Cheese enthusiasts are so easy to buy for. We love boards and platters, cheese books, accouterments and, of course, great cheese itself, especially if it’s something under the radar. I’ve gathered a half-dozen recommendations in this post and hope they solve at least some of your holiday gift dilemmas. You might want to stock up on a few of these items for housegifts throughout the year. After all, what cheese lover would prefer a supermarket bouquet over one of these?
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 moreIt’s a Cheese Marathon
One of these years, I’m going to take a clicker to the Winter Fancy Food Show so I can count exactly how many cheeses I sampled. Sixty? Seventy? My self-discipline melts like hot mozzarella at this three-day extravaganza. I’m looking for trends and the next big stars, so I soldier on. Eighty cheeses?
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Amid the endless jams, honeys, pickled fruits, syrups, crackers and other accompaniments for cheese at last week’s Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, these glamorous Italian mustard fruits (mostarda) stood out. Aren’t they lovely? If you are assembling a cheese board for a special occasion, consider investing in a jar. (They’re not cheap.) Or take a jar to a cheese enthusiast when you’re invited to dinner.
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