This Burrata is made in Dallas? Get a rope!

I have only the grainiest of cell phone pictures to prove it, but an outfit in Dallas, Texas is making what it claims is Burrata cheese. Burrata is a recently-popular type of mozzarella with a very creamy center. Anne wrote an article on it a while back for No Reservations magazine, but the mag and its website have gone offline.

Burrata has a very short shelf life, so people are happy to find domestic producers like Gioia Cheese in El Monte, California.

Anne spotted this Dallas variant at Central Market in Houston. Central Market is basically what you get when you turn a Costco-sized warehouse into essentially a Whole Foods and take the price and attitude down a notch, but they're only in Texas at the moment. Anyway she spotted a Buratta, which looks basically like this:

Innocent enough, and at a measly $12 we probably should have bought some and seen how it tasted. But we were scared by an entirely different list of ingredients on the back. You can barely tell because my picture is too blurry, but the second listed ingredient is Marscapone cheese. Anne's theory is that the company is merely injecting Marscapone into some plain Mozz and calling it Burrata.

Here's a shot where you can tell the full name of the producer, Mozzarella Cheese Company, which does indeed appear to be a reasonably reputable firm:

jasper hill

The latest Art of Eating takes note of a relatively new Vermont dairy, Jasper Hill Farm, which makes raw milk cheeses from its own herd of 27 Ayrshires. The cheesemaker, Mateo Kehler, spent five years studying cheese in Europe, working at Neal's Yard, among other things. According to Behr they are making 2 cheeses: a big blue called Bayley Hazen, and the small surface-ripened, Constant Bliss, aged for 60 days, which may be unique in this country. They use an interesting combination of commercial and wild molds.

They are listed at the following sites, which I link here because they are all useful:
Slow Food's American Raw Milk Farmstead Cheese Consortium, Vermont Dairy Promotion Council's cheesemakers page, New England Dairy Promotion Board's cheese site. If anyone sees these on the West Coast, let us know.

Morbier and the office desk picnic

I work in the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, and today I made my way down to the Ferry Building to supply yet another impromptu picnic at my desk. I came back with two cave-aged French cheeses bought at Cowgirl Creamery, Comte and Morbier.

(Morbier)

Anne and I many months ago attended a $50/person cheese class put on by the Cowgirls. Helping lead the tasting was French affineur Jean d'Alos, "affineur" meaning, in French, "one who ages cheese in caves, and yes we have a word just for that, clumsy American pigdog." Our love for Comte, in particular well-aged Comte, was the legacy of that tasting, as well as a respect for d'Alos. The two cheeses I picked up today are both selections from d'Alos' caves (which means he aged them, not that he made them).

The Morbier is one slap in the face of a cheese, pungent to the point of nearly tasting ammoniated. Even the salesgirl at Cowgirl told me she wrinkles her nose at this cheese because she can't stand it because its so overpowering. For some reason I don't find it nearly so offensive.

Microdairies: Mecox Bay Dairy

Once upon a time there were microbreweries. And then there were microwineries, little postage stamp-sized patches of land producing a barrel or two of wine a year. And now? Microdairies. Don't know what to do with Bessie's milk? Make cheese!

I took a short trip to the tony Hamptons this weekend. I knew that the less fashionable North Fork had become a mecca for viticulture and that a cheesemaker or two had set up shop there. I had no idea that the South Fork, home to self-conscious actors, musicians, and socialites (think Seinfeld, Billy Joel, Lizzy Grubman), was also a viticulture region and a budding cheese lover's paradise.

Mecox Bay Dairy, located in Bridgehampton, NY, is the home to six cows; of those 6, four are currently milked. Arthur and Stacy Ludlow have been making raw milk cheese for about a year and a half, and the production is still rather spotty. A cheesemonger I met at a newly opened cheese shop in Sag Harbor told me that on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, he sold over 40 pieces of Mecox Bay's Atlantic Mist, a soft ripened cheese that resembles a stocky coulommiers in appearance, and an overripe brie in texture and flavor.

I admire cheesemakers who seek to preserve traditional cheesemaking methods in their production. But let's face it -- soft ripened cheeses made from raw cow's milk for the most part should be eaten under 60 days. The rind was mottled with black molds (not a good sign) and the flavor was acidic and burning -- the ammonia was taking over. I wanted to taste grass, herbs -- I willed myself to taste grass, herbs -- but all I tasted was the burn.

Two other cheeses were more successful. Shawondasee, a 'mold ripened cheese' resembles a tomme de savoie in flavor and has a pleasant finish. Mecox Sunrise, a washed-rind cheese aged up to 4 months, is less successful. It is bitter with an unpleasant finish. Cato Corner's Hooligan is a far more tasty, and interesting, washed rind cheese.

