoke thistle and I believe is the manufacturer of the cheese. In some Medieterranean countries thistles are used as a coagulant instead of rennet to start the milk separating into curds and whey. "Cardo" or "thistle" is listed as one of the ingredients.
Next comes the word "Tintus" which makes me think of "ink" although "tinta" is the word in Portugal. Again my search shows no town, village, region or province of Portugal called Tintus so it is unclear what the name of this cheese actually means. Next are the words "Queijo Curado de Ovelha," "aged cheese of the sheep".
The outside of the cheese is mottled with red, white, beige and gray streaks on a burlap textured rind. The red leads me to think the cheese was bathed in wine, but wine is not listed as an ingredient. Only raw sheep's milk, salt and thistle are listed. It's possible the color comes from the thistle.
The aroma is not overpowering but there is a hint of funk. The flavor starts a bit sour but finishes pleasing. Interesting for a cheese plate. I didn't eat the rind.
Name: Tintus
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Portugal, Setubal, Flor de Cardo
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
Leonora is a delicious cheese. A semi-soft goat's milk cheese with a rich cream-colored center and a gray ash rind, a little like a young Humboldt Fog with the ash on the outside. This one comes from Spain, the Spanish province and city of León. The labled indicated that Leonora is made from pasteurized milk but my experience shows that labels printed by small cheese shops are often wrong. Very often. Some online sites say Leonora is is unpasteurized but I can't find a definitive source to contradict the sticker.
Name: Leonora
Type of Milk: Goat's, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain, León
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $22.99/lb.
Holy Toledo Ohio, Batman? Where does this small paprika-dusted cheese made from the three most common lactating farm animals come from? First we'll rule out Ohio. Next guess would be Spain, as in Toledo, Spain. A dozen or so web sites would point you in that direction. But that would be wrong too. Do I hear 'Portugal'? Correct! Toledo is made just outside of Lisbon.
Once you cut through the paprika exterior the inner cheese is dense and tart. Okay taste but not my favorite. Paprika is a nice touch. The piquancy lingers on the tongue. Not a superstar but since Portuguese cheeses are a bit uncommon in the United States it is a good novelty.
Name: Toledo
Type of Milk: cow's, goat's and sheep's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Portugal, Estremadura, Torres Vedras
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $7.99 a disk.
Please help me welcome our first guest from the Balkan state of Bulgaria, Kaškaval. I'll call her Kashkaval since I don't know how to pronounce the little smiley face above an 's'. Her name is derived from the Italian provolone-style cheese, Caciocavallo, but this cheese does not taste much like its Italian counterpart. The name can also refer to any yellow sheep's milk cheese in Bulgaria or Macedonia.
The cheese is nothing extraordinary but I like it. Compared to most supermarket cheeses Kashkaval is out of the ordinary. It probably won't fit in on a high-end cheese plate but is a nice everyday sandwich cheese.
Name: Kaškaval or Kashkaval
Type of Milk: sheep's
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Bulgaria
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $9.99/lb.
A smoked cheese has to be special to stand out among the other cheeses in the smoke-filled back room of the cheese shop. Carr Valley Applewood Smoked Cheddar is special. First is the paprika. Not pimenton, the Spanish smoked chile powder, or even hot paprika but a sweet and mild spice. The paprika is applied after the smoking process so it does not carry smoke flavor itself.
Next is the balance of the cheddar to the smoke. The cheddar is not sharp and the smoke is not strong. This creates a surprisingly mild cheese whose first taste sensation is an unusual blend of cheddar and smokey tastes that combine for a new taste all their own. Worth seeking out.
Name: Carr Valley Applewood Smoked Cheddar
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Calley Cheese
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
If ever there was a cheese made from a can of unsweetened condensed milk, it would taste like Gjetost. This Norwegian import, pronounced "yet-oast", is an acquirred taste that I don't think I have the patience to acquire. Sold in a cube with a red label, Ski Queen Gjetost Cheese is made from an odd combination of goat's milk and cow's whey. It makes me think this was some form of war ration cheese when the Nazis diverted Norwegian milk to the Vaterland. That's not true. The cheese is actually over 130 years old and is reported to have been made by a Norwegian farm wife who mixed cream and whey to create a brown caramelly cheese that saved her farm and village from financial ruin. Still I can't say I like the cheese much.
The color of the cheese cube is caramel and the first millisecond of taste offers a promise of sweet browned sugars that is never fufilled. Instead it delivers an unsalted cheese flavor with a weird aftertaste and a fudgelike consistancy. If you are Norwegian or just like this cheese, all the best. I won't be offering it to guests though. Unless they're from Oslo.
Name: Ski Queen Gjetost Cheese
Type of Milk: goat's milk and cow whey, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Norway
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $4.99 per cube
From the mind of Murcia, the town and region of southeastern Spain, the same region that gave us Charo, comes a wonderfully simple aged goat's cheese called Naked Goat. Its Spanish name, queso de Murcia curado, translates simply as Aged Cheese of Murcia while the English plays on the pure, raw milk origin of this delightful cheese. I even like the label with a cartoon goat, naked of course, though I am not fooled by the playfullness and simplicity. This is a deceptively fine cheese. Aged for about 6 months Naked Goat has many of the same qualities of the great Spanish sheep's milk cheese but a solid, rich goat's milk flavor.
Name: Naked Goat or Murcia Curado DO (or DOP) or Queso de Murcia Curado
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain, Murcia, Mitica
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
The cheeses made by the Santa Marina Formaggi company on the island of Sardinia are an odd lot. I can find out almost nothing about them on the Internet. Their website used to offer images of the cheeses they produce but now consists only of a single page and the words "organic cheess" in three languages. They also make the very good cheese Granitu and the very bad Plassas. Fortunately Monte Regale is also very good.
Do not confuse Monte Regale with Toma del Monte Regale, a soft raw cow's milk cheese from the Italian Piedmont. This Monte Regale, or "regal mountain", is made from raw sheep's milk and is a very fine grating or after dinner cheese. It has a clean pecorino taste with rich lingering flavors.
Name: Monte Regale
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy, Sardinia, Santa Marina Formaggi
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $14.99/lb.
