I’m not the cheese police, but sometimes people do things to my favorite food group that make me cringe. All misdemeanors, not felony offenses, but still. We’d all get more pleasure from the cheese we purchase, and a longer life from it, if we treat it nicely. At the risk of sounding like a crank, I’m sharing a few of the most common crimes committed against cheese. These sins deserve, at the least, a rap on the knuckles with a limp baguette.
Read moreSpain’s Best Goat Cheese?
If Manchego isn’t Spain’s top-selling cheese by a large margin, I’d be surprised. We all know Manchego. It’s a dependable—and often exceptional—aged sheep cheese. But Spain has a much bigger story to tell. Its goat cheeses, fresh and aged, can stand up to Europe’s best, but they don’t get much shelf space in American cheese shops. One of my favorite Spanish goat cheeses, I was pleased to learn, is also the favorite of Spanish cheese authority Enric Canut ,who told me years ago in an interview that he thought it was his country’s finest.
Read moreRaclette Your Way
When I asked Swiss cheese importer Caroline Hostettler whether she ate raclette as a child in Switzerland, she had no trouble resurrecting a memory. “Everyone had raclette machines at home but us,” recalled Hostettler, sounding still a bit aggrieved several decades later. Her mother refused to make it (she preferred fondue), so the annual raclette at an aunt’s house was the highlight of the year. Hostettler still remembers being almost overcome with excitement.
Read moreBetter When Shared
My husband, Doug, and I have shared a cheese board most nights of our married life—which is to say, for almost 38 years. It’s rarely elaborate—sometimes it’s just a wedge of cheese—but I’m convinced that the ritual has contributed to the success of our marriage. Sharing a cheese board is an excuse to slow down, pour another glass of wine and tell another story from our day. This Valentine’s Day, if you’re staying at home, you can test my theory. For this appetizer board, I’ve warmed a little goat cheese crottin (Vermont Creamery Bijou) and surrounded it with some favorite savory nibbles.
Read moreWinter’s Greek Salad
We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the TikTok baked feta and tomato pasta, the recipe that caused an international feta stampede. Google Trends, which tracks search volume, shows a near-vertical spike twelve months ago in the number of searches for “feta pasta.” As a feta fanatic, I’m a little saddened to see that the line crashed as quickly as it rose. But maybe the craze introduced a lot more people to this endlessly useful cheese.
Read moreGruyère Fights Back
Switzerland’s most famous cheese took it on the chin recently when a U.S. judge ruled that Gruyère is generic. American dairies have made Gruyère for years, he reasoned, so how can the Swiss claim the cheese is theirs? “The factual record makes it abundantly clear,” the judge wrote, that American consumers think of Gruyère as a type of cheese, not a product from a specific place. The Swiss will appeal, so the matter isn’t settled, but it’s a setback for those who believe we should respect European names like Asiago and Fontina. I wondered how the ruling was going down with people who sell both imported and domestic cheese.
Read moreCrackers by You!
You may recall that I went crazy for these crackers last year. They’re from Top Seedz, a small company in Buffalo, New York. Many of you told me you bought some and found them as irresistible as I did. Now you can make them. At home. So they’re as fresh as can be. Top Seedz has developed a packaged mix for home bakers, and it really works. I made the crispy shards pictured above.
Read moreSticker Shock in a Good Way
We’re all experiencing sticker shock at the grocery store these days. Prices are nuts. Plus, we have December to pay for. So it’s a good time to prowl the cheese counter for selections that over-deliver for the price. Bargains do exist, and here are three that you ought to find easily. I’m so grateful to these producers for making cheese that we can enjoy and afford.
Read moreHappy Ending
What are you putting on your New Year’s Eve cheese board? My panforte, I hope. Thick with toasted nuts, dried fruit, cocoa and baking spices, it’s awesome with blue cheese. Or any cheese. Open a dessert wine, maybe an Italian vin santo or tawny port. Leftover panforte keeps forever, or so I’m told. If you’re a guest, take panforte with you. It’s easy to make, easy to wrap, and it doesn’t crumble. (The name means “strong bread,” after all.) Part fruitcake, part confection, panforte will make your holiday cheese board the star of the meal.
Read moreAlsatian Tart is Crisp and Cheesy
When the recent cream cheese shortage sent me scrambling for alternatives, I discovered a dreamy spreadable goat cheese from Norway. Maybe you’re already a fan of Snøfrisk. Or maybe, like me, you’ve noticed its wedge-shaped package next to other fresh cheeses but never bothered to give it a try. I’m making up for lost time now. I love this stuff. It’s perfect for tarte flambée, the paper-thin Alsatian pizza, which is getting to be a New Year’s Eve tradition at my house.
Read more