For a near-complete listing of New York State cheesemakers (and microdairies) check this out.

Mystery Cheese

When visiting the Cheese Board last week, I saw, featured on the white board, a French cheese I had never heard of before: Petit Fuxéen. It bore that alluring green dot (meaning raw milk) but it was otherwise unlabeled. The cheese mongers were unable to tell me what region it came from, or its affinage. I googled it, and looked it up in my various cheese books, and came up with jack shit. But I can tell you this: it tasted pretty good.

Like drinking and driving....

Grappa and fresh goat cheese just don't mix!

I was dining at new hotspot during a visit to New York (its close enough to my homebase for a quick weekend junket) and saw, with horror, that the only cheese offered on the menu was a fresh chevre...paired with grappa. It wasn't merely a menu suggestion, it was a dessert item.

Let's break it down:

1) Fresh goat cheese is acidic, floral and herbaceous at best, creamy but not fatty.
2) Grappa is a clear spirit made from grape pumace (skin and seeds) extremely high in alcohol (80-90%), floral at best, a 'clean' finish, and for the uninitiated, rather harsh. It is acidic.

Fresh goat cheese naturally partners with Sauvignon Blanc, which is more fruity than floral, dry but not harsh, and slightly oh so slightly sweet. It would provide a counterpoint to the fresh cheese.

Grappa does not.

Grappa needs a cheese that will tame it. Grappa needs something fatty, mouth coating, mushroomy.

The Italians have the right idea with Bross. This is no cheese for the faint-of-heart -- precisely the kind of match you would expect for grappa.

So skip the grappa and the goat cheese. If there isn't anything else on the menu, take yourself down to the nearest shop, buy yourself the stinkiest and most pungent washed rind cheese you can find, uncork the grappa, and enjoy it at home. Unless you feel like making Bross.

The Elusive Cabri

What did I know about Cabri Ariegeois? Next to nothing, I'm afraid. After trying to locate it somewhere in the known cheese world and failing utterly, it found me. It arrived via a quick phone call from a domestic distributor:

"Hey, we have Cabri Ariegeois! You want some?"

Hell yeah, of course I wanted some. I had been on a month long quest to find the cheese, a writer friend had asked me to find him some for a book he was writing on cheese. I Googled it. Pages showed up in German and Dutch -- two languages with which I have no faculty. I asked my consolidators in France. No dice. I gave up.

And then the phone call. It took almost a month for the cheese to arrive here. Every week my contact promised it would arrive. It didn't. I waited. I called. I forgot about it. And then this morning, it finally showed up.

I ripped the tape off and peered in. I had no idea what I would see inside. Were they little disks? Tomes? No, they were Vacherin-style cheeses, packed into small wood boxes, each piece wrapped in smoky birch bark. Sixteen 500 g (1.1 lb) pieces full. The surface of the cheese was completely covered in b.linens and flouresced orange. There was a subtle stink, but it wasn't the powerful, rank aroma promised by the color and the box.

The side of the box told me the story: LE CABRI-ARIEGEOIS CHEVRE FERMIER DES PYRENEES. FROMAGERIE FERMIERE CABRIOULET - LOUBIERES. Aha! Goat, Midi-Pyrenees, made in Ariege. A quick Google search uncovered nothing specific, but I did stumble upon this curious site with video footage of the affinage (maturing) process. So that's how you age Reblochon!

I pulled a piece out of the case. A quick feel indicated that it was still quite young and hadn't developed its full odiferous splendor. The cheese, arriving by plane, needs another few weeks to mature into a liquid beauty.

And my writer friend? Within minutes of my email notifying him of the Cabri's arrival, he responded. "Great going! I'll take at least half of them using one for a shoot. The "holy grail"!"

Indeed!

This cheese certainly falls into the category of The Cheese Diaries' favorites...washed rind, unctuous, packed in a wooded box (see the entries on Epoisses and Flada)...a party cheese. But it will cost you to throw a party with this one. At $32 a pop retail, you better call your friends and have them bring the wine.

cream cheese

Cream cheese thinks it's too fucking cool to hang out with the old cheese crew, like Cheddar and Swiss. It's like cream cheese was a big dork in high school and then graduated and was going off to college where nobody knew cream cheese, and cream cheese could remake itself to be whoever it wanted to be. And cream cheese did it. It totally showed up one day and started hanging out with the 'cool' dairy products like Whipped Cream and Butter. Cream cheese is not being true to itself....

raw milk époisses

Inspired by Connie's post on our bad époisses, though inexplicably conducted under the Stanser Flada thread, we have been speculating about the production of raw milk époisses. I asked the Syndicat de défense de l'époisses, and they replied

2 out of 4 producers of Epoisses [AOC] cheese use raw milk, representing about 20 % of the whole production of Epoisses cheese. They are : Laiterie de la Côte (21220 Brochon) and Ferme des Marronniers (21510 Origny-sur-Seine).

