Don’t you love it when you can do good by buying something you were going to buy anyway? Until the end of the year, the Whole Planet Foundation is donating a portion of its sales of Good Culture cottage cheese to fund microloans to entrepreneurs in impoverished communities around the globe. I had already fallen for this creamy cultured cottage cheese, but now I love it more.
Read moreFree Cheese Classes, Anyone?
Pour yourself a glass of wine, find a comfortable chair and join me for a deep dive into the world of cheese. Earlier this year, I wrote and narrated 10 lectures on cheese for Audible, and they have just been released. For now, you can download them at no cost and learn something new while you’re driving or on a long walk. Cultured: The Epic Story of Cheese delves into cheese history, cheesemaking, cheese styles, flavor and more. About five hours of delicious and, I hope, entertaining listening, which you should preferably undertake with a cheese board nearby.
Read moreChange It Up with Cheesy Bread Pudding
Of course I like cornbread dressing with roast turkey. What native Texan doesn’t? But I like this focaccia bread pudding more. The focaccia soaks up most of the custard, so it’s soft in the center but crunchy on top. I add sauteed leeks and wild mushrooms (crimini work fine) and a generous sprinkle of herbes de Provence. Creamy nuggets of goat cheese fill in the gaps. If you’re open to a newcomer on your Thanksgiving table, I hope you’ll give this luscious side dish a try.
Read moreOnly in America
Several years ago, a colleague came for dinner and brought me a seven-year-old cheese in a can. Do you say “thank you” for what seems like a gag gift? Was she suggesting that I might actually enjoy a cheese that’s packed in a tin like cheap tuna? Well, I did. And you will. If you want this uniquely American cheese for your Thanksgiving table, don’t delay. The shipping charge just dropped for most of the country, and the supply will sell out soon.
Read morePerfect Ploughman’s Lunch
I haven’t been in a pub in 18 months and am getting cranky about it. I want to sit at a counter and have someone serve me a beer. Maybe after my booster shot. In the meantime, I brought the pub to me. I had a nice wedge of Keen’s Cheddar (found it at Whole Foods) in the fridge and a fresh loaf of pain au levain. A neighbor had dropped off some heirloom eggs from her “girls.” And my husband’s latest batch of red onion pickles had cured the requisite week. I have no recollection of ever having had a ploughman’s lunch in a pub, but all the fixings were right in front of me.
Read moreBiergarten at Home
f you’re surprised that a university press has published a book on beer cheese, you’re probably not from Kentucky. The Bluegrass State takes beer cheese seriously. I didn’t even know what this popular pub snack was until I interviewed the book’s author, Garin Pirnia. Pirnia isn’t from Kentucky either, but she embraced the spicy spread soon after moving there. “Whereas pimento cheese screams ‘the South,’ beer cheese symbolizes Kentucky,” wrote Pirnia in The Beer Cheese Book (University of Kentucky Press).
Read moreA Cheese Debut and a Retirement
It’s still summer and I’ve just seen my first holiday decorations. I guess people are anxious to make up for all the gatherings that didn’t happen last year. If you’re already thinking about autumn cheese boards and how to entertain holiday guests, serve this rising star and prove you’re an early adopter. A little bit stinky (but not too much) and extra buttery, this California newcomer makes a tasty segue to autumn.
Read moreRescued by Ice Cream
Add this ice cream to the short list of good things to emerge from this unrelenting pandemic. When truckloads of crème fraîche started returning to Vermont Creamery in March 2020 because supermarket warehouses were closed, creamery leadership got creative. “We had two weeks to move it or lose it,” recalls Adeline Druart, the company’s president. So they moved it. Joining forces with a nearby company that operated an ice-cream truck, they debuted Maple Crème Fraîche Ice Cream, sending all proceeds to the Vermont Foodbank. Dumping the crème fraîche would have been easier, but that’s not how they roll in Vermont.
Read moreTough Times on the Left Coast
Drought. Wildfires. Record-breaking heat. Not to mention a pandemic that’s upended the supply chain. For dairy farmers and cheesemakers on the West Coast, this is one tough summer. Triple-digit temperatures and lack of water are stressing pastures and dairy animals. If such conditions are the new normal in California and Oregon, is dairy farming even viable? David Gremmels of Oregon’s Rogue Creamery and Reggie Jones of Central Coast Creamery in California shared their thoughts on these trying times. I have edited their comments for brevity and clarity.
Read moreAs Gouda as It Gets
If you’re a Gouda fan, add this crystalline beauty to your must-try list. Produced by an Amish couple in upstate New York with the milk from their 200-acre farm, it has everything I want in aged Gouda: a seductive toffee and pineapple aroma, a creamy interior dotted with crunchy bits and a deep, salted-caramel flavor. Some Goudas are so cloying that one bite is enough, but this cheese I couldn’t stop nibbling.
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