Farmstead Noord Hollander is an extra-aged, four year-old gouda. The color is rich butterscotch with similar notes of flavor. Noord Hollander brings an intensity of flavor like other aged goods, balsamic vinergar or good Kentucky bourbon. The slow drying over the years has left a salted nutty bite to this intense gouda that can probably only be consumed in small amounts. Fleming said, "I love that crunch at the end of a bite. Almost like it has its own cracker." A prefect description. A super cheese. I recently saw a 7-year-old gouda in the cheese shop and am aching to compare it to Noord Hollander.
Name: Noord Hollander or Noord-Hollander or Farmstead Noord Hollander Gouda
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: The Netherlands
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
From time to time someone will say to me, "You must meet a friend of mine. You two will really hit it off." On a rare occasion, we clash like tartan plaid and pastel polka dots when we meet. When this happens I always have to ask myself if the person is really crass, overbearing and foul or did I just catch him on a bad day. These thoughts occurred to me when I tasted Vacherin Fribourgeois for the first time. Right now the two of us can't stand being in the same room together.
Tales of the cheese's youth are glowingly recounted on the label with words such as "grass", "Alpine pastures" and "butter". No trace of these qualities remained in the cheese I tasted, like a beauty pageant winner who has not aged gracefully. The overwhelming flavor of the Vacherin I tasted was funk, the foul bacterial stench of bodily odor.
Vacherin Fribourgeois is a semisoft member of the raclette family, made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. The Fribougeois will use it in fondue alongside Gruyère from the same region make a moitié-moitié, half-and-half. Either they use a younger cheese or are more accustomed to the taste.
Name: Vacherin Fribourgeois
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semisoft
Produced in: Switzerland, Fribourg
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $26.99/lb.
"Hōk-ē-brik" is the pronuncitation of this raw milk cheese from the Swiss area of Ybergeregg (or "Ibergeregg'), pronounced "ē-berk-er-ek". I imagine that the Hoch Ybrig before me now tastes like the cheese from my previous post, Vacherin Fribourgeois, on a good day. I like it.
The flavor is pastoral and intense with just the right amount of earthiness and "onion". To some the taste will be too much. The rind has been washed in local white wine and seeps into the wonderful taste. The texture is firm like Gruyère and also used in fondue for a more intense experience.
Name: Hoch Ybrig
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semihard
Produced in: Switzerland
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $27.99/lb.
The shape kind of speaks the name of this cheese and the language used is Spanish. "Tetilla" is Spanish for either nipple or little breast or teet. A whole Tetilla cheese weighs over 2 pounds which says a lot for the cows and the women of Galecia where they make it.
The outer rind, like some provolone, is the hardened, air-dried remains of the cheese, past its prime and not worth eating. The inner cheese is semi-soft and a decent breakfast cheese, pleasant but nothing to get excited about. Serve it with good bread, Spanish jamon or chorizo.
Name: Tetilla or Queso Tetilla DOP or Queso de Tetilla
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain, Galecia
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $8.49/lb.
The French gastronome, Brillat-Savarin, called Époisses "roi des fromages", "king of cheeses". Though not the sole crown of European cheeses, Époisses deserves to sit on a throne. When sold in Europe this cheese is produced from raw cow's milk but the version for sale in the U.S. is pasteurized. This process kills some of the flavor but there is still plenty to go around.
The big argument I find when reading about this and other washed rind cheeses is "When is it at its peak?" Affinage is the French term for aging cheeses to their best ripeness, but when that precise moment occurs is a matter of taste. Époisses starts out semi-firm but softens with age to the point of runniness. Wait too long and the beneficial forces of bacteria that aided in the process turn against the cheese and leave it unedible. Some prefer the cheese soft but still a little firm but as John Cleese's character says in The Cheese Shop sketch, "I like it runny."
The cheese produced by the Berthaut company comes in a niffty wooden round box.
The rind gets its orange color from being washed with Marc de Bourgogne, a distilled pomace wine of Burgundy.
This is a great cheese! I cannot wait for my next trip to Europe to try the unpasteurized variety.
Name: Époisses or Époisses AOC or L'Époisses or Époisses de Bourgogne or Epoisses
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semisoft
Produced in: France, Burgundy
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chaple Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99 a piece
Coming on the heels of a phenomenal French cheese, Époisses, Roucoulons has its work cut out for it. In lesser company it might shine but in the brillance of a far better cheese it is hard to find its strong points.
Roucoulon is a bloomy rind, pasteurized cow's milk cheese. The name comes from the French verb "roucouler" meaning "to coo or to whisper lovingly." ("Roucoulons!" -- "Let us whisper lovingly!") The wrapping features a big heart and two love birds. Kind of dopey.
Compared to most cheeses Roucoulons is not bad at all. I recently had some Wal-Mart brie and compared to it Roucoulons is a blue ribbon winner. The flavor is pleasantly mushroomy and when sampled I don't think it has yet reached its peak of ripeness.
There are better cheeses out there but you can do worse.
Name: Roucoulons
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: France, Franche-Comté
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $9.99 a piece
Supposedly Valdeón is often confused with its more famous relative Cabrales. Both are Spanish blues, aged in caves. Both cheeses were wrapped in the leaves of the Spanish Sycamore Maple, though Cabrales has now shed its leaf from more modren aluminum foil. Valdeón is more blue in color compared to the grey tones of Cabrales which are one of its distinguishing characteristics. I will speak more of Cabrales soon but now the spotlight is on Valdeón.
Valdeón comes from the northwestern mountain region of Spain outside of León. Though mainly produced from cow's milk alone, some producers will add goat's or sheep's milk to the mix. The blue cheese is salty and sharp and to my mind, wonderful. The texture is semi-soft but still firm, meaning it crumbles readily. Delicious with crusty bread or fine sherry.
Name: Valdeón or Valdeon or Picón de Valdeón
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semiosoft, blue
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $18.99/lb.
The name of these cheese tells you a lot about it if you can translate from the Portuguese. I will try my best. "Amanteigado" means "buttered up" and the cheese has a rich, buttery aroma and flavor. "Cardus" is a type of thistle traditionally used in Portugal as a vegetable rennet to coagulate the milk and start the cheese-making process.
The small golden round also came swaddled in gauze bandages requiring it to be unwrapped like the Invisible Man before eating.