Raw milk Epoisses are exported mainly to Germany, Belgium, Italy, Swisstherland, where people are very found of with such a production, and where regulations about importation of raw milk goods are OK.

Unfortunately, with many cheeses, Epoisses and others, the raw milk can be so clean that laboratory strains of microflora must be added and they dominate the taste. Of course, what matters is the taste, and even with laboratory creatures it can be very good.

Also came across this excellent headline from the Evening Standard in the course of my research:

TESCO TO STOCK CHEESE THAT'S TOO SMELLY EVEN FOR THE FRENCH

4 More Years!: Gouda

The sign on this cheese said: Gouda Aged 4 years. Four years, I thought, wow. I got some but it was really expensive. And it's a wierd color too. Like a dark amber. It sort of looks like mimolette in coloration.

Any one who knows about old gouda knows about the mysterious cheese crystals, well this one was almot crunchy. Like rice crispy square crunchy. And extremely brittle, like chalk.

The taste is like WOW. IT is way out there man. Like way out there. It doesn't really taste like any other cheese experience I have had (ok maybe faintly like Parm).

Anne, the obvious solution to your year old fridge refuse is to just leave it in there for another three years.

everything bad for you will have been killed off by then surely.

Grüezi, Stanser Flada

Christine, fiction writer and lover of fine cheeses, follows her instincts (and her nose) to discover a whole new cheese none of us have tried before:

"I'd heard that the Berkeley Whole Foods had a decent cheese selection. Not shouts, just some murmurings. So when it came time to pick up some milk and eggs the other day, I made it a point to do my grocery shopping there...and I made a long pit stop at their cheese counter.

The cheese counter overflows into the adjacent wine and bread sections. I felt like I was following a trail of ginger bread crumbs to the counter, only these were cheese samples. They had huge wheels of stilton blue cheese on special with samples, and a gouda as well. I tasted those.

By the time I reached the counter, they'd whetted my taste for cheese. I scanned the displays of cheese for a hidden wonder, anything, something unusual. I was in an adventurous mood."

Something Funny: chevre feuille

the label said "french chevre feuille goat" which was a bit of a double tautology since chevre means goat and is a french word thus chevre feuille is a better name.

Con Salt? : Ricotta Salata

There is another yummy cheese store in Portland called the Pasta Factory. (I imagine they sell pasta or something too) You can get explorateur by the pound there which is cool because those little mini wheels are expensive.

SO anyway I got Ricotta Salata today. It is the same as Myzithra exept a little less salty. I got bored eating it straight, we'll see if I cook it in anything.

Torta del Casar

You may remember my mention that the Farmstead Wine and Cheese counter opened recently in the Alameda Marketplace. Jeff and Carol are its friendly, enthusiastic and well-informed propietors. When I first walked in and introduced myself to Jeff, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they'd heard of our site. After the usual discussion of the pleasures of raw milk cheese, I mentioned that I wanted to try Torta del Casar. I doubted I could find someone would carry it, since the Cheese Board didn't. "I can order it," said Jeff. "Come back next week, and we'll probably have it." Sure enough, the next time I came by, he had it proudly displayed next to cash register. Although I was about to go out of town for two weeks, I purchased one, for fear of it running out before I got back.

Finally, last week, at the Cheese Diaries tasting, I managed to crack it open. It was worth the wait.

cheese index

Over at Sauté Wednesday, Bruce Cole has conveniently indexed the whole year of Janet Fletcher's cheese column in the Chron. As Bruce points out, it's quite an impressive resource.

Wasabi Chèvre

I don't go in much for the adulterated cheese. I'll have my cheese plain and simple, unsmothered in herbs and spices, thank you very much.

But this cheese caught my eye:my recent curiousity about "chanpon food", that is, the fusion of western and easern cuisine caused me to take a second look at this new product, Westfield Farm's wasabi chèvre.

I was afraid this cheese would be one of those other botched, fusion experiments. But to my happy relief, I turned out to be quite wrong.

Bella Italia

Editor's note:
A few weeks ago, my friend and fellow cheese enthusiast Christine traveled to Italy. She toured around for a while, enjoying the historical sights and, of course, the cheese. On her gastronomical tour, she encountered such exotic items as Pecorino Fresco, and a Testun made from raw milk. I am green with envy! Not able to travel to Italy myself, I suppose my taste buds will just have to savor vicariously through hers. And now, I present to you an exclusive account of her cheese adventures... read it and drool, my friends.

