Somewhere it is cold outside. Not here in Napa Valley, but somewhere. This balmy winter has all the plants confused; someone just told me they saw a pomegranate blooming, which is about four months early.
Read moreLittle Stinker →
I hope you like strong cheese. This sweet-looking little guy had to move into the isolation ward at my house when it threatened to stink up everything in sight. I enjoy that decaying-mushroom smell at dinner time, but not when I open the fridge to hunt for breakfast. My husband couldn’t take it, either, so he put the cheese, still in its cardboard box, inside another lidded container and banished it to the outdoor fridge.
Read moreShow Time →
Amid the endless jams, honeys, pickled fruits, syrups, crackers and other accompaniments for cheese at last week’s Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, these glamorous Italian mustard fruits (mostarda) stood out. Aren’t they lovely? If you are assembling a cheese board for a special occasion, consider investing in a jar. (They’re not cheap.) Or take a jar to a cheese enthusiast when you’re invited to dinner.
Read moreIn a Bleu Mood →
With Roquefort so dominant in the French blue-cheese niche, it’s hard for alternative French blues to gain traction here. But Roquefort producers have tangled with the FDA in recent months, and some producers are no longer shipping it. That leaves a little more shelf space for delights like Bleu des Causses, a sublime and underappreciated cave-aged wheel from the same region.
Read moreWelcome Back, Mimolette →
After an absence of more than a year, the pumpkin-hued Mimolette is back. I spotted it at Bay Area cheese counters at holiday time—with that screaming orange interior, you can’t miss it—and retailers told me it was selling briskly. But they couldn’t explain why the FDA had apparently softened its stand on this dangerous import.
Read moreCheese Shop Forecast →
What's ahead for America’s cheese counters? As 2014 draws to a close, I asked some leading cheese merchants and mavens to share their insights. I hoped someone would say that American sheep’s milk cheeses were trending, but no one did. So that’s my wish for 2015, if not my prediction.
Read moreAroma Coma →
Last week at the grocery store, I watched a woman casually drop $200 on white truffles. When the clerk weighed them and announced the price, the customer didn’t flinch but I did. I got to enjoy the aroma briefly while the precious nuggets were on the scale, and that’s probably as close as I’ll get to white truffles this year.
Read moreHaving a Meltdown →
I’m not typically a big fan of cooking with fine cheese, but Reading begs to be melted. Made by Vermont’s Spring Brook Farm, this handsome wheel is modeled on Raclette, the alpine cheese so delicious that it has a dish named after it.
Read moreNuts About That Honey →
With a jar of these honeyed nuts in your pantry, you are two minutes away from dessert. Warm the jar in a saucepan of gently simmering water until the honey is just pourable, then serve with a favorite blue cheese or spoon some over ricotta. The honey helps mellow spicy blues like Gorgonzola and Valdeón, and the toasted nuts provide a crunchy complement.
Read moreRipple Effect →
Seasonal and costly but a splurge you won’t regret, the cheese pictured at right is luscious beyond words. I’d like to call it Vacherin Mont d’Or but I can’t. The official name is Petit Vaccarinus, which sounds like a condition that requires antibiotics. But aficionados will recognize it as a Vacherin twin, identical to that sought-after Swiss cow’s milk cheese in almost every way that matters.
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