I was shopping for cheeses recently for a sparkling wine tasting and hoping to find a few selections my guests wouldn’t know. This bloomy-rind beauty caught my eye because even I didn’t know it. A gentle probe of the exterior told me it was ripe. But was it tasty?
Read moreCanadian Cheddar Welcome Here
If you want to show Canada some love right now, seek out this award-winning Canadian Cheddar. I was surprised to find it at a local shop recently; we get so few cheeses of any type from our northern neighbor.
Read moreHappy Anniversary, Roquefort
Anniversary? Birthday? I wasn’t sure what to call it, but Roquefort is celebrating a milestone this year. That most iconic of French blue cheeses received the first AOC—appellation d’origine controlee—100 years ago this summer.
Read moreWhen Bad Things Happen to Good Cheese
I was hoping to order a favorite French cheese for an upcoming class, but the distributor had unwelcome news for me. “We haven’t had it for months,” she said. “The producer stopped making it.” Her reporting turned out to be largely, but not entirely, accurate. There was more to the story.
Read moreGold-Standard Manchego
I love aged sheep cheeses so much that even a mediocre one will tempt me. But a sublime Manchego like the one pictured here makes me greedy. I don’t want to share it; I want to hoard it. You have the Brie, honey. The Manchego’s all mine. Of course, I also want every cheese lover to know about it, and buy it, so that we keep the shipments coming. Manchego is Spain’s top-selling cheese by a mile, with 61 different producers. But if you want to taste the gold standard, in my view it’s this one.
Read moreYour Cheese is En Route…Maybe
What happens to that Camembert after it leaves the creamery in France? If the cheese is coming to me in Napa Valley, it’s traveling 5,500 miles. The journey is tedious enough if you’re human, but if you’re a steadily ripening cheese, delay can be a death sentence. MIT professor of anthropology Heather Paxson has researched the logistics of cheese importing and recently delivered an illuminating talk on the topic at SOAS Food Studies Centre in London.
Read morePancakes: A Love Story
My recent post on the cottage cheese trend elicited a pancake recipe from a reader, who told me it was a family favorite. When I made them, my husband joked that you had to put your hand on them to keep them from floating. They are indeed fluffy. I think they would make a wonderful Valentine’s Day breakfast, but for those who prefer to celebrate at dinner, I’m reprising Margrit Mondavi’s buckwheat blini with crème fraîche and smoked salmon.
Read moreThe Blue We Need
Most cheese counters I visit—even the best ones—have a big gap in goat blues. The options just aren’t there, domestic or imported. It’s not an easy style to make, according to the cheesemaker who just launched the one pictured here. Goat curd is dense and wants to mat. If it doesn’t remain open and airy, it’s hard for blue veins to grow. But the flavor of a well-made goat blue can be captivating—more tangy than buttery, sometimes closer to feta than to Stilton. I’ve fallen for several over the years—Persillé de Rambouillet from France, Andazul from Spain, Harbourne Blue from the U.K.—but then they vanish. Let’s hope this California newcomer finds an audience and sticks around.
Read moreWhich of These Is Good for You?
I don’t rely on the government for nutrition advice but apparently some people do. The FDA certainly spends a lot of time and resources telling us what we should and should not eat. Mostly I ignore these guidelines because, by now, I know to choose broccoli over doughnuts. But if the FDA is going to be the arbiter of “healthy,” you would hope they would take the big-picture view.
Read moreSo Long to Another American Cheese
America wouldn’t have a dairy industry without immigrants. Italians, Dutch, Germans, French, Mexicans, Swiss…they came here with their recipes and expertise, started dairy farms and made the cheeses they knew. Next week, one of these immigrant families—cheesemakers for five generations—is calling it quits, and I’m not the only one grieving.
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