The washed rind gives this soft, almost runny cheese a tart yet creamy flavor. A nice and rare find.
Name: Amanteigado Cardus or Cardus or Amanteigado Mini
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: washed rind, soft
Produced in: Portugal
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $7.99 each
Cantal is one of the oldest cheeses of France going back to pre-Roman Gaul. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder mentions it in his Historia Naturalis. Despite its age and heritage Cantal is a deliciously simple cheese. Its flavor is subtle yet satisfying. Not too sharp. Not too strong. Not too salty. Just the right thing for a farmer's lunch or a midafternoon snack. A great value too.
An unpasteurized version is alos availalbe and supposedly has stronger flavors. I will seek it out and report back.
Name: Cantal or Fourme du Cantal or Cantal Salers
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: France, Auvergne
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $9.99/lb.
I would love to tell you that Campo de Montalban is brought to us by the same man who brought us Captain Kirk's nemesis in Star Trek II and fine Corinthian leather, but it would not be true. Instead I can tell you honestly that this cheese from central Spain is a blend of cow's, sheep's and goat's milk much in the style of its neighbor cheese, Manchego. Both cheeses have dark, waxy herringbone rinds and light butter colored centers. But the blend of milks in Campo de Montalban produces a more complex flavor that is worthy to try.
Serve it with other Spanish cheeses and wines.
Name: Campo de Montalban or Campo de Montalbán
Type of Milk: cow's, sheep's and goat's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain, La Mancha
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $12.99/lb.
I don't know what Saint Agur is the patron saint of, but if it is soft creamy blue cheeses he was a good choice for the job. The eponymous cheese is a member of the gorgonzola family, a rich creamy French blue veined cheese that has become one of my favorite blues. I couldn't stop eating it. The buttery cheese is a perfect balance to the sharpness of the blue mold. I ate almost an entire baguette with this awesome cheese.
As a side note I believe the saint in question is the prophet Agur of the Old Testament who supposedly wrote the 30th chapter of Proverbs which has a lot to say about eating and sin.
Verse 8: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.
Verse 20: Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Verse 33: Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.
Name: Saint Agur or Saint-Agur or St. Agur
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: France, Auvergne
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
Surrounded in coarsely crushed black peppercorns, Ribafria's interior is a mild, firm goat's cheese. A lot of black pepper. A lot! Is it too much? That depends on what you serve this Portuguese cheese with. The pepper, and cheese, pair well with bold or sweet red wines, bringing out the pepper notes of the bold and balancing the sweetness of the dessert or after-dinner wines.
Ribafria is commercially produced and packaged in vaccuum sealed disks.
A good little cheese but do not serve it alone. Pick her playmates carefully.
Name: Ribafria
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Portugal, Torres Vedras
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $12.99 each
Finding La Serena at the peak of ripeness is a real surprise. Between the first and second tasting of this cheese it went from a firm cheese of muddled flavor to a real oozer that was rich, creamy and packed with flavor remniscent of mushrooms sauteed in white wine and butter. If you are lucky enough to have an entire wheel of this sheep's milk cheese from Spain's Extremadura region at its peak of oozingly rich ripeness, cut off the entire top side and spoon out the inner softness onto warm bread or fried potatoes. Delicious!
Name: La Serena or Queso de la Serena
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semisoft
Produced in: Spain, Extremadura
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $17.99/lb.
From the sheep that bring us Merino wool comes a lovely ewe's milk cheese from Portugal that makes us feel as warm as a sweater. The taste is nutty and milky with the right amount of age and salt. One of my favorite Portuguese hard cheeses.
Name: Nisa
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Portugal, Alentejo
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where:United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $21.99/lb.
All too often when talking about Spanish cheeses people will say, "It's kind of like Manchego." Yes, I too am guilty of this. But not today. For the rest of this article I will not mention the "M" word.
Roncal is a hard sheep's milk cheese from the Navarra region of Basque Spain. The flavor is both buttery and nutty, both milky and a little grassy a nd very different from other sheep's milk cheeses like most Italian percorinos. The saltiness is just right for thin slices of Roncal by themselves or alongside almonds or Spanish quince paste. Rocal deserves a place on your Spanish cheese board.
Name: Roncal or Farmstead Roncal
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in:
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $21.99/lb.
The first taste of Grazalema transported me back to the best Spanish meal I ever had. The flavors shout out in Spanish with a Castilian lisp. The texture resembles others in the Spanish family but the taste is a unique blend of the sheep's milk richness and sweetness and the goat's milk earthiness and grass. Add it to the list of really good cheeses of Spain.
Name: Grazalema
Type of Milk: goat's and sheep's, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Spain, Andalucía
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
The simplicity of this cheese's appearance masks deep, rich flavors. Lagrein Weinkase is not a Swiss or Germanic cheese as its name may suggest but a formaggio italiano. A pale yellow curd that has been pressed and soaked in local red wine, Lagrein Weinkase ( Weinkäse is German for "wine cheese") has flavors of herbs and wine, soft notes of garlic and spice. The texture is soft and buttery with the squat holes of a Havarti.
Fleming called it "an awesome cheese that packs a surprise."
Name: Lagrein Weinkase
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Italy, Alto Adige
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $21.99/lb.
The name makes me think of a large Finnish bird but in fact Etorki is a cheese from France. Some versions add cow's milk to the traditional sheep's milk, but the one I sampled was pure sheepy goodness. Alongside other traditional French cheeses Etorki stands out as black sheep. Its flavor resembles cheeses of northern Italy, Switzerland and Holland. If you're serving a cheese plate of French cheeses, throw in a little Etorki for variety. You won't be disappointed.
Name: Etorki
Type of Milk: sheep's, pastuerized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
The first lady of Dutch cheeses may have an Italian name. Prima Donna belongs to the gouda family and bears enough age not to be silly yet is young enough to leave you wanting more of her. It comes at a decent price and the flavor it offers can be put to use in a variety of dishes from pizza to pasta to eggs to potatoes. I like it.
Name: Prima Donna
Type of Milk: cow's milk, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: The Netherlands
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $11.99/lb.
The folks at Carr Valley Cheese in America's Wisconsin have yet to make a cheese I do not like. Their River Bend Sheep cheese is a literal winner with prize ribbons in 2004 and 2006 from the American Cheese Society. The flavor is buttery and sharp with a nice granular bite. The texture is firm and will almost crumble when sliced. Delicious.
