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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

Swiss With a Twist

October 21, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

I don’t quite get it, but not everyone loves the same cheeses I do. Those beefy, concentrated alpine cheeses I adore can strike some folks as over the top. “Too much flavor” is one critique I’ve heard but could never imagine saying myself. If you tend to like cheeses that show a bit more restraint, this Swiss beauty may be for you. It’s a little younger than many comparable mountain cheeses, and while I don’t find it remotely lacking in aroma or flavor, it’s not as in-your-face as some.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Swiss cheese, raw milk cheese, Jùscht, alpine cheese, Gourmino
8 Comments

Green for a Day

March 12, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

I’ll be planting potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day and probably wearing something green. Alas, no Irish cheese board for dinner. My favorite Irish wheels—Gubbeen, Durrus, Coolea—are too hard to find these days. Their high prices make them slow movers at American cheese counters. But green cheese? I can do that. I adore this creamy feta dip, green from pistachios, cilantro and dill. You’ve seen it here before but I’m reprising it as a nod to the holiday and the imminent arrival of spring. I’ve heard raves from readers who’ve made it and hope you’ll soon join that club.

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In Milk: Sheep, From: Greece Tags feta, feta pistachio dip, pistachios, pistachio recipes, St. Patrick’s Day appetizers, World Championship Cheese, Gourmino, Michael Spycher, Hornbacher
8 Comments

Bound for Glory

January 9, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

If I took my own advice, I probably wouldn’t have bought this cheese. Only after I brought it home and tried it did I notice a key piece of information on the store label. The packed-on date—when the wedge was cut and plastic-wrapped—was more than two weeks earlier. No wonder it tasted stale. Only when I scraped the cut sides did I find the nutty, roasted-onion aroma I was hoping for. Underneath that oxidized exterior was a glorious cheese, but I wouldn’t have found it without deeply shaving the surface.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Rockflower, Swiss cheese, raw milk cheese, Gourmino
8 Comments

The Unforgettables

December 20, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

It has been a pretty good year on the cheese beat, all things considered. Some shops are offering samples again. Importers are expanding shipments from Europe. And our domestic cheesemakers seem to have largely rebounded from their pandemic straits. Looking back on the year’s highlights for me, I compiled a short list of standouts—

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Tags best cheeses 2022, Pennyroyal Farm, Boont Corners. L’Étivaz, Fleur Soleil, Boxcarr Handmade Cheese, Rocket’s Robiola, Majorero, Enric Canut, Pavino, Roth Cheese, Tomme de Savoie, Hervé Mons, Gourmino, Ur-Eiche
4 Comments

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.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags World Cheese Awards, Gourmino, Le Gruyère AOP, Gruyère, raw-milk cheese, Swiss cheese, Emmentaler, Michael Spycher, Urs Leuenberger
10 Comments

Fondue Champion Tells All

February 9, 2021 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 133 _DSC3198.jpg

I did not think I had much to learn about fondue until I spoke to Joe Salonia, a FonDuel champion. This friendly annual competition among people in the cheese business—mostly retailers and distributors—is the Olympics of melted cheese, with the public invited to taste and judge the entries. FonDuel took a pandemic pause last year, but Salonia has earned first and second place finishes in the past. (The latter result, he assures me, was “very close.”) With Valentine’s Day looming, it seemed like a good time to get some tips from a master on a dish that’s meant to be shared.

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In Milk: Cow, From: Switzerland Tags fondue, Valentine’s Day recipes, Swiss cheese, melted cheese, raclette, Gourmino, FonDuel, Gruyère
6 Comments

Here We Go Again

March 9, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
Photo: Kral Photography

Photo: Kral Photography

For the second time, a team of expert judges has voted Michael Spycher’s Gruyère the World Champion Cheese. It’s a head-spinning achievement given the size of the field: 3,667 entries from around the world. If you think of Gruyère as an ordinary sandwich cheese sold in every supermarket—well, this ain’t that.

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Tags World Champion Cheese, Michael Spycher, Swiss cheese, raw milk cheese, Gruyère, Gourmino
Comment

New Cheeses from Old Ways

April 9, 2019 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 80 _DSC8326.jpg

The most persistent defenders of raw-milk cheese are, in my view, the cheesemakers of Switzerland. “They see pasteurizing milk as a risk,” says Joe Salonia, a U.S. marketer of fine cheeses from Switzerland. “Why would you do that? Why would you hurt the most precious part of your milk?” With Raw-Milk Cheese Appreciation Day approaching (on April 20), I’ve been thinking about why it’s so critical to defend the right of cheesemakers to work with raw milk. Making the argument for me are the phenomenal cheeses from Gourmino, a Swiss marketing co-op that represents exclusively raw-milk cheeses. You don’t need to know the name Gourmino, but you do need to know its cheeses.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Gourmino, raw-milk cheese, Raw Milk Cheese Appreciation Day, Hornbacher, Emmentaler
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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