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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

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Keep Your Eyes on These Five

July 18, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

The American Cheese Society’s 40th conference is underway this week in Des Moines, with nonstop tastings and educational sessions and—always a highlight—the awards ceremony for the competition winners. I’ll report next week on the victors, but I’m betting on five newish creameries, in particular, to bring home some ribbons. Four of the five have been making cheese for less than 10 years and the fifth is only a year older. With their consistently top-notch output, these newcomers give me hope for the future of American artisan cheesemaking.

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Tags Face Rock Creamery, Stepladder Creamery, Pennyroyal Farm, Mystic Cheese, Goat Rodeo Farm, American cheese, American Cheese Society
4 Comments

Better When Shared

February 1, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Valentine's Day Cheese Board

My husband, Doug, and I have shared a cheese board most nights of our married life—which is to say, for almost 38 years. It’s rarely elaborate—sometimes it’s just a wedge of cheese—but I’m convinced that the ritual has contributed to the success of our marriage. Sharing a cheese board is an excuse to slow down, pour another glass of wine and tell another story from our day. This Valentine’s Day, if you’re staying at home, you can test my theory. For this appetizer board, I’ve warmed a little goat cheese crottin (Vermont Creamery Bijou) and surrounded it with some favorite savory nibbles.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Goat Tags Valentine’s Day cheese board; cheese board; Vermont Creamery; Bijou; taralli; goat cheese; crottin, Brad Sinko, Face Rock Creamery, Beecher’s
10 Comments

Cheese for the Win

June 11, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
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Everyone I talk to seems at loose ends right now. What’s the right thing to think, say, feel, do when your country is experiencing an emotional earthquake? Cheese seems trivial, perhaps, but to dairy farmers and cheesemakers it is not. It’s a livelihood. It’s the future for their land, their livestock, their families.

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In From: U.S. Tags Victory Cheese, World Central Kitchen, igourmet, Beehive Cheese, Jasper Hill Farm, FireFly Farm, Tulip Tree Creamery, Haystack Mountain Cheese, Valley Ford Cheese, Spring Brook Farm, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese, Central Coast Creamery, Vella Cheese Company, Shepherd’s Way Farms, LaClare Family Farm, Shooting Star Creamery, Milton Creamery, Goat Lady Dairy, Sweet Grass Dairy, Capriole Goat Cheese, Meadow Creek Dairy, 5 Spoke Creamery, Cascadia Creamery, Marieke Gouda, Grafton Village, Face Rock Creamery, Pennyroyal Farm, Maytag Blue, Nicasio Valley Cheese
15 Comments

Us Versus Them

January 15, 2019 janet@janetfletcher.com
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Most of the time, I aim to create a balanced cheese board for guests. Something fresh with something aged. A creamy cheese and a firm one. A range of flavors from mild to strong. Cow, goat and sheep. But sometimes I take a page from the wine world. Wine people love comparative tastings. My first date with my winemaker husband was a dinner party and wine tasting, with Pinots from around the world tasted blind. (Nobody nailed them.) A cheese course featuring the same style from two or three different producers can be illuminating, or at least get a conversation going.

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Tags Jasper Hill, Moses Sleeper, Camembert, Herve Mons, Bleu Mont Cheddar, Face Rock Creamery, Westcombe Cheddar, Central Coast Creamery, Shepherd’s Way, Ossau-Iraty, cheese tasting, comparative tasting
8 Comments

Not Your Father’s Cheddar

September 26, 2017 janet@janetfletcher.com
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Autumn, finally. Bring on the Cheddar. But which one? I’ve been noticing something peculiar about Cheddars lately—American Cheddars, especially, but some imports as well. The tang is gone, or muted. In its place: nutty and fruity aromas and a sweet, mellow finish.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Cheddar, Neville McNaughton, Gordon Edgar, Prairie Breeze, Cabot Creamery, Beecher’s, Face Rock Creamery, Tillamook, Cottonwood River Cheddar, Cougar Gold
8 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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