Name: River Bend Sheep or Sheep River Bend
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $22.99/lb.
The French epicure Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once compared a meal without cheese to a beautiful woman with one eye. I might compare a meal with the cheese named after Brillat Savarin (pronounced "bree-ya sav-a-ran") to a beautiful woman with all her body parts intact, enhanced to perfect proportions. Like Explorateur and Saint André
, Brillat Savarin is a triple cream, rich and buttery. In a bling taste test I don't know if I could differentiate one from another but I doubt I would care. All are outstanding.
At first glance the cheese appears deceptively solid but as soon as it enters your warm mouth it begins to melt and release its ripe flavors.
Name: Brillat Savarin or Brillat-Savarin or Brillat Savarin, Affinage or Brillat Savarin Affiné
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: France, Ile de France
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $22.99/lb.
One of the first things I ever heard about Cabrales was.... Well, let me bury the lead on this one and come back to that.
Cabrales is one of the finest blue cheeses in the world. The flavor is literally exciting. The rich, cheese curd, the tangy blue molds, the little crystals of sharp flavor, the powerful kiss of age around the rind all excite the particles on the tongue. Cabrales (pronounced "ca-brall-es") comes to us from Spain where it is matured in the caves of the Asturias region. Though sometimes made from a mixture of cow, goat and sheep milk, my selection was the exclusive product of cows.
The blue of Cabrales is not the semi-uniform veins of blue mold found in many others but a more mottled, natural dispertion of the Penicillium mold. Instead of injecting the cheese curd with mold, the seperated cheese curd of Cabrales is exposed to the natural molds of limestones caves and them mixed together to disperse the mold through the cheese. After another two to six months in the caves the blue permeates the cheese. It is then wrapped in foil (not leaves like Valdeón and sent to market. A wonderful cheese.
Oh yes. The first thing I ever heard about Cabrales, while working in the cheese shop of a gourmet market, was that a really good Cabrales was "con gusano" meaning "with worms" or containing maggots. Supposedly while in these caves Cabrales cheese can be visited by certain bugs that lay their eggs in the rich nutrients of the cheeese. Supposedly this is a delicacy. Supposedly. I really can find no more than urban or rural legend that this is true though it makes sense. My father when he was young worked for a major cheese company that started with KR and ended with AFT. His job was to cut out cheese mites that has infested the cheese. So if bugs can invade a semi-sterile cheese factory I do not see why they would not alos be living in wild caved. Whether the Spanish consider these fly larvae a delicacy as some say, I do not know, but will ask the next Spanaird I meet.
Name: Cabrales
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $24.99/lb.
Castelbelbo is brought to us by Caseificio dell' Alta Langa, the same folks who make one of my favorite cheeses, La Tur. It is not nearly the same quality as that fabulous cheese but no slouch compared to most you will find. Castelbelbo is a bloomy rind, soft cheese made from a blend of three milks. Light and creamy but not complex Castelbelo is a decent everyday sort of soft, spreadworthy Italian cheese. I served it on some great rosemary crackers that have become my new favorites for uncomplicated cheeses.
Name: Castelbelbo
Type of Milk: cow's, goat's and sheep's, pasterurixed
Type: soft
Produced in: Italy, Bosia, Caseificio dell' Alta Langa
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $14.99/lb.
American cheeses can be as good as any in the world and the good folks at Bellwether Farms in California's Sonoma County do their part to make sure of it. Carmody Reserve is their aged raw cow's milk cheese that lies between gouda and cheddar in the flavor profile. Produced from unpastuerized milk of true Jersey girls this cheese has the buttery, grassy notes that make the cheeses produced from it so beloved. The extra four month aging of their Reserve cheese dries the cheese slightly making it sliver when cut, crunch when bit and melt when meeting with the taste buds. A really great and fun cheese.
Name: Bellwether Farms Carmody Reserve or Carmody Reserve
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard/hard
Produced in: Date Purchased: 2/25/2007
Date Eaten: 2/27/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
"This cheese makes me think of Italy," our friend Ann said. I understand her point. Robiola is not one of the spectacular cheeses that is brought out on special occasions. It is a cheese for every day.
In short Robiola is Italian cream cheese. Soft, spreadable and a little bland, it is a good cheese for breakfast to spread on a croissant and have beside your cappucino. There are different producers of Robiola and the one I found was definitely a commercial cheese factory turning out a lesser quality cheese. There are suppsoedly better examples out there.
It is not a great cheese but if you've breakfasted in Italy a few times it may bring back memories.
Name: Robiola
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $4.99 each
Instead of washing the rind in wine or a bath of helpful bacteria, the Cistercian Trappist monks of Chimay wash certain handcrafted cow's milk cheeses in their other famous product, Chimay beer. If you want a cheese that pairs nicely with a rich, heady beer, this Chimay would be a good choice. Can you taste the beer? Not really. The rind is stronger than the center of the cheese but the notes of hops and wheat are long gone. It tastes like your standard semi-soft washed rind cheese.
Washed rind cheeses, Chimay being one of them, are not my favorite cheeses in general. I find many either too bland or, if overripe, too pungent. At their best most are pleasant but not memorable. Sure, Chimay knocks the pants off your average variety supermarket cheese but for the price I can find many other cheeses that deliver more flavor and appeal.
Name: Chimay met bier, Chimay with Beer, Chimay
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, washed rind
Produced in: Belgium
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $19.99/lb.
I have been holding off writing about Carr Valley Wildflower Cheddar for a few weeks now. A while ago I saw this cheese in my local Whole Foods, purchased it, took it home, photographed it and enjoyed it. It was a really good cheese. When time came to research it and find out more details I hit a road block. I couldn't find out anything online or in books, not even a mention on the Carr Valley Cheese web site. Was the info on the label correct? Did it really come from Carr Valley or someone else? It would not be the first time a cheese shop had printed inaccurate information on their labels. I needed to do more checking.
My sleuthing has discovered that the cheese does in fact come from Carr Valley Cheese in Wisconsin. I saw half a wheel of the cheese with the name clearly displayed. It's also clearly a pastueurized cow's milk cheese like most of this producer's other cheddars. Its rind is an azure blue wax, the color of some fresh field wild flowers.
