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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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    • World Cheese Tour Classes
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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

Bumpy Ride for Cheese Imports

August 11, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 79 _DSC1787.jpg

Six months into this horrid pandemic and we still can’t plan for the future. Will we be able to gather for Thanksgiving? Will we have holiday parties? For me, these aren’t top-of-mind questions, but if you’re a cheesemaker, you need to guess, now, what people are going to want two or three months from now. The usual customer buying patterns have been completely upended. Montenebro (above), the fabulous Spanish goat cheese, is in short supply because the cheesemaker slashed production two months ago. Iffy flight schedules still plague air-freighted cheeses from Europe.

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Tags imported cheese, coronavirus and cheese, Montenebro, French cheese, Spanish cheese, Italian cheese, Victory Cheese, Forever Cheese, World’s Best Cheese, Aniata Cheese
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Cheese Takes a Beating

March 16, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
Travel woes: (clockwise from upper left) Camembert au Calvados; Clochette; Burrata; French ashed cheeses

Travel woes: (clockwise from upper left) Camembert au Calvados; Clochette; Burrata; French ashed cheeses

Maybe cheese wasn’t the first thing you thought about when President Trump announced a 30-day ban on flights from Europe last week. But cheese is, indeed, a victim. It won’t be getting on planes, either. All those lovely soft spring goat cheeses from the Loire Valley…fresh mozzarella and burrata from Campania…delicate robiolas from Piemonte…these cheeses and many others have effectively had their passports revoked. “Trump said it’s not going to affect cargo, but it doesn’t work that way,” says Stephanie Ciano of World’s Best Cheese, a major importer.

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In From: France, From: Germany, From: Holland, From: Ireland, From: Italy, From: Portugal, From: Spain, From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow, Milk: Goat, Milk: Sheep, Milk: Water Buffalo, From: Britain, From: Austria Tags Coronavirus, cheese imports, flight ban, imported cheese, cheese importer, World’s Best Cheese, Fresca Italia
7 Comments

From Ashes to Ashes

April 3, 2018 janet@janetfletcher.com
Persillé de Rambouillet

Persillé de Rambouillet

Here we go again. Last week, the FDA detained a shipment of goat cheese from French producer Fromagerie Jacquin, declaring that the ash coating was not a permitted colorant. This ash, made by carbonizing vegetable matter, is what makes the dark ribbon in Morbier and the inky cloak on the Loire Valley’s famous Sainte-Maure and Valençay, which the French have been savoring since the days of Napoleon.

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Tags World’s Best Cheese, Valençay, FDA and cheese, cheese and ash, ashed cheese, GRAS, American Cheese Society
14 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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