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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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    • About Janet
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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

Hauntingly Good

September 17, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com
Old Witch Swiss Cheese

When I lose cheeses in the back of my fridge, they rarely emerge the better for it. Once or twice, I’ve unintentionally improved an uncut wheel by forgetting I had it, but I generally prefer to leave the aging to the experts. Even they can be surprised by what happens. The Swiss cheese pictured above was a happy accident. Wheels misplaced in the creamery’s cellar and discovered months later had evolved in spectacular fashion. The cheese didn’t get dryer, as one would have expected. It got creamier.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Red Witch, Old Witch, Swiss cheese, raw milk cheese
4 Comments

What Perfect Tastes Like

February 12, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

Apart from their mutual fabulousness, these two cheeses don’t have much in common. One is German, the other Swiss. One is creamy, one is firm. The German cheese is a new creation, the other a venerable classic, from centuries-old methods that hardly budge. But both are examples of masterful cheesemaking, standard bearers for their style. Tasting the greats is how you develop your palate, so I hope you’ll seek out one or both of these impressive imports.

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Tags Red Casanova, Gruyère 1655, German cheese, Swiss cheese, Market Hall Foods, raw milk cheese
12 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

Triple Yikes

February 7, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com
Swiss Triple Cream Cheese

Beyond how it tastes, which is fabulous, I have a few things to say about this little beauty. It’s perfectly sized to share on Valentine’s Day, so there’s that. It’s definitely a contender for my favorite triple-cream cheese. In its country of origin, it’s a style maverick and you have to admire that. But then there’s the little matter of the price.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Swiss cheese, triple cream cheese, triple crème cheese, Moser Screamer
16 Comments

Curl Up with This Cheese

December 27, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

The ruffles are eye-catching but you don’t need a special scraper to appreciate Tête de Moine. It’s a delightful cheese even when not curled into frilly rosettes. That said, I’m going to treat myself to a girolle—the shaving device—one of these days because, well, what a conversation stopper. The girolle’s Swiss inventor died four years ago, at 91, aware that his clever tool had sent sales of Tête de Moine soaring. Annual production is now 150 times what it was when his girolle debuted in 1982. I just listened to an old interview with the inventor and was charmed to hear about his lightbulb moment and be reminded of how good this cheese is.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Tête de Moine, Swiss cheese, raw-milk cheese, Nicolas Crevoisier, girolle
6 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

Perfect Cheese at a Price to Like

October 11, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Le Maréchal a good value Swiss cheese

Given the eye-popping prices at the cheese counter these days, the bargains stand out even more. Some (not all) of the selections selling for $35 to $40 a pound are fabulous, but none of them is better than the beauty pictured above. I paid $19.99 a pound for this charmer, a raw-milk wheel made in Switzerland by a single family with milk from their neighbors. I’ve admired this cheese for a long time, but these days I’m blown away by the astonishing quality for the price.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Swiss cheese, raw milk cheese, Le Maréchal, Whole Foods, Cathy Strange
17 Comments

Best Cheese You Don’t Know

March 1, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

Maybe you know this exceptional Swiss cheese, but probably you don’t. I rarely see it at retail counters. It doesn’t get much press. Yet it’s a benchmark cheese, in my view, made by ultra-traditional methods that are vanishing. Even in the rarefied world of Swiss alpine cheesemaking, it stands out for the stringent rules that govern its production. My favorite book on Switzerland’s cheeses, Swiss Cheese by Dominik Flammer and Fabian Scheffold, calls it “the most aboriginal of all Alpine cheeses.”

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Swiss cheese, L’Etivaz, alpine cheese, alpage, raw milk, raw milk cheese
14 Comments

Raclette Your Way

February 7, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Raclette with Jasper Hill Highlander

When I asked Swiss cheese importer Caroline Hostettler whether she ate raclette as a child in Switzerland, she had no trouble resurrecting a memory. “Everyone had raclette machines at home but us,” recalled Hostettler, sounding still a bit aggrieved several decades later. Her mother refused to make it (she preferred fondue), so the annual raclette at an aunt’s house was the highlight of the year. Hostettler still remembers being almost overcome with excitement.

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In From: U.S., From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow, Milk: Goat Tags raclette, Swiss cheese, Vermont cheese, Jasper Hill Farm, Highlander, Caroline Hostettler, raclette machine
4 Comments
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