The flavor is a departure from most typical cheddars. Lacking bite, Wildflower Cheddar is a young, mild cheese with sweet grassy notes and subtle flavors of fresh milky curds. Well worth a taste.
Name: Carr Valley Wildflower Cheddar, Carr Valley Wild Flower Cheddar
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese
Date Purchased: 5/6/2007
Date Eaten: 5/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $16.99/lb.
Mobay is an award winning American cheese from my good friends at Carr Valley Cheese in Wisconsin. I've never met them but anyone who makes cheese as good as they do are friends of mine. Inspired by the French cow's milk cheese Morbier, Mobay is a double-stacked cheese of goat cheese and sheep cheese separated by a layer of grape vine ash. Each half is distinct in flavor and a winner on its own. Taste them together and you have a phenominal flavor experience. The ash does little more than keep the two cheeses apart and does not impart much flavor but there is so much here between the goat and sheep cheeses that it doesn't really matter.
Name: Mobay or Carr Valley Mobay
Type of Milk: goat's and sheep's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese
Date Purchased: 5/18/2007
Date Eaten: 5/27/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $16.99/lb.
You might make the mistake of calling it "string cheese" but once you taste it you may come to the realization this is not your four-year-old's noontime snack. Don't get me wrong. Farmer's Rope Cheese, a part-skim mozarella from Wisconsin's Crave Farmstead, will not win any prizes but it has something that grocery store mozarella completely lacks--the slightest flavor. It's solidly decent with no pretense of grandeur but still striving ambitions to rise above the less-than-modest state of cheese for kids while still looking like an albino serpent about to strike. Fun.
Name: Crave Farmstead Farmer's Rope Cheese
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Crave Brother's Farmstead Cheese
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $4.99 each.
Of all the cheeses I tasted this week Montegrappa was one of my favorites. Not surprising since it is very similar in flavor to another of my favorite everyday cheeses, Parrano. The flavors are nutty and sweet, the colors golden and straw-like. Delcious cheese!
Fleming described it as having ""substantive flavor". "Kind of 'parmesanny' but as sharp. A very very good hard cheese."
Its rich, nutty flavors can hold up against a bolder wine like a Barolo or Cabernet.
Name: Montegrappa or Montegrappa Aged
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy, Montegrappa
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $10.99/lb.
One definition of "Capraesque" from the online American Heritage Dictionary is "promoting the positive social effects of individual acts of courage". Capra Valtellina, then, I will call Capraesque since the making this cheese in an industrial age is courageous and eating it promotes a better society. I could also call the cheese "capricious" but that would be going a little far with the wordplay. "Capra" is an Italian word for "goat" where the milk of this fine cheese comes. "Valtellina" is the Valtelline Valley of Italy's Lombardy.
The cheese is firm and great for grating over a summer salad. It has a light, milky and generally pleasant flavor for a goat cheese. Not too strong or overpowering.
Name: Capra Valtellina
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $15.99/lb.
What exactly is "bread cheese"? It is not made from bread or even meant to be served with bread. Think of it as a bread, or better, toast replacement. Traditionally bread cheese comes from Finland where it is called "Juustoleipa" ( Hoo-stah-lee-pah - Finnish for 'Atkin's Diet'). It starts out similar to squeeky cheese curds or rope cheese and is pressed into a block the size of a slice of bread. The cheese is then toasted until golden brown and cooled.
This version of bread cheese comes from Wisconsin and Carr Valley Cheese. I tried the cheese three ways: cold, warm and warm with raspberry jam. Cold was not impressive. It was decent but would not wake me up on any day of the week. Heated is when this cheese starts to sing. Though shpaed like a piece of bread I would not recommend putting it in a toaster you want to keep for a while. The oil that drips out will probably smoke and eventually catch your toaster on fire. Heat it up flat in a toaster oven (on a tray) or under a broiler (also on a tray). Warm, bread cheese opens up to rich, cheesy flavors that are just the thing on a frozen Finnish or North Carolina morning. Finns will dunk the cheese in their morning coffee which I did not attempt but I did spoon on some jam and it was a great way to start the day. One slice of bread cheese was a lot of cheese for one person, even me. Cutting it into finger sized slices is probably a more reasonable portion. A fun way to start the day.
Name: Carr Valley Bread Cheese or Bread Cheese
Type of Milk: cowt's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Murray's Cheese, online order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $6.99 each
I bought Tia Anna's Queso Fresco on a whim. I was in Whole Foods planning the evening's meal and looking for a nice cheese to incorporate into a chicken burrito. In the packaged cheese section I came across this new product, a locally produced fresh queso. What the heck, I thought, I'll give it a try. My previous experiences with queso fresco have not been impressive. Earlier cheeses have been bland, bland, bland with a rubbery, boring texture. After the first taste of Tia Anna's I said, Hey now, this is something to pay attention to. The overwhelming flavor impact is freshness not complexity. It tastes fresh, like cold bright, new, whole milk straight from the cow herself. The texture is crumbly but soft. It is refreshing over a salad of greens and delicious in my chicken burrito. Unlike many American-made, factory produced quesos frescos Tia Anna's melts well making the perfect choice for stuffed chiles or baked enchilladas. I will difinitely buy it again.
Name: Tia Anna's Queso Fresco
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: fresh
Produced in: United States of America, North Carolina, Gibsonville, Callico Farmstead Cheese LLC.
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $9.99/lb
Coupole is one of a few artisinal cheeses made by the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company, a company in Vermont that makes butter and cheese. The name comes from the French word for "dome" and pictures of the cheese on the producer's web site show
a rounded top to the cheese which did not survive in the mail order shipment. Produced from pasteurized goat's milk and sprinkled with ash Coupole starts out slightly firm and sliceable. As it ages the cheese softens and takes on a creamier, even runny texture.
I bought two of these little domes/disks trying one four days after the first. In that time Coupole took on an oozy edge with a still firm center.
The flavor is delicious--fresh with a mild goaty bite. The older version is creamier, almost as if melted. The taste was much like one of my favorite cheeses, La Tur, a blended milk cheese, but being strictly goat, Coupole packs a bit more bite and lacks some of La Tur's smoothness. Despite that it is a great goat's cheese and can convince people who think they don't like goat cheese to reconsider that opinion.