(Many thanks to Christine for letting me post her story and her pictures.)

-Anne

More on Epoisses

I'm down here in SoCal for the holidays, hanging out with my wonderful friends, Brian and Justin for the day. No visit to LA would be complete without a trip to the Beverly Hills Cheese Store. There were many imported butters to peruse (including goat milk) and of course, I picked up a Camembert de Normandie, but I discovered what I thought to be impossible. Buried underneath Berthaut's Epoisses de Bourgogne was a plain round box. Instantly suspicious, I opened it up. A rich, stinky, ultra-barnyardy odor issued forth. It was labeled "Epoisses Affine" with a miniscule sticker. "Hmmmm," I thought. Could it be possible? Could a raw milk Epoisses have possibly reached our shores?

When my turn with the cheesemonger came up, I asked her, "Is this raw milk?" She furtively nodded yes. Needless to say, I bought the rest of the stock (there were only two). A review will soon follow.

I know who I can trust...

"Mens sana in corpore sano is a contradiction in terms, the fantasy of
a Mr. have-your-cake-and-eat-it. No sane man can afford to dispense
with debilitating pleasures; no ascetic can be considered reliably
sane. Hitler was the archetype of the abstemious man. When the other
krauts saw him drink water in the Beer Hall they should have known he
was not to be trusted," Max, quoting A.J. Liebling.

And what a fitting quote to sum up the near-Roman excesses of this weekend's event. This past Sunday, the Cheese Diaries hosted the first (of hopefully many) East Bay tasting event. I use the term hosted loosely - it was Anne who did all the hard work - providing her home, and waking up at the crack of dawn to bake baguettes.

After my personal Camembert de Normandie connection fell through, I schemed to bring it to me. I found a source, and ordered it, along with another forbidden cheese, Langres. To celebrate the momentous occasion, ten guests were chosen to partake of these cheeses, along with a few of our favorites. Upon arrival, the task was clear: an inadvertent (and unabashedly un-American) tour of France, with a brief introduction to Italy.

Billy Goat's Gruff: Chevre d'Or

So I decided to start my love affair with goat squeezin's. Heh. My cheese store of choice always has this cute que of curious chevre's. That was quite an alliteration. $7.99 for a silver dollar sized disk? there must be some reason it costs that much. "Chevre d'Or" popped out at me, I probably remember it from reading the cheese primer. It is an AOC french goat cheese.

Vacherin Mont D'Or/Vacherin du Haut-Doubs

The first time I tasted Vacherin Mont D'Or was at my birthday dinner at the justly celebrated French Laundry, before my cheese infatuation had blossomed into a full-fledged obsession. The waiter had removed the lid from the wooden box with a flourish, then lovingly shaped a small mound of it on my plate with two spoons. I enjoyed it, but quite frankly, I wasn't all that impressed. Neophyte that I was, it was hard for me to appreciate. After all, I had just wallowed in nine courses of culinary ecstasy. I recognized that this cheese was special, but that it had a major handicap. It's impossible to follow Thomas Keller's poached oysters topped with caviar, foie gras en torchon, butter poached lobster and... well, you get the idea. (I still daydream about that night. You can read about it here) I suppose I say that this was a major turning point in my hobby/obsession with cheese. I wanted to find out what made Keller think that this cheese was worthy enough enough to follow his culinary masterpieces. It certainly wasn't a cheese I had noticed in stores before, so I began to seek it out. Unfortunately, Vacherin is a seasonal cheese, and the end of its season had just passed. (Of course, this setback did not stop me from sampling other cheeses.)

Rocket Cheese!!!: L'Explorateur

So I tried really hard to find a french cheese to like. I found one that not only was a triple cream, but also had a rocket ship on the label! Wooooshhhhh.

I got a little dinky one. It looked like it didn't have a rind to it at all (it was so soft) but it was defiantely bloomy. The big one they had at the store looked like a field of white grass was growing on it. Very cool. It's a raw cow's milk cheese.

"Cheese": Kraft Easy Cheese, Sharp Cheddar Flavor

From our mission statement:

"Let us seek out the strange, the rare, the elusive. We will not be daunted by the stinky or the oozy, nor will we shy away from the unknown; rather, let us revel in it! Let us find joy of flavor and texure in the most unlikely packages. And most of all, let us always be relentless in discovering, exploring, learning, and sharing with one another."

Well I decided to really take that to heart...

"Freedom" Cheese: Munster

Another fench cheese in the same vein as the livarot and the talaggio. The mildest of the three, but posessing the same sort of sour tart taste. I don't know why I keep getting cheeses like this. I don't really like them. There is something alluring about their gooy frenchness I guess. In reality, however, I can't really number any french cheese as being among my favorites. Even though the french "invented" cheese, I feel like they have been trumped at their own art.

