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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

Grill This Cheese, Please

July 28, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

Receiving a new sheep cheese wrapped in grape leaves was all the excuse I needed to fire up the Green Egg. But receiving cooking instructions from the cheesemaker made the decision inevitable. “I recommend grilling it for 5 to 6 minutes, until it gives when you pick it up with tongs,” says the maker. “I love grilling peaches with it.”

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In From: U.S., Milk: Goat, Milk: Sheep Tags grilled cheese, sheep cheese, fresh cheese, grapeleaf wrapped cheese, Blakeville Creamery, Wisconsin cheese, Veronica Pedraza
6 Comments

Buzziest Creamery in America

May 9, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

Top: Linedeline (left) and Shabby Shoe; bottom (l to r): Sunny Ridge, Afterglow and St. Germain

In last week’s post, I polled retailers around the country about their favorite new American cheeses. Laura Downey, who owns the Greenwich Cheese Shop and Fairfield Cheese Shop in Connecticut, replied immediately. “Veronica Pedraza is making some of the best cheese in the U.S. at the moment,” wrote Downey. Wow. I’ve written about Pedraza before but not since her latest career move: to a new goat farm and creamery in Wisconsin, where she has creative freedom and an employer with deep pockets. Time for an update on this rock-star cheesemaker and what seems like the “buzziest” creamery in America.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Goat Tags Blakesville Creamery, Wisconsin cheese, goat cheese, American goat cheese, chèvre, Veronica Pedraza, Lynde Uihlein, Shabby Shoe
18 Comments

The Salad You’re Missing

November 15, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

If you have room for one more dish on your Thanksgiving table, I nominate this one. A crunchy, colorful salad is often what’s missing on the menu, a contrast to all the rich, creamy, brown food that Thanksgiving is usually about. As we know, but sometimes forget, the holiday is a harvest celebration (although where I grew up, in Dallas, it was more about football). A salad with persimmons, radicchio, grapes and walnuts is autumn in a bowl, and of course a few nuggets of blue cheese will only improve it.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Buttermilk Blue, Roth cheese, Wisconsin cheese, Thanksgiving salad, Point Reyes Original Blue, Rogue Creamery Oregon Blue
17 Comments

Give That Cheese a Bath

August 30, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Mozzarella and Tomato Salad

Mozzarella is a flavor sponge. It readily soaks up good stuff like extra virgin olive oil and garlic, so why not give it a little bath on Labor Day? Ciliegine, the cherry-size balls, are perfect for marinating. They’re bite sized, you can serve them whole so they don’t release whey, and it doesn’t take long to infuse them with seasonings. (Say chili-eh-GEE-neh.) I add dried oregano, parsley, Aleppo pepper and capers, but you do you. Taken to a potluck or at your own backyard barbecue, these juicy, garlicky one-bite wonders will vanish before the burgers are done.

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In From: Italy, From: U.S., Milk: Cow, Milk: Water Buffalo Tags mozzarella, ciliegine, marinated cheese, Crave Brothers, Wisconsin cheese, American Cheese Society, Labor Day recipes, antipasto
10 Comments

All Aboard for Cheeselandia

March 22, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Glacier Penta Crème

If you want a break from current events, imagine a peaceful nation whose citizens just want to get along, make friends and eat cheese. Such a place exists, if you can believe it, and it’s called Cheeselandia. I just learned about it and I have a passport already. If you like Wisconsin cheese, or at least want to know more about it, the border patrol will let you in.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Wisconsin cheese, Cheeselandia, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, cheese board, blue cheese, Carr Valley Cheese, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Landmark Creamery, Hook’s Cheese, LaClare Farms
Comment

Gruyère Fights Back

January 18, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

Switzerland’s most famous cheese took it on the chin recently when a U.S. judge ruled that Gruyère is generic. American dairies have made Gruyère for years, he reasoned, so how can the Swiss claim the cheese is theirs? “The factual record makes it abundantly clear,” the judge wrote, that American consumers think of Gruyère as a type of cheese, not a product from a specific place. The Swiss will appeal, so the matter isn’t settled, but it’s a setback for those who believe we should respect European names like Asiago and Fontina. I wondered how the ruling was going down with people who sell both imported and domestic cheese.

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In From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow Tags Swiss cheese, Gruyère, World’s Best Cheese, Rainbow Grocery, Wisconsin cheese, PDO
34 Comments

Sticker Shock in a Good Way

January 4, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com

We’re all experiencing sticker shock at the grocery store these days. Prices are nuts. Plus, we have December to pay for. So it’s a good time to prowl the cheese counter for selections that over-deliver for the price. Bargains do exist, and here are three that you ought to find easily. I’m so grateful to these producers for making cheese that we can enjoy and afford.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags cheese bargains, Wisconsin cheese, Emmi Roth, Pavino, Roth Cellars
3 Comments

Cheese by the Numbers

February 18, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
Wisconsin banner.jpg

The numbers are in and they’re not pretty. Wisconsin lost a record number of dairy farms last year. More than 800 farms folded. More than 2,700 have called it quits in the past five years.

How does this happen when artisan cheese consumption is booming? And what does it mean for all those amazing Wisconsin cheeses we love? For insights, I turned to a couple of Wisconsin’s most respected cheesemakers: Andy Hatch of Uplands Cheese Company, a farmstead producer of Pleasant Ridge Reserve and Rush Creek Reserve; and Bob Wills of Cedar Grove Cheese, who buys milk from more than 30 Wisconsin farms. This post is longer than usual, but these gentlemen had a lot to say and we need to hear it.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Wisconsin cheese, Wisconsin dairy farms, dairy farms closing, American dairy farms, loss of dairy farms
8 Comments

Ultimate Holiday Cheeses

December 3, 2019 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 15 IMG_1343.jpg

Want to guess which of these beauties was the hands-down favorite in my recent class on holiday cheeses? The top vote-getter didn’t surprise me, although (lovely as it was) I didn’t vote for it. I selected most of these cheeses because they’re only or primarily available now, during the run-up to the holidays; others made the cut because they are party-worthy for other reasons. People expect Cheddar and Stilton on a holiday buffet. Shake things up with one or more of these showstoppers.

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Tags Stilton, Stichelton, triple-cream cheese, Camembert, Landmark Creamery, Rodolph le Meunier, Betty Koster, L’Amuse, Brabander, Black Betty, Schnebelhorn, Swiss cheese, Wisconsin cheese, French cheese, Rush Creek Reserve
2 Comments

Top Five States for Cheese

April 30, 2019 janet@janetfletcher.com
Left to right: Bellwether Farms Pepato, Roth Grand Cru, Von Trapp Oma

Left to right: Bellwether Farms Pepato, Roth Grand Cru, Von Trapp Oma

Can you name America’s top five milk-producing states by volume? Let me help you: California, Wisconsin, New York, Idaho and Texas. Are these also the top five states for artisan cheese? Not if you ask me. Considering not only the quality of what’s produced in the state but also how enlightened its retailers are, I’ve compiled a different list. See if you agree with me.

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In From: U.S. Tags Vermont cheese, New York cheese, California cheese, Wisconsin cheese, Oregon cheese, American cheese, dairy states, American dairy, artisan cheese
11 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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