Well, cheese fans, the year is off to a great start. A beloved French cheese—one of my favorites—has returned to the U.S. after a five-year absence. To be honest, I had given up hope of ever putting it on a cheese board again, but I hadn’t realized its very survival was in doubt. Now, thanks to some out-of-the-box thinking, this magnificent sheep cheese is on more secure footing and has a future.
Read moreOops. Missed One!
Sometimes it seems like my brain is at capacity. If a new cheese name goes in, another one gets pushed out. In last week’s post about great French Basque cheeses, I inadvertently omitted the newcomer that got me thinking about Pyrenees cheese in the first place. Former cheesemonger Steve Jones alerted me to Tomme per Diou, and there aren’t many cheese people I trust more. I can’t wait to share this raw-milk wheel in my classes (which reminds me: the 2024 World Cheese Tour class schedule is online) and to see more retailers stocking it.
Read moreBasque-ing in Glory
If you were limited to eating cheese from only one region (perish the thought), where would you choose? I’m going with the Pyrenees, preferably the French side. The cheeses we get from the Basque Country and neighboring Béarn are so consistently appealing that I don’t even think I would feel that deprived. Two new imports from the region make the choice even easier.
Read moreNew Beauty from Basque Country
Innovation isn’t a word I associate with Basque cheesemakers, but the sublime sheep’s-milk Arpea is reason to rethink that. Created about three years ago by the Fromagerie Agour, Arpea resembles no other Basque cheese I know. A small, semisoft disk from an area known almost exclusively for hard aged wheels, it represents new thinking in this tradition-bound region.
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