Sauté Wednesday

Bruce Cole has returned from his hiatus with a nice meditation on humbolt fog.

latest cheese plate

Forme Sauternes
La Tur
Swiss raw milk "camembert"
a raw cow tomme from Georgia (U.S.)

Cowardly Stilton: Shropshire Blue

Shropshire Blue is supposedly made with the same recipe as Stilton. The main difference is its color, which is a vibrant orange-yellow. Since I like Stilton so much I wanted to try this cheese. The color is the result of an addition of a little annatto to the recipe.

It does taste almost exactly the same as Stilton. It has a slight sweet taste to it however, and the taste seemed a tad milder. The mildness may be due to the cheese not being aged as much as the Stilton I usually eat.

Bottom line, I think the only reason to choose this cheese over Stilton is if you are going for visual impact. Since Stilton doesn't taste like other blues you can put this across to your guests without them even having to taste the cheese. This might encourage folks who "don't like" blue cheese to try this cheese and be able to enjoy its unique taste

The Washing Machine of Cheese: Maytag Blue

To continue my adventure with spoiled cheese, I turned to Maytag Blue, an all-American cheese produced in caves in Iowa. It didn't look very special, and I found it at my local super market instead of the specialty shop where I usually get my cheese. That was cool. I had to dig for it a little too. It's nice to have to work a little for things, makes it more exciting.

Tea Time: Stilton

The King of Cheeses: English Version. I have tried several blue cheeses, but none really blew me away. I decided, why settle for less? It didn't disapoint.

Through the Looking Glass: Ciresa Brand Taleggio

The thing that poped out at me about this cheese was the intense orange rind, which was very contrasted by the green mold present on the rind. It reminded me of like an Alice in Wonderland color scheme. The cheese guy said he liked it (as well as every other cheese I asked him about, heh), so I thought I would give it a try. Besides I wanted to explore washed rinds some more after the livarot experience...

fromage triage: Fiscalini Bandaged Cheddar

So my brother recommends Fiscalini Bandaged Cheddar, which is made in a small place in California. He probably learned about it from another post on the diaries. I was thinking... Bandages? Is it like a crazy undead mummy cheese? When I saw it at whole foods (Portland), I had to try it...

Best Kept in the Trash: Graindorge brand Livarot

OK so livarot is a french name controlled washed rind cows milk cheese. it comes in a little box and it was expensive. i usually try to keep my cheese purchases to around 5$ a week, but I splurged on this one because it was one of the brands specifically recommended by the cheese primer guy. I was a little worried because it had a little sticker on the bottom with a date and some french words, and the date was almost a month ago. I decided to eat half of the little wheel for breakfast the next day...

Pave d'Affinois Affine

Cheese on the run: A series

Compared to my coauthors here at Cheese Diaries, I cannot offer much. I do not have worldly travel experience, a well-honed nose for ripened curd, or a smartly-indexed mental catalog of French dairies. Nor does my writing rise to the descriptive standards we've come to expect from Anne and Connie.

In fact, I don't even have that most basic resource of the investigative cheese reporter—time. Time to let the cheese warm to room temperature. Time to eat slowly and take notes. Time, most importantly, to get to the Cheese Board before it closes.

Epoisses

quand je suis triste je mangez de ce fromage,
quand je suis heureux que je mangez de ce fromage.
quand je mange de ce fromage je suis dans le ciel,
et quand je ne puis pas je suis dans l'enfer.

Banon

Connie tasted this cheese too. She gave me her "icky" face.

I rather liked it, though I admit I was drawn to it primarily because if it's packaging.

When Epoisses Attacks

I generally stick the cheese lover’s adage that “the stinkier the cheese is, the better.” Well, when I found that raw milk Epoisses I mentioned a while back at the Beverly Hills Cheese Store, I thought I’d stumbled on a gold mine. Feeling exuberant, I left the cheese shop with Justin and Brian and headed straight for the Barney’s. Upon my arrival, I was thrilled to learn that the shoe department had quadrupled its floor space. And there was a sale! Justin and I wandered through the Manolo Blahniks, and sat down to try on some Christian Louboutin pumps and some Marc Jacobs flats. The salesgirl brought me several sizes, along with some suggestions. As she knelt to set the boxes down, her smile abruptly froze.

