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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

New Year, New Artisan Cheese

January 13, 2025 janet@janetfletcher.com

Getting the year off to a promising start, this new cheese makes me hopeful that America’s small dairy farms can find a way forward. We are losing these enterprises at an alarming rate—down 95 percent since the 1970s. Is that trend line irreversible, or are there viable models for young people who want to milk cows and make cheese?

Read more
In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Stony Pond Farm, Vermont cheese, Vermont travel, Swallow Tail Tomme, raw milk cheese, rotational grazing
5 Comments

New Blue for the Holidaze

November 12, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

A debut from Jasper Hill Farm is always newsworthy on Planet Cheese, but this recently launched blue could be a supernova. The Whole Foods monger who alerted me to it called it “lovely to say the least” and cradled the package in her arms like a baby. Even my husband enjoyed it, which, when it comes to blue cheese, is not a bet I ever make. It’s fruity, winey and moist, with an offbeat shape and novel packaging. Everything about this Vermont newcomer screams “holiday cheese boards.”

Read more
In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Withersbrook Blue, raw milk cheese, Eden ice cider, Jasper Hill Farm, blue cheese, American blue cheese, raw milk blue cheese, Vermont cheese
8 Comments

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.

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

Keeping it Raw

October 8, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

No longer raw: Buttermilk Blue from Roth Cheese

International Raw Milk Cheese Appreciation Day is Saturday, October 19. But as our former President might say, “So what?” If nothing else, the occasion is a reminder that the freedom to make and sell raw-milk cheese is not guaranteed. This election year, especially, we’re hyper-aware that laws can change and restrict or retract rights we’ve had forever.

Read more
Tags raw milk cheese, raw milk, Slow Food, Camembert de Normandie, Rogue Creamery, American Cheese Society, Raw Milk Cheese Appreciation Day
10 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.

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

Playing Favorites

August 17, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

Recently I did a presentation on West Coast cheeses for a group of visiting chefs from Asia. After a guided tasting of the dozen cheeses I had selected, they had questions. The only one that stumped me was, “What’s your favorite West Coast creamery?” I didn’t have a ready answer but, in thinking about it afterward, one producer did keep coming to mind for its back story, its values and the consistent high quality of its cheeses. I could never name the favorite among the many worthy creameries on the Left Coast, but Cascadia Creamery is definitely on the short list.

Read more
In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Cascadia Creamery, West Coast cheeses, Washington cheeses, raw milk cheese, washed-rind cheese, Trout Lake
11 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

Oops. Missed One!

November 7, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

Sometimes it seems like my brain is at capacity. If a new cheese name goes in, another one gets pushed out. In last week’s post about great French Basque cheeses, I inadvertently omitted the newcomer that got me thinking about Pyrenees cheese in the first place. Former cheesemonger Steve Jones alerted me to Tomme per Diou, and there aren’t many cheese people I trust more. I can’t wait to share this raw-milk wheel in my classes (which reminds me: the 2024 World Cheese Tour class schedule is online) and to see more retailers stocking it.

Read more
In From: France, Milk: Goat Tags Tomme per Diou, Basque cheese, French goat cheese, raw milk cheese, raw milk goat cheese, French cheese, Pyrenees cheese, Béarn cheese
Comment

What Tradition Tastes Like

September 5, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com
El Abuelo Ruperto - sheep cheese from Murcia

It’s possible today to make commercial cheese that hands never touch. Milk is trucked to the plant and goes in one end of the production line and packaged cheese comes out the other. How dreary is that?

The cheeses I write about aren’t made like that, but they aren’t often made by old-time methods either—on a farm, from the raw milk of the family’s flock, with hands cutting the curd and flipping the wheels and humans making decisions at every step. The exceptional new Spanish cheese pictured above is an example of the distinction a cheese can achieve when made the hands-on, purist way.

Read more
In From: Spain, Milk: Sheep Tags sheep cheese, Quesos Ruperto, El Abuelo Ruperto, Forever Cheese, Lacaune sheep, Spanish cheese, Spanish sheep cheese, raw milk cheese
2 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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