Name: Coupole or Vermont Butter & Cheese Company, Coupole
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: United States of America, Vermont, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company
Date Purchased: 6/8/2007
Date Eaten: 6/12/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $11.99 each
One of the most photogenic cheeses I've encountered in a while, Mona from the Wisconisn Sheep Dairy CoOp is a delightful blend of equal parts sheep and cow milk. Aging for at least six months produces a firm, granular bite, a nutty mellow flavor,and marbled striations of color. The cow's milk curbs some of the sheep's milk earthiness imparting flavors of a medium aged Gouda. If you like Parrano you will appreciate Mona.
Name: Mona or Wisconsin Sheep CoOp, Mona
Type of Milk: sheep and cow's, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/12/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $18.99/lb.
Sometimes the most interesting person in a room can be overshadowed by the most beautiful. After tasting Cobb Hill Farm Ascutney Mountain Cheese among a group that included Coupole, I remembered very little of what Cobb Hill was like. When I tasted it by itself a few days later I couldn't understand how I could possibly have underappreciated it. The raw cow's milk provides the base for a host of flavors of grass and earth, milk and fungus, that remind me of some of the best cheeses of Switzerland but produced here in the U.S.. A really remarkable cheese.
Name: Cobb Hill Farm Ascutney Mountain Cheese
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semihard
Produced in: United States of America, Vermont
Date Purchased: 6/10/2007
Date Eaten: 6/12/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, http://www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $21.99/lb.
Crater Lake Blue is a bit like the baby bear of blue cheeses. Not too hard. Not too soft. Not too strong. Not too mild. To say it is just right makes it sound a tad mediocre when I mean it as a superlative. This award winning blue is much an unsmoked version of Rogue Creamery's Smokey Blue, a cow's milk blue not complicated by the smoking process but still an amazingly delicious blue. Great crumbled over a salad or warm pasta. Delicious with a sparkling or sweet dessert wine.
Name: Crater Lake Blue or Rogue Creamery's Crater Lake Blue
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: blue, semi-soft
Produced in: United States of America, Oregon, Rogue Creamery
Date Purchased: 6/14/2007
Date Eaten: 6/10/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $15.99/lb.
One of the best things about Cayuga Blue from the Lively Run Goat Dairy of upstate New York is that it is two cheeses in one. Yes, it's a blue with rich veins of punching power. But it is also enough room between the blue streams to allow one to appreciate the raw goat cheese on its own. A bit firm but not crumbly or hard the texture has a smooth finish while the flavor is rich but not overpowering like some others of the same breed. The name comes from Cayuga Lake, the longest of New York's finger lakes which one can imagine in the geography of this cheese's surface.
Name: Lively Run Cayuga Blue or Cayuga Blue
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: United States of America, New York, Lively Run Goat Dairy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $26.99/lb.
In the Gorgonzola flavor hierarchy Gorgonzola Cremificato stands in the middle. More flavorful than those cheeses labled Gorgonzola Dolce but less pungent than the more forceful Gorgonzola Piccante, cremificato is the creamiest and so far my favorite of the Italian blues. The softness of this cheese does not allow the blue veins to form throughout but instead produces rich puddles of ripe mold. It makes me think of a blue Taleggio if such a cheese existed. It spreads well and melts well making it great for cooking. I folded some into some warm pasta for a delicious afternoon lunch. A great blue cheese.
Name: Gorgonzola Cremificato
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisinal Cheese
Price: $17.75/lb.
I theorized at one time that Gorgonzola cheese's name may be derived from the similarity of its blue-green veins to the snakes in the hair of the Gorgon, Medusa. (I think I have seen Clash of the Titans more times than I should .) French author Emile Zola may alos have played a part in my ignorant, scholarly theories.
The name Gorgonzola in fact like many other Italian cheeses springs from the name of the town where it was said to have first been produced, Gorgonzola, on the outskirts of Milan. The piccante that follows this name may be familiar to people from Mexican menus and jars of salsa and indicates a sharpness the cheese possesses. Firmer than Gorgonzola Cremificato or Dolce, this cheese is a crumbler but still has a nice moistness to it. If you cook with Gorgonzola Cremificato for its creaminess by adding it to pasta or risotto you might finish the dish by crumbling the piccante over the top. Serve it in a green salad or with apples and pears next to sweet Italian dessert wines or prosecco.
Name: Gorgonzola Piccante
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $16.00/lb.
Named for a county in northern Spain, Garrotxa, pronounced gah-ROATCH-ah, is a goat's milk cheese with good character. Firm but not hard, the texture has a soft bite with a milky flavor. An aged white rind protects the inner paste but was too tough to enjoy. It's a solid Spanish cheese, welcome in any Spanish cheese tray I put together but not ranking among my favorites. Good, but I can find better values of flavor for the money.
Name: Garrotxa
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $26.75/lb.
It came as either a gift or a mistake. I received a shipment of seven cheeses from an online order at ArtisanalCheese.com although I had only ordered six. The additional cheese was this wonderful French sheep's milk cheese, Carles Roquefort. No note to say they had thrown it in for free but if I remember right, I may have gotten an extra cheese on a previous order too. It was a little less than perfect in appearance. The thin edge of the wedge had been crushed a little, maybe even before shipping. Still it had its charms of appearance. I tasted this cheese, served it with green salad, spread it on warm bread, and enjoyed it immensely. Only when I started to write about it did I find out the retail price for this treasure, $43.00 a pound. Holy blue cows, Batman! That's Wagyu beef prices. When time came to review a Roquefort I may well have paid that amount and bought as small of a piece as would photograph well. It is the granddaddy of amazing blue cheeses. Is it worth $43.00 a pound? Maybe no, but it is worth $10.75 a quarter pound for a blue cheese experience to ground you in great blue cheeses.
Name: Carles Roquefort or Roquefort Carles
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: blue, semi-soft
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $43.00/lb.