"Ibroughtthesizesyouwantedplussomeothersyoumightlike,” she muttered, and abruptly rushed off. I shrugged my shoulders and began opening the boxes. I pushed the bag of cheese aside, and a funky, sweaty odor wafted forth from within its diaphanous cellophane membrane. Freed from the confines of its cooler counter, the Epoisses had begun to warm up to room temperature. “Whatever,” I said presumptuously, and stood up. “These anorexic types don’t eat, so what would they know about food,” I declared, and flounced off to the third floor, leaving Justin trailing behind me. Once I filled my arms with clothes, I shoved the cheese bag his way, and hurried into the fitting rooms. As soon I emerged, Justin was waiting for me, looking slightly green. He made sure that I got the bag back. “The stench had intensified” was all he would say. By now, starlets, metrosexuals, botoxed trophy wives and hipsters in trucker hats were giving us a wide swath. And the perfume counter manager definitely gave me the evil eye. “I don’t know about this, Connie. I’m kind of scared” said Brian. “Oh, come on,” I replied overconfidently. “This just means it’ll be good.” I should have listened to them both.

Queso de La Serena

After ditching swim practice this evening, I stopped by Farmstead to browse its case. Lately, Jeff has become a dealer of sorts to my husband, whose current obsession is Belgian/Trappist ales. (Side note: The New York Times featured Belgian Trappist style ales. Six authentic Trappist ales are produced in the world. Five are imported to the U.S., and Farmstead carries four) While lamenting the loss of the many raw milk cheeses at domestic cheese counters, I pondered falling back on an old standby - Humboldt Fog. Jeff quickly pointed out the Queso de la Serena, which was marked as his "favorite" cheese. How could I resist?

Les Petit Fiance des Pyrenees

When most people shop for cheeses at a counter, they seem okay with pointing at a cheese they're curious about, and requesting a taste. I, on the other hand, have a little ritual. I pick it up, turn it over, examine every square centimeter, and give it a little prod. I'll even take surreptitious peek and sniff under the wrapper, if at all possible. If it lives up to my standards - not dried out, not soggy, with smooth, uncracked rind and a fresh, unammoniated smell - I will request a taste (who am I kidding? I ask for a taste no matter what). One reason I do this is because I'm fairly obsessive compulsive about the foods that I buy. But there is another reason.... Although the Cheese Board has its blackboards listing hundreds of cheeses, that blackboard is not updated regularly. I learned this, after several weeks of requesting Boursault, and the cheesemonger finally told me that they hadn't carried Boursault for several years. "But it's still on the blackboard!" I protested, as if my words would magically produce a Boursault. "Well, it's kinda high up there. It's difficult to update." But just as there are cheeses on the blackboard that the Cheese Board does not carry, there are cheeses not listed on either of the blackboards that the Cheese Board does carry. Not long ago, when I picked up an Epoisses for its examination, I uncovered a lone, perfect camembert. Since then, I have dug around through the cheeses, on a quest to find this Camembert. Although most of my searches have not been successful, I have discovered other cheeses. One day, out of the corner of my eye, buried underneath some chevres, I saw a cheese that was about the same diameter as my beloved Camembert, but it was thinner, and the rind was smoother. Its label was obscured, so I asked the cheesemonger, "What's that?" "Huh. I haven't noticed this one before," she replied. She picked it up - it was a goat cheese called Les Petit Fiance des Pyrenees - and shaved off a taste for herself and me.

Mahon

The gooey, soft cheeses are excellent on their own or spread on toast. The hard cheeses (parmeggiano, pecorino, etc) entice pastas into superb new heights, awaken salads, and are intruguing on their own.

But what about the in-between cheeses, the medium soft, the ones that do not ooze but are sturdy, do not crumble but are moist? In my recent cheese renaissance, I had written these types off as lowly sandwich material, unworthy of being appreciated in their own right.

As I was flipping through The Cheese Primer, I saw quite a number of these types that Jenkins spoke quite highly of. I have so far relied on his taste, and have not been led astray. The next time I was at the cheese monger's, I decided to venture back into the world of the semi-soft. My pick: the mahon, a spanish cheese.

mascarpone

cream reincarnated...

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Lidia takes chunks of this cheese, dips in rich balsamic syrup, and eats it. Just like that.

The first time I witnessed her doing so I think my jaw must have dropped. I had never considered the possibility that hard cheeses could be eated in such copious quantities.

raw milk époisses

Inspired by Connie's post on our bad époisses, though inexplicably conducted under the Stanser Flada thread, we have been speculating about the production of raw milk époisses. I asked the Syndicat de défense de l'époisses, and they replied

2 out of 4 producers of Epoisses [AOC] cheese use raw milk, representing about 20 % of the whole production of Epoisses cheese. They are : Laiterie de la Côte (21220 Brochon) and Ferme des Marronniers (21510 Origny-sur-Seine).

