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Janet Fletcher

180 Stonecrest Dr
Napa, CA, 94558
(707) 265-0404
{ Janet Fletcher / Food Writer }

{ Janet Fletcher / Food Writer }

Janet Fletcher

  • Home
  • About
    • About Janet
    • Media
    • Client List
    • Contact
  • Planet Cheese
    • Planet Cheese Blog
    • Planet Cheese Signup
    • Cheese Library
  • Store
    • All Items
    • World Cheese Tour
    • Books
  • Classes
    • World Cheese Tour Classes
    • Other Classes & Events
    • Custom Class/Event Request
    • Cheese O'Clock Video Archive
  • Recipes
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Autumn
    • Winter
    • Comfort

Oops. Missed One!

November 7, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

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.

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In From: France, Milk: Goat Tags Tomme per Diou, Basque cheese, French goat cheese, raw milk cheese, raw milk goat cheese, French cheese, Pyrenees cheese, Béarn cheese
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Basque-ing in Glory

October 31, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

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.

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In From: France, From: Spain, Milk: Sheep Tags Basque cheese, Pays Basque, sheep cheese, Pyrenees cheese, Planet Cheese
6 Comments

Superstar New Cheeses from Europe

May 23, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

“How many cheeses do you have to eat to become a cheese expert?” someone asked me recently. As if there’s a checklist. I’m not counting, but I did add several remarkable new cheeses to my life list last week. I led a tasting of “New Arrivals from Europe,” including the beauty pictured above, and I was blown away by these newcomers.

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In From: France, From: Germany, From: Spain Tags Robiola, water buffalo cheese, Robiola Cavina, Nieve de Cabra, Red Casanova, Agour, Basque cheese, Ossau-Iraty, Opari, new cheeses
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Pass the Goat Cheese, Please

January 26, 2021 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 113 _DSC3048-Enhanced.jpg

It doesn’t happen as often as it used to, but I still get people telling me they don’t like goat cheese. Really? You’re writing off the whole vast category? I’m pretty sure these folks mean they don’t like tangy, chalky fresh chèvre that smells like a goat barn. I don’t either. But who wouldn’t fall for the two lovelies pictured here? Both are French, nutty, mellow, marvelous and made from goat’s milk, and we’ll be tasting one of them at Cheese O’Clock on February 18.

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In Milk: Goat, From: France Tags goat cheese, French cheese, Basque cheese, Cheese O’Clock, Somport, Bethmale
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Cheese Whisperer

June 18, 2019 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 200 _DSC8878.jpg

When I see the name Rodolph Le Meunier on a new cheese, it’s my signal to seek no further. That’s the cheese I want. Le Meunier is a cheese whisperer, uncovering little-known gems in. hidden corners of France and maturing young cheeses made by others. Some of the cheeses in his product line are exclusive to him, like this crusty wheel from the Pyrenees. To know it is to love it.

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In From: France, Milk: Goat, Milk: Sheep Tags Rodolph Le Meunier, French cheese, Basque cheese, Pyrenees, mixed-milk cheese, Cheese Shop of Carmel, Ossau-Iraty
4 Comments

Gone for Good?

March 13, 2018 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 58 _DSC3557.jpg

It felt like a death in the family. And I didn’t even get to say goodbye. Learning that I might never again taste Abbaye de Belloc, one of my favorite French cheeses, made me frustrated and angry. (What are those four stages of grief?) The Benedictine monks who make this lovely Basque sheep cheese have decided not to share with the U.S. any longer. Who can blame them? And, alas, they aren’t the only European cheesemakers to reach this decision.

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In From: France, Milk: Sheep Tags Abbaye de Belloc, Basque cheese, Secret de Compostelle, FDA and cheese, Ossau-Iraty, Agour, Petit Agour, Tomme Brulée, Pascal Beillevaire, Tomme de Fédou, World's Best Cheese, Food Matters Again
17 Comments

Secret No Longer

November 8, 2016 janet@janetfletcher.com
Secret-de-Compostelle

It would be impossible to name a favorite cheese, but a favorite style? That’s easy. Aged sheep’s milk cheeses---from anywhere—are the ones that disappear first at my house.  They get more savory as they mature, not sweeter, so they’re like salted peanuts to me. One bite and I need another. Good news for like minds: we have a new cheese to love.

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In Milk: Sheep, From: France, From: Spain Tags Basque cheese, Secret de Compostelle, Agour, Santiago de Compostela
6 Comments

New Beauty from Basque Country

September 27, 2016 janet@janetfletcher.com
Arpea

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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In Milk: Sheep, From: France Tags Basque cheese, Fromagerie Agour, Pyrenees cheese, Ossau-Iraty
12 Comments
 

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Welcome to my world: a fragrant, fascinating universe devoted to great cheese. In this and future Planet Cheese posts, you’ll find profiles of the world’s best cheeses plus insights into everything cheese: shops, recipes, interviews, pairing discoveries, classes, videos, travel. If you haven’t already done so, sign up here - it’s complimentary - and join me in learning something new about cheese every week.


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     Photographs: Douglas Fletcher, Ed Anderson, Megan Clouse, Faith Echtermeyer, Eva Kolenko,
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