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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
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    • 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

Build a Better Bagel

March 19, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com
Snøfrisk on bagel with smoked salmon

Spring = fresh cheese. At least that’s the math at my house. Light, fluffy, spreadable cheese to drizzle with honey or top with chives. It’s what I want on a bagel instead of gummy, clingy cream cheese. It’s what I want on bruschetta topped with roasted asparagus. Now that spring is official, consider exploring some of the fresh cheese options where you shop. Spread the cheese on crostini, top with a drizzle of peppery olive oil and a sprinkle of dukkah—the perfect accompaniment for all the new rosés that are headed our way. Being in a spring frame of mind, I’ve gathered a half-dozen of my favorite schmear-worthy cheeses to inspire you.

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Tags cream cheese, fresh cheese, bagels, schmear, spring cheese, Green Dirt Farm, Snøfrisk, Madame Loïk, Bellwether Farms, Shepherd’s Way Farms
16 Comments

Summer of Chèvre

June 28, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Summer of Chèvre

A creamy goat cheese coated with sweet paprika, shallots and garlic, Fleur Soleil is my new summer crush. With a bottle of rosé, a fresh baguette and a salad, there’s lunch. Or dinner. Or a picnic. I could eat this dreamy cheese all day long. The texture is almost fluffy, and the seasoning is bold but not overdone. Just in time to pair with summer tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.

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In From: France, Milk: Goat Tags goat cheese, chèvre, Fleur Soleil, fresh cheese, French cheese, summer cheese, rosé and cheese, cheese and rosé, Chèvrefeuille
12 Comments

Fresh Sheep Cheese is Rye Bread Ready

April 26, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Fresh sheep cheese on rye bread

With May on the horizon, it’s prime time for fresh sheep cheese. The ewes are back on the job after some winter R&R and they are giving their all right now. To manage the surge of spring milk, a few creameries produce a soft, rindless, spreadable sheep cheese that I vastly prefer to fresh chèvre. This category hardly existed a decade ago. Now your favorite cheese counter should have (or can get) at least one of these lovelies. Slathered on whole-grain toast, stuffed in pasta, dolloped on pizza…what an endlessly useful cheese.

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In Milk: Sheep Tags sheep cheese, toast, fresh cheese, American cheese, Bellwether Farms, Green Dirt Farm, Hidden Springs Creamery, Shepherds Way Farm, Nettle Meadow, Icelandic rye bread, rye bread, rúgbrauð
6 Comments

Pandemic’s Silver Lining

May 17, 2021 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 41 _DSC4169.jpg

There aren’t many silver linings to this pandemic but here’s one: it spurred the development of a new fresh sheep cheese from Bellwether Farms. With restaurant sales of its aged cheeses plummeting—from 300 wheels a week to five—the California creamery ramped up its plan to launch a sheep’s milk version of fresh chèvre. Just a few days old when released, this dreamy toast-ready cheese is what pandemic-weary consumers want now, says Callahan. I’m loving it on crostini with carrots and dukkah.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Sheep Tags Bellwether Farms, crostini, sheep cheese, American Cheese Month, chèvre, California cheese, fresh cheese, Cakebread Cellars
2 Comments

Petite Treat

March 16, 2021 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 191 _DSC3889.jpg

The oldest cheese in America also happens to be one of the youngest. The fresh little guy pictured here is only three to four days old when packaged, but the creamery has been making it since 1865. Correct me if you know better, but I don’t believe any domestic cheese has been in commercial production longer. More to the point, it’s delicious: moist, mild and milky, the perfect segue to spring.

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In Milk: Cow, From: U.S. Tags Marin French Cheese, California cheese, spring cheese, fresh cheese
14 Comments

Happier Happy Hours

May 11, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 33 _DSC1218.jpg

Are you doing as many virtual Happy Hours as I am? I’m enjoying how easy it is to “meet” friends for a drink, but the bar menu is pitiful. My husband and I hoarded pistachios when this madness got started, but I’m getting a little bored with them. Knowing how desperate our cheesemakers are to sell their fresh cheeses, I decided to challenge myself to make some bar bites with ingredients on hand. I did have to purchase the cheese, but all the toppings were foraged from the fridge, garden and pantry. You can do this.

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In From: U.S. Tags American cheese, fresh cheese, happy hour, bruschetta, crostini, toast, Nicasio Valley, Cheese O’Clock, Laura Werlin
4 Comments

Get Fresh with Me

March 19, 2019 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 35 WineInstituteCookbook_FavaBeanToast_                                65715.jpg

Spring. Not a moment too soon. I’m dreaming of fresh cheese and fava beans, those first-of-the-season moist favas that hardly need cooking. I slather the cheese on toast and spoon the warm favas on top. Herbs of choice. As long as favas are in season, this is the go-to app at my house. (Asparagus works, too). The recipe is from my beautiful new book, Wine Country Kitchen.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Goat, Milk: Cow, Milk: Sheep Tags Wine Country Kitchen, fresh cheese, ricotta, fromage blanc, cottage cheese, lebneh
6 Comments

Pass the Lox, Please

May 16, 2017 janet@janetfletcher.com
SheepCheese&Lox

Fresh, spreadable goat cheeses are a dime a dozen. But a little tub of lemony sheep cheese that tastes like the most delicate cream cheese ever? Well, that’s something to get excited about. With Danish rye and radishes…or bagels and lox…you will quickly be scraping the bottom of the tub.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Sheep Tags cream cheese, fresh cheese, Green Dirt Farm, Sarah Hoffman, John Spertus
6 Comments

Now I’m Blushing

March 28, 2017 janet@janetfletcher.com
rose&cheese

Hooray for spring. Fresh green grass, fresh cheese and, best of all, fresh rosé. It’s not even April and here come the pink wines. Someone, take my wallet. The rosés I love, like Bodegas Muga, I stockpile and drink like water. I know I cook better with a glass of rosé, and my French improves, too. Tentez le coup. (Try it.) Put some pink wine in an ice bucket, slice a baguette and set out some olives. May I recommend a few cheeses with that?

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow, Milk: Goat Tags rosé, rose, rosado, Bodegas Muga, Spanish wine, fresh cheese, chevre, Andante Dairy
18 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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