Raw milk Epoisses are exported mainly to Germany, Belgium, Italy, Swisstherland, where people are very found of with such a production, and where regulations about importation of raw milk goods are OK.

Unfortunately, with many cheeses, Epoisses and others, the raw milk can be so clean that laboratory strains of microflora must be added and they dominate the taste. Of course, what matters is the taste, and even with laboratory creatures it can be very good.

Also came across this excellent headline from the Evening Standard in the course of my research:

TESCO TO STOCK CHEESE THAT'S TOO SMELLY EVEN FOR THE FRENCH

Beaufort

Janet Fletcher writes on Beaufort, one of the greatest of cheeses, in today's Chron. I wrote to ask her about the parmigiano-like "flavor crystals" in Beaufort, which are its most distictive characteristic, and she said they are crystallized casein, (also found in aged goudas which I had forgotten).

Any of you science types know what happens to proteins when they crystallize? I have always associated those crystals, perhaps wrongly, with umami, and I'm wondering if crystallization liberates some glutamate.

bufala

I am honored to have been invited to join this excellent site, and I hope I can live up to its standards. Considering how much time I've been wasting on egullet recently, I may simply end up being a liason to their boards. To wit, here's a thread on what to do with buffala mozzarella. My contribution: "my position is that it's like a perfect peach -- who needs a recipe? Just eat it over the sink. (Or put it on a cheese plate)."

Fourme Sauternes

A maiden pilgrimage to the Cheese Board can be a daunting task. The first thing you will notice are the crowds of customers. Before you even enter, you will sight some sitting outside the door, happily munching on rolls, scones, cheese and pizza. Most press against the cheese counters, jockeying for the most valued position in front of the chevres, while others wait for the scurrying workers to empty hot trays of baked treats into shelved baskets. When fresh cherry corn scones arrive, packs of customers have been known to pounce, like hyenas upon leftover carcasses. On the left is the a huge blackboard that covers half the wall, listing hundreds of varieties of cheeses, some subdivided into different categories (blues, chevres, camemberts, parmesans, fetas...). On my first visit, after taking in the crowds and the heat from the ovens, I glanced to my left... my pupils dilated, my pulse quickened. I stood there, immobilized by that giant blackboard, then bailed. It was a bit overwhelming for a then-newbie such as myself. Since then, I have learned to take a look at the day's specials first, which are listed on a smaller blackboard, underneath the huge one. Sometimes, there are new cheeses, sometimes certain varieties on sale, and sometimes, something rarer is listed. For assistance, you pick a playing card from the hook at the corner of the cheese counter, and wait for your number to be called. A few weeks ago, when I took a look at the specials, the first thing I noticed was the Forme Sauternes.

camembert de normandie

on a saturday not long ago, i encountered ryan at the cheese board as i was about to leave. he was trying to decide which cheeses to purchase for some guests that evening. he pointed out the selles-sur-cher, a wonderful goat cheese. i suggested that if he liked that one, he should try the valencay.

"ummm," he said, and glanced about furtively. his voice dropped to a stage whisper. "have you ever tried the you know, unpasteurized cheeses?"

"oh yeah!" i replied enthusiastically. "i always buy unpasteurized." (i may have sounded a bit condescending.)

"aren't you worried about it?"

"that camembert de normandie from a couple weeks ago, and that... well, unpasteurized is all we've been feeding you, hon."

Humboldt Fog Chevre

Look at that. Doesn't that sight just make your mouth water? Blanketed by a covering of ash, and secreted away inside another layer of ash, it looks more like a piece of luscious cake than a section of cheese. But if that were my birthday cake, or even my wedding cake, I would be delighted!

Epoisses

quand je suis triste je mangez de ce fromage,
quand je suis heureux que je mangez de ce fromage.
quand je mange de ce fromage je suis dans le ciel,
et quand je ne puis pas je suis dans l'enfer.

news flash! Cheese event tomorrow, Thurs. Jan. 26 at the Cheese Board, Berkeley!

Sorry for the late notice, cheese fans of Berkeley. If you're free Thursday night, I suggest heading over to the Cheese Board for the CheesebAR (I don't get the weird capitalization,either. Or am I just missing something obvious?)

This is a fun opportunity to taste the featured cheeses. I can vouch for the The Bleu de Basque, Chatelain,and Roncal.

But the best part is sitting in the median on Shattuck Ave, blatantly ignoring the signs warning you of a stiff fine if you get caught. To my knowledge, no one has.*

Anne

*This web site disavows any responsibility and makes no representations on the legality or enforcement of such actions.

