Nobody’s a bigger feta fan than I am, but I’m getting a little tired of that baked pasta/tomato/feta recipe that won’t go away. Especially because it’s not tomato season. Now’s the time to be pairing feta with artichokes, asparagus, leeks, beets, radishes, green garlic…all the tender spring crops that are at their peak right now. Although I can’t go back to my favorite Greek restaurant quite yet, I can make the restaurant’s sublime roasted asparagus with feta. And so can you.
Read moreWelcome Aboard
When the pandemic picked up steam last spring, Ray Rumiano found a whole new gig. His family’s century-old business, Rumiano Cheese, was doing just fine, producing the mid-priced jack cheeses that supermarket shoppers were stockpiling. But Ray knew that some of his friends who made artisan cheese were in dire straits as their restaurant and catering sales plummeted. What could he do to help them through this crisis?
Read moreWhey Gets a New Look
Upcycling. It’s the word of the moment. Can we create something useful out of stuff we usually throw away? In the cheese business, whey is a headache. For every pound of cheese, a creamery has roughly nine pounds of whey to get rid of. Sometimes a neighboring farmer will feed it to livestock or spread it on fields. But solutions for whey fall far short of the need. What if, as one young entrepreneur proposed, you could distill it?
Read moreDouble Your Pleasure
A cheese debut from Jasper Hill Farm is always a news event, but when the debutante is a crowd-pleaser like this one, I can almost hear the stampede. If you love buttery, silky double- and triple-cream cheeses—and retailers say you do—this Vermont beauty should go on your bucket list. It launched only last November so shops are just getting their first shipment, but you can probably locate some Sherry Gray now, before its fame spreads. Peculiar name for a cheese but, as always with Jasper Hill, there’s a back story.
Read moreFondue Champion Tells All
I did not think I had much to learn about fondue until I spoke to Joe Salonia, a FonDuel champion. This friendly annual competition among people in the cheese business—mostly retailers and distributors—is the Olympics of melted cheese, with the public invited to taste and judge the entries. FonDuel took a pandemic pause last year, but Salonia has earned first and second place finishes in the past. (The latter result, he assures me, was “very close.”) With Valentine’s Day looming, it seemed like a good time to get some tips from a master on a dish that’s meant to be shared.
Read moreWhen a Cheese Dies
“No more Landaff” is not a phrase I wanted to read this year, or ever. I loved this cheese. But New Hampshire’s Landaff Creamery is closing, and its signature cheese—Landaff—will soon live only in memory. It makes me sad to lose a farmstead producer and to realize how quickly and quietly a unique cheese like Landaff can essentially go extinct. You might want to snap up a wedge while you can; you’ll find a mail-order source in my post.
Read morePass the Goat Cheese, Please
It doesn’t happen as often as it used to, but I still get people telling me they don’t like goat cheese. Really? You’re writing off the whole vast category? I’m pretty sure these folks mean they don’t like tangy, chalky fresh chèvre that smells like a goat barn. I don’t either. But who wouldn’t fall for the two lovelies pictured here? Both are French, nutty, mellow, marvelous and made from goat’s milk, and we’ll be tasting one of them at Cheese O’Clock on February 18.
Read moreNew Blue to Dream About
Do you eat more blue cheese in winter? I know I do. That big, spicy flavor is what I want when it’s cold outside. I love it melted on polenta, crumbled in an escarole and radicchio salad with walnuts, or on a cheese board after a bowl of vegetable soup. So this new blue from New York landed in my kitchen at just the right time. I think it’s dreamy, and even my husband—not a blue-cheese enthusiast—gave it a rave.
Read moreSomething Old, Something New
In my never-ending hunt for new cheeses, I sometimes overlook old favorites. Manouri, the Greek sheep cheese, is definitely one of those. I hadn’t bought it in a long time, but by chance I brought some home the same week a gift bottle of olio nuovo showed up. Now there’s a love match. This moist, mild, creamy cheese is always one of the best buys at the cheese counter, and it soars with a splash of peppery just-pressed olive oil. Make some toast. Toss a salad. Time for lunch.
Read moreWho Gets Your Cheese Dollars?
Mission Cheese/Page Bertelsen
At this inflection point in the pandemic, it’s hard to predict where will we shop for cheese in 2021. Will we continue to buy online because it’s safe and easy, or from the big-box stores because it’s cheap? Or will we return to the small independent merchants who provide the service, selection and smiles we love? The demise of San Francisco’s Mission Cheese and Portland’s Cheese Bar made me anxious about what lies ahead. My recent conversation with Sarah Dvorak of Mission Cheese reminded me that, as consumers, we have to decide what we value. Low prices, selection, quality, knowledgeable service, convenience, personal safety…what matters most to you?
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