It’s peach week in Napa Valley. My husband and I were struggling to keep up with the fruit from our own tree when a friend gave me some of hers. I was feeling a bit desperate about all our softening peaches when I saw this glistening conserve in my Facebook feed. The woman who posted it, an acquaintance who has attended my cheese classes, said she made it to go with cheese. Bingo. She sent the recipe, I made it immediately and now I’m eating the conserve straight from the jar. What a super companion for fresh chèvre or aged goat cheese (that’s Stepladder Creamery Ventana in the image), Cheddar, Gouda or blue cheese. In fact, if there’s a cheese this divine conserve won’t complement, I can’t think of it.
Read moreSix Summer Cheeses That Clamor for Kölsch
When it’s too hot to drink wine in wine country (and last week it was), I reach for Kölsch. This brisk German beer style is crisp, thirst-quenching and low in alcohol—usually under 5 percent ABV—so you don’t need to head for the nearest couch after your meal. I love Kölsch with marinated cheeses, feta, mozzarella, burrata—fresh or lightly aged cheeses that won’t overwhelm it.
Read moreWhat Goes with Cheese?
Autumn duo: Jasper Hill Farm Whitney with apple chutney
Americans didn’t pioneer the practice of pairing cheese with condiments, but we have certainly embraced it. When I teach cheese-appreciation classes, I can count on being asked, “What should I pair with this cheese?” I’m Old School and believe that good cheese is perfectly complete by itself, yet the condiments keep coming and I have to admit that they make a cheese platter more beautiful and, to some, more enticing. While sampling some new American-made mostarda, I flashed back to some of my earliest experiences with the cheese course, as a 22-year-old in France, where I encountered some firm “do’s and don’ts” about the plâteau de fromages.
Read moreYour Cheese Dreams Come True
California fresh: Nicasio Valley Cheese Foggy Morning
Can I brag on my state? California is about to host its 14th annual Artisan Cheese Festival, a three-day event that just keeps getting better. (I have perfect attendance.) Cheese fans: Your dreams can come true here. Want to step inside the aging cellars of an artisan Cheddar producer? Or visit three super-hip craft distillers? (There will be cheese. And a driver.) Want to meet the latest rock-star cheesemaker? (Hint: She’s not old enough to vote.)
Read moreWhat Goes with Cheese?
Cabot Clothbound Cheddar with Nectarine and Serrano Jam
When I was first introduced to fine cheese—in France, many years ago—it came with nothing. At least that’s my recollection. Just beautiful cheeses, as many as you wanted from the restaurant trolley, with more fresh-sliced baguette in the breadbasket. Now, in the Instagram age, a cheese board with cheese alone looks naked and pitiful. Where are the nuts, the honeycomb, the preserves, the pickles, the locally made artisan crackers?
Read moreLate to the Party
Photo: Krys Mandilag/KM Design & Photography
My first cheese-meets-bourbon class was a big hit—at least with me. I don’t know what the attendees thought, but I was blown away by the pairings. Wine and beer are the go-to beverages chez moi, and I can pair them with cheese in my sleep. But this was my maiden voyage with bourbon and cheese. It will not be the last. So many “wow” moments.
Read moreMyth Buster
Steve Jones is one of the cheese world’s wise men, proprietor of Cheese Bar and Chizu in Portland, Oregon, and a cheesemonger everybody respects. He has been telling me for years that he is going to write a book, and now he has done it, with co-author Adam Lindsley. Cheese Beer Wine Cider: A Field Guide to 75 Perfect Pairings(W. W. Norton) takes us on a tasting journey that upends some conventional wisdom. You might be surprised to learn which beverage he would choose for cheese if he could have only one.
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