I don't hate Bianco Sardo di Moliterno but it is not anywhere near my favorite cheeses. The initial taste is somewhat vegetal. Asparagus, maybe. I don't like the taste of asparagus especially in asparagus when it has a strong asparagussy taste and now I can say I don't like it in cheese either. The texture is a little weird too--dry but waxy. When cut the pale straw colored cheese turn white on the cut edges almost immediately. The outside of the cheese is marked by the reed basket the cheese ages in. Maybe that is the source of the unpleasant flavor that will make me pass on Bianco Sardo if I see it again.
Name: Bianco Sardo di Moliterno or Canestrato
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $13.50/lb.
An Italian blue cheese that's not gorgonzola, Blue del Moncenisio is a cow's milk cheese from the northwestern most corner of the Piedmont. Slightly firm with rich pungent punch this is a very good cheese but overshadowed by its superiors. I liked it but the flavor was not memorable a few days after tasting it. Like most blue, pair it with a sweet dessert wine like a still or sparkling Moscatto or a stronger Nebbiola that withstand its force.
Name: Blu del Moncenisio
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: blue, semi-soft
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $23.75/lb.
The name does not seem Italian. German maybe. Perhaps Romanian or Hungarian. It kind of makes me think of U Thant, former Secretary-General of the U.N. whom I know only from Trivial Pursuit and a reference in a Tom Hank's movie (That Thing You Do). Strachitunt, pronounced strak-ee-TOONT, is made from raw cow's milk in the Val Talaggio region of Lombardy, home of a great Italian cheese, Taleggio. The deep veins seem to reflect the needles of injected mold used to seed the milky cheese with culture but again make me think of the vampire's kiss and a Romanian origin. Unusual, rich, and complex are the first words that came to mind while sampling. Worth checking out.
Name: Strachitunt
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: blue, semi-soft
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $18.50/lb.
When the word "geography" comes up in conversation about cheese it usually has to do with where a cheese is produced or where it originated. But the geography of Borough Market Cheddar can be found within a wedge of this remarkable cheese. There are different continents of flavor in this cheese. Areas closer to the center have a pure, raw, sharp English Cheddar flavor, slightly complex with lingering aftertastes that continue to please. Moving closer to the dark, cloth-wrapped edges the cheese itself gets darker, more complicated in flavor but still easily enjoyable. As you almost reach the cloth binding that restrains the outer limits, rivulets of blue-green oniony mold spring up but do not flood their banks into the Hinterland and truly add a wonderfully exotic note to this cheddar's chord.
If you think you know what cheddar tastes like by only eating American supermarket version, do yourself a favor and seek out this amazing Cheddar from Neal's Yard Dairy's Borough Market shop in London. Comparing it to most American cheeses of the same name is like comparing something really sophisticated and beautiful to something plain and unimaginative.
Name: Borough Market Cheddar
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England
Date Purchased: 7/3/2007
Date Eaten:7/4/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $15.99/lb.
Yes, it's a cute little white pyramid, pleasingly packaged in bleached waxed paper, calling out from behind the glass display cooler with puppy-dog eyes that say, "Take me home." But this is not just a cute pound puppy, it's a rich pedigree of traditionally hand crafted cheese of the finest order.
Unwrapping the cheese from it's paper, you discover not a pure white coat (unless you are taking it home very young and fresh, maybe a little under-ripened) but a palette of white and grays, tans and creams, painting the bloomy rind. Do not cut into the cheese until it has had some time out at room temperature. Ten to fifteen minutes should do. Once warmed up a little cut off one of the pyramid's four sides to expose the golden treasure of the pharaohs. The flavor and texture show the age of this adolescent goat cheese. Ripe, it will run a little around the edges and have a little sweetness on its way to richer depths. A very good cheese and for the price worth buying often. Try slices of this delicious chevre with crisp apples or even on top of a burger off the grill. Can pair well with Sauvignon Blanc if you favor drier wines or a Riesling if in a sweeter mood. Cypress Grove Chevre are the same folks who bring us another of my favorite cheeses, Humboldt Fog.
Name: Cypress Grove Chevre's Pee Wee Pyramid or Pee Wee Pyramid
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: bloomy rind, soft
Produced in: United States of America, California, Cypress Grove Chevre
Date Purchased: 7/2/2007
Date Eaten: 7/4/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $7.99 each
or "Dairy of a Mad Goat Lady"
And by "mad" I mean crazy enough to try to make a fresh camembert from North Carolina goats. And by "crazy" I mean crazy successful! Chevre Camembert is such a rare treat in the United States. Soft and buttery, young and slightly mushroomy, this young camembert-style cheese with an edible white rind represents the best of this style of young bloomy cheeses, alive with rich flavor. From a small goat dairy in Randolph county North Carolina producing a handful of small-batch artisinal chevres, Goat Lady Dairy Chevre Camembert stands out even among cow's milk cheeses of the same type. The goatiness is subtle but the camembertiness stands out. Seemingly pricey by the pound, $24.99, a disk is less than half that weight at around $10.00 each making it comparable in price to many lesser cheeses. It quickly became a favorite.
Name: Goat Lady Dairy Chevre Camembert
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: bloomy rind, soft
Produced in: United States of America, North Carolina, Climax, Goat Lady Dairy
Date Purchased: 7/3/2007
Date Eaten:7/4/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $24.99/lb.
Some cheeses like garden vegetables are seasonal, coming around only at distinct times of the year. Graskaas from the Beemster cheesemakers is a gouda-style cheese made from the first spring milking of the season. Literally meaning "grass cheese" Graskaas has a fresh, rich flavor missing in so many other "gouda" named cheeses. The color is golden with a semi-osft texture with a pleasing chew. Truly delicious but sold for a limited time at the beginning of summer. Seek it out while you can.
Name: Beemster Graskaas or Beemster Gras or Gouda Graskaas
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: The Netherlands, Beemster
Date Purchased: 7/3/2007
Date Eaten:7/4/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
It can be confusing when cheeses of the same name are produced by different dairies or manufacturers. My research show there is another Doddington made by Doddington Dairy, which sounds like it may be similar to Neal's Yard Dairy Doddington. An interesting cheese with qualities of a fine gouda and also of a farmhouse cheddar. I really like this cheese's unique flavor. It is on the pricey side but worth it for a change of pace.
Name: Neal's Yard Dairy Doddington
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England
Date Purchased: 7/12/2007
Date Eaten:7/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $29.99/lb.
