If I were giving an award for “Most Likely to Succeed,” this Swiss beauty would be a contender. A relative newcomer, it has already taken root at cheese counters nationwide, and it’s a reliable audience favorite when I serve it in classes. Creamy, nutty and balanced, with alluring aromas, it’s a people-pleaser at an inviting price.
Read moreFondue Champion Tells All
I did not think I had much to learn about fondue until I spoke to Joe Salonia, a FonDuel champion. This friendly annual competition among people in the cheese business—mostly retailers and distributors—is the Olympics of melted cheese, with the public invited to taste and judge the entries. FonDuel took a pandemic pause last year, but Salonia has earned first and second place finishes in the past. (The latter result, he assures me, was “very close.”) With Valentine’s Day looming, it seemed like a good time to get some tips from a master on a dish that’s meant to be shared.
Read morePeak Season
If you enjoy Swiss mountain cheeses, get yourself to a shop in the next few weeks for some of the best cheese we get from Switzerland all year. Retailers across the country are just starting to receive wheels from the Alp they “adopted” several months ago, sight unseen. The eight-year-old Adopt-an-Alp [http://www.adopt-an-alp.com/learn#Abou] program links traditional Swiss cheesemakers—the kind who make cheese only in summer in remote high-elevation huts—with American merchants who want to support these practices. We consumers get to experience phenomenal raw-milk cheeses that hardly ever left their region before. Don’t procrastinate; these gems go fast.
Read moreCheese Takes a Beating
Maybe cheese wasn’t the first thing you thought about when President Trump announced a 30-day ban on flights from Europe last week. But cheese is, indeed, a victim. It won’t be getting on planes, either. All those lovely soft spring goat cheeses from the Loire Valley…fresh mozzarella and burrata from Campania…delicate robiolas from Piemonte…these cheeses and many others have effectively had their passports revoked. “Trump said it’s not going to affect cargo, but it doesn’t work that way,” says Stephanie Ciano of World’s Best Cheese, a major importer.
Read morePeak Experience
I should have known the creamy cheese at twelve o’clock would be the class favorite. Never bet against a triple-cream. This one was delightful, I agree, but I found more to love in the six aged cheeses that followed—all of them mountain cheeses from Europe, all made with raw milk and animal rennet. So much tradition and expertise represented on one plate!
Read moreBest Beer-Garden Cheese Plate
Why can’t we have Oktoberfest all year? I love those malty Oktoberfest brews, and they’re awesome with cheese. If you haven’t picked up a mixed six-pack to enjoy this month in your backyard beer garden, get on it. These once-a-year beers are always gone before the month is. And I have the perfect cheese plate to go with them.
Read moreNew Cheeses from Old Ways
The most persistent defenders of raw-milk cheese are, in my view, the cheesemakers of Switzerland. “They see pasteurizing milk as a risk,” says Joe Salonia, a U.S. marketer of fine cheeses from Switzerland. “Why would you do that? Why would you hurt the most precious part of your milk?” With Raw-Milk Cheese Appreciation Day approaching (on April 20), I’ve been thinking about why it’s so critical to defend the right of cheesemakers to work with raw milk. Making the argument for me are the phenomenal cheeses from Gourmino, a Swiss marketing co-op that represents exclusively raw-milk cheeses. You don’t need to know the name Gourmino, but you do need to know its cheeses.
Read moreEmbarrassment of Riches
A few years ago, I walked into Eataly, the Italian food mega-emporium in Manhattan, for lunch and became so overcome by all the choices that I left without eating. Lame, I know, but I’m starting to feel like that at some cheese counters, especially when it comes to Swiss cheeses. I have way too many number-one favorites. And matters just got worse. Jumi, a respected Swiss producer, has recently targeted the U.S. market, and the cheeses are landing. You need to know them: all raw milk, all sublime. Steel yourself for some hard choices.
Read moreTrivia But Not Trivial
I always learn so much from Pat Polowsky. This graduate student is half my age and twice as knowledgeable about cheese, especially if we’re talking chemistry. In that case, it’s more like a factor of ten. Ever wondered how salt gets to the middle of a wheel when it’s only applied to the outside? (You didn’t?) Did you think the crunch on the rind of Taleggio comes from salt? I did, but it doesn’t.
Read moreSheep Without Borders
And now for something completely different. Swiss producer. Raw sheep’s milk. Washed rind. I don’t know of any cheese that fits that description other than the one you’re about to meet. Oh, and the milk is organic and from French Basque sheep transported to the Swiss Alps. They don’t seem to mind: the views are great, and the shepherds speak French. The ewes quickly adapted, and the cheese made with their milk is one-of-a-kind.
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