The Cheeses to Beat

November 9, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

Cheeses from Gourmino — Gourmino board: (l to r) Ur-Eiche, Emmentaler AOP, Bleu de Combremont, Le Gruyère AOP

The wins just keep coming for Gourmino. This Swiss marketing co-op has 13 cheesemaker members who seem to have a lock on the top prize at major international competitions. Last week, a Gourmino Gruyère prevailed at the World Cheese Awards in Wales, besting 4,433 entries. Earlier this year, a Gourmino Gruyère from cheesemaker Michael Spycher was named World Champion Cheese —for the third time. I can’t overstate how remarkable that is.

Oozy Does It

October 25, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

With November around the corner, we’re entering the ooey-gooey season. Fall is prime time for those unctuous, bark-wrapped cheeses that spread like buttercream frosting, and this year we have a new one to celebrate. It took more than three years to get this beauty through R&D. Turns out the style presents all sorts of hurdles.

Perfect Cheese at a Price to Like

October 11, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

Given the eye-popping prices at the cheese counter these days, the bargains stand out even more. Some (not all) of the selections selling for $35 to $40 a pound are fabulous, but none of them is better than the beauty pictured above. I paid $19.99 a pound for this charmer, a raw-milk wheel made in Switzerland by a single family with milk from their neighbors. I’ve admired this cheese for a long time, but these days I’m blown away by the astonishing quality for the price.

British Cheddar Goes Green

September 13, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

The world’s first carbon-neutral Cheddar is landing in U.S. stores this month, just in time for your first autumn cheese board. It’s made in the English county of Somerset, where most of the best British Cheddars originate. If you’ll be watching the funeral ceremonies for Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, you might want a little British snack for the occasion. Alas, this new arrival is not the Cheddar that holds the Royal Warrant —we don’t get that one in the U.S.—but it’s easy to love and from a producer with big environmental goals.

Give That Cheese a Bath

August 30, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

Mozzarella is a flavor sponge. It readily soaks up good stuff like extra virgin olive oil and garlic, so why not give it a little bath on Labor Day? Ciliegine, the cherry-size balls, are perfect for marinating. They’re bite sized, you can serve them whole so they don’t release whey, and it doesn’t take long to infuse them with seasonings. (Say chili-eh-GEE-neh.) I add dried oregano, parsley, Aleppo pepper and capers, but you do you. Taken to a potluck or at your own backyard barbecue, these juicy, garlicky one-bite wonders will vanish before the burgers are done.

Take the Cannoli Ice Cream

August 9, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

I only recently learned that the most famous lines in The Godfather (“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”) were not in the script. Actor Richard Castellano ad-libbed them. Movie critics have debated the meaning, but to me it’s obvious. What kind of Italian-American would leave cannoli behind, even fleeing a crime scene?

The Magic Touch of Hervé Mons

July 5, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

After years of disappointing encounters, I stopped buying Camembert and Tomme de Savoie. The French Camembert sold in the U.S. always tasted lifeless to me. The Tomme was often stale or cardboardy. My wonderful taste memories from France did not jibe with the sorry specimens I was finding at American cheese counters. But then came Mons. Thanks to French affineur Hervé Mons and his team, we’re getting superb versions of these two classic cheeses, and others as well. In anticipation of Bastille Day, I assembled an all-Mons cheese board. So much deliciousness on one tray! Then I reached out to Fromagerie Mons to see if they could explain his magic touch.

Four-Star Farmer Cheese

May 31, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

I hadn’t thought of farmer cheese as craveable, the sort of cheese you keep devouring after you’ve clearly had enough, but that’s before I met this one. “Six of us inhaled essentially the whole pound with honey and toasted walnuts,” a friend texted me. “I am obsessed.” And now I’m in the cult, too. Farmer cheese this tasty would make an awesome bagel schmear, but it really deserves to be the center of attention.

Top-Value Cheeses for Tight Times

May 24, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

Cheese board with great-value cheeses — Left to right: Piave Vecchio, Taleggio, La Dama Sagrada, Point Reyes Toma, Bleu d’Auvergne

Seems like everything’s going up but the stock market. My neighborhood bakery just hiked the price of my favorite loaf by 33 percent. Ouch. That’s serious inflation. Cheese is hardly immune, and the stresses in the grain market guarantee more sticker shock to come. We cheese lovers just have to shop smarter. The values are out there. I’ve rounded up a few well-priced favorites for these inflationary times. There aren’t many cheeses that make me think “Is that all?” when I see what I’ve spent, but these dozen do.

Robiola Rave

May 10, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

Wow. Just wow. I am so impressed with this cheese. I tasted it when it first debuted about five years ago, but it is off-the-charts delicious now. Did I change or did the cheese? “It’s the same recipe,” says the cheesemaker, “but we have some really awesome milk now.” Hugely aromatic, supple and beautiful to boot. Put this on your summer cheese boards and wait for the raves.