The Cheese Board's email:
Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year's to all, wishing everyone a prosperous and fulfilling 2006! The CheesebAR is making another appearance this coming Thursday, January 26th from 7:30-9:00 PM, this time we will be holding the event at our Pizzaria location at 1512 Shattuck Avenue. Bring friends and family and help us celebrate the New Year with a little cheese and wine!

New Year's Delight Cheese Selections:
Ewephoria(Sheep) Netherlands
Bleu de Basque (Sheep, Raw Milk) Pyrenees, France
Bethmale (Goat, Raw Mlik) Bethmale, France
Chatelain (Cow) Nomandie, France
Roncal (Sheep, Raw Milk) Pyrenees, France

New Year's Delight Featured Wines:
A. Scherer, Gewurztraminer 2003
Domain des Aubuisieres, Curve de Silex Vouvay 2004
Kurt Angerer, "kies" Gruner Veltuner 2004

We hope to see everyone this coming Thursday, January 26th (730-9 PM) @ the CheesebAR 1512 Shattuck Avenue.
Please come join us and...eat cheese...drink wine...enjoy music!

Wine and Cheese Bar event in Berkeley, California, Sept 29

The Cheese Board Collective here in Berkeley is having their second Wine and Cheese Bar on Thursday September 29 between 7 pm and 9 pm.

Here's the text from the email:

Hello Everyone,
The CheesebAR is back! Thank you to everyone who joined us for our first event in August, it was great to see such a warm response. We will be offering an enchanting selection of French cheeses along with an even more alluring selection of wine. Accompanying us for the night will also be Odile Levault, French chanteuse-accordionist and head mistress of the Parisian music band the Baguette Quartette. Our menu offering is posted on our website at www.cheeseboardcollective.com under CheeseBar.

We hope to see everyone this coming Thursday, Sept. 29th (7-9 PM) @ the CheesebAR.
Proceeds from wine sales will be donated to Katrina Hurricane Relief Efforts, so please come join us and...eat cheese...drink wine...enjoy music!

Wine Selection:
Individually [$2.50], Sample of 3 [$7.00], Glass [5.00]

Sweet Offering:
Candied Almond Vanilla Fig Tart

Connie, Ryan and I attended the event in August. We got our little bits of cheese, baguette, and olives. Seating was limited, as always, so we headed out to sit on the street divider, blithely ignoring the signs saying such an action was illegal. It's a true Berkeley experience.

At any rate, those of you who are local, I strongly suggest you attend this. I do confess, however, the cheese was not quite enough to make a meal, so we headed down to Popeye's later. Ahem.

Seattle Cheese Festival.

Let me just say, if you are in Seattle, you are so lucky. DeLaurenti of Seattle is putting together a cheese festival on May 14-15. Attendees will have the opportunity to attend several cheese seminars, including "The Art in Artisanal Cheese Making", "Raw milk vs. pasteurized milk: taste the difference", and a couple of cheese/ wine pairing classes.

This is a must-see event! Being a good 800 miles away, I don't think I will be able to make it. But check in with Oregon based Tami Parr of the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project.

Thanks to reader Connie Bennet for the tip!

Artisanal Masters Cheese Class

Artisanal Cheese is offering the master of all cheese classes! The classes, at $750 a person, is a crash course in cheese:

The Master Class is a 6 class study of cheese spread over 6 weeks, from milk types to cheese making, affinage to politics. Each week promises an invigorating discussion and extensive tasting of several cheeses, with time shared between the class room and the caves. This class is ideal for culinary students, food professionals and those who want to expand their knowledge of cheese.

The class is located in New York City, and is in May and June. Check out the Artisanal Cheese class website for more details and to register.

And if you do end up going, we'd love to hear about your experience!

Would you like some cheese with that wine?

Farmstead Cheeses and Wines in Alameda will be holding a couple of Cheese and Wine pairing classes on March 29 and 30 at 7:30 p.m. The class fee is $50 and includes samples and materials. For anyone who has ever been mystified by how to match wine cheese, I recommend taking this course. Hurry and sign up - class size is limited, and spots fill up fast. (510) 864 WINE.

Salon du Fromage

This bienniel Cheese and Dairy Produce Exhibition will take place at the Porte de Versailles, in Paris, on Sunday, February 20 through Wednesday, March 3. This event is a symposium of exhibits by formagiers and affineurs, a series of talks, and competitions.

There are details on the 2002 exhibit here:
Salon du Fromage.

Need I mention that I've seen advertised fares from NY to Paris for $299?

Farmstead Cheese Class

Farmstead Cheese and Wine is holding its first series of evening cheese classes in the Alameda Marketplace (1650 Park Street in Alameda). The February 9 session is already full, but if you act quickly, you may be able to get into the February 10 session. It's $25, and includes samples and materials. For more information, call Jeff or Carol at (510) 864-WINE.