The Spanish name hides the origins of this wonderful American-made cheese from Colorado. Produced by Haystack Goat Cheese outside of Boulder the name refers to the handmade quality of this fantastic cheese. Queso de Mano is the first raw milk goat cheese by these producers and it is as good as any produced in Europe. I have been recommending a lot of goat cheeses recently but do so without hesitation. Goat's milk cheeses can be just as amazing as any great cow's milk cheese and Queso de Mano is that good. Nutty and rich this cheese has delicious flavor and can pair with almonds or membrillo or fruity wines.
Name: Haystack Goat Cheese Queso de Mano
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: United States of America, Colorado
Date Purchased: 7/12/2007
Date Eaten:7/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $24.99/lb.
Part of my job of finding great cheese is done for me by shopping at places that do most of the work for me. Sometimes it can even get a little boring writing about good cheese after good cheese. Mostly it is still great fun to taste something I love, cheese, made by people who really care about what they do, trying to make the best product they can. Lamb Chopper is a super sheep's milk cheese by people who specialize in goat's milk chevre. The cheese is mild but not lacking in flavor. The texture is also of a young cheese, semi-soft and pliable making it ideal for melting on pizza or baked tomatoes.
Name: Lamb Chopper
Type of Milk: sheep's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: United States, California, Cypress Grove Chevre
Date Purchased: 7/12/2007
Date Eaten:7/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $20.99/lb.
Rossollino is another cheese I can find very little information about. Usually that is not a good sign. Here's what I know. I bought the cheese in Chapel Hill at the cheese counter of A Southern Season. The store-printed label says "Rossollino semi-aged peccorino". I have not always found accurate information on these labels and I am a unsure if the spelling of the name with two "l"s is even correct. The sliver of label from the manufacturer stuck to the cheese's rind mentions "...ated in rind with tomato's extract..." and may account for the reddish hue of the rind and the "rosso" in the cheese's name. Basically Rossollino is a peccorino vecchio, an Italian sheep's milk cheese probably aged a year. It is on the salty side and not the best cheese of its type I've had. It's okay but not memorable.
Name: Rossollino
Type of Milk: sheep's, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 7/10/2007
Date Eaten:7/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $18.99/lb.
Trentingrana is cousin to Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano, a hard grateable cow's milk cheese from Italy, in this case Trentino in the north. The cheese I bought was showing its age, probably in the two-year range, very dry but sharp and tangy in flavor. I broke out the rasp and grated it over a Caesar salad and then over some pasta and butter. It is not up to the same level as parmigiano or even grana padano but still delivers in flavor. Not the best cheese in the world but no loser either.
Name: Trantingrana or Trentingrana DOP
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in:
Date Purchased: 7/10/2007
Date Eaten:7/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
I've held off on writing about Celebrity Dairy goat cheese for a while. It is the most famous of the locally produced cheeses of the Triangle area of North Carolina and maybe that is why I thought it deserved special mention and careful review. I also knew it was a cheese I could readily obtain so I would wait until my options for cheese purchases narrowed and it would mark the point in the journey where my job of finding great and unique cheeses got a lot harder.
I have been familiar with Celebrity Dairy cheese for many years but to be honest I have not tried it for some time. It was one of the first goat cheeses I tasted and it really helped me enter the bigger world of cheese outside cow's milk. But now I come back to it after having tried some of the best goat's milk cheeses of France and Spain, Portugal and Italy, Vermont and California. The experience of those cheeses made coming back to Celebrity Dairy Chevre a little less welcoming.
Do not get me wrong. Celebrity Dairy Chevre is a wonderful cheese, a fresh goat cheese like many of the best of similar style in France. But compared to a Humboldt Fog or a Coupole goat cheese, chevres like Celebrity Dairy are prepubescent sisters of the buxom college coeds. A lot of people of talked to think they do not like goat's milk cheeses. My guess is the only ones they've tried are those like Celebrity Dairy chevre. It can be a little acidic, the tangy bite of goat's milk singing through. To the uninitiated this is a new experience that their history with cow's milk cheese does not prepare tem for. It really can be an acquired taste.
But one thing Celebrity Dairy Chevre is great for is as an ingredient in other dishes. I baked a Leek and Goat Cheese Tart with a pastry crust, sauteed leeks in butter and thyme, a mixture of sour cream, egg and heavy cream, and good-sized chunks of Celebrity Dairy Chevre. Accompanying the tart was a salad of mixed greens, pinenuts, thyme and chevre in a balsamic vinegrette. Served with a cold Pilsner beer or crisp Riesling it was a great summer dinner.
Celebrity Dairy Chevre comes in different flavors: plain, confetti - a mix of different pepper corns, party - the everything bagel of goat cheese, and dill. I didn't find the herbs and spices necessary and think they tended to mask a lot of the chevre's charm. Still, I am lucky to have access to this local treat.
Name: Celebrity Dairy Chevre
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: United States of America, North Carolina, Chatham County
Date Purchased: 7/14/2007
Date Eaten:7/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raliegh, Whole Foods
Price: $16.99/lb.
Mimolette in its whole form resembles a cantaloupe. In in its sliced form it resembles a sliced cantaloupe. The outer rind is simply dried aged Mimolette cheese that has been fed on by cheese mites. The interior orange color like most orange cheeses comes from the annatto of the Achiote plant. The flavor of this cheese is great. My wife Fleming said "Wow" four times. I counted. It tastes something of a mix between gouda and cheddar. It was aged but not to the point of being dried out. It still had some elasticity.
Name: Mimolette
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 7/19/2007
Date Eaten:7/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raliegh, Whole Foods
Price: $16.99/lb.
Cambozola and I have had a strange past. Something about the pre-printed Bavarian-blue cheese label seemed too processed, a little too contrived to me. The name had a fake, manufactured quality to it. I thought of it as a stuck up girl in the cafeteria who had no real grounds for her airs. With that prejudice I avoided even approaching her to find out if my assumptions were correct. Finally, having taken out all the other local girls and needing a date for Sunday night I decided to give Cambozola a try. We hit it off swimmingly.
Labeled as a triple cream, this cheese bears more of the qualities of enriched camembert-like cheeses than of its blue relatives. It is mild for a blue and may be a good starting point for anyone who thinks they do not like blue cheeses. Germ |
