The ruffles are eye-catching but you don’t need a special scraper to appreciate Tête de Moine. It’s a delightful cheese even when not curled into frilly rosettes. That said, I’m going to treat myself to a girolle—the shaving device—one of these days because, well, what a conversation stopper. The girolle’s Swiss inventor died four years ago, at 91, aware that his clever tool had sent sales of Tête de Moine soaring. Annual production is now 150 times what it was when his girolle debuted in 1982. I just listened to an old interview with the inventor and was charmed to hear about his lightbulb moment and be reminded of how good this cheese is.
Read moreThe Unforgettables
It has been a pretty good year on the cheese beat, all things considered. Some shops are offering samples again. Importers are expanding shipments from Europe. And our domestic cheesemakers seem to have largely rebounded from their pandemic straits. Looking back on the year’s highlights for me, I compiled a short list of standouts—
Read moreBreakout Stars of 2022
Which cheeses broke away from the pack at retail counters this year? I asked a few of the nation’s influential mongers what generated the most buzz in their store, and to guess—if they could—why those cheeses resonated. Some of their choices are newbies, some are classics, and a few I haven’t yet tried. If you want a cheese “bucket list” for 2023, this could be it. How fun, after the long pandemic standstill, to have some new cheeses to try.
Read moreWhite House Worthy?
Photo: White House
President Biden held a State Dinner for the president of France last week and made headlines by serving an all-American cheese course. (Imagine the outcry if he hadn’t.) Of course, cheese people were eager to learn what the White House selected, and I personally would love to know if President Macron cleaned his plate.
Read moreOne-Bite Wonders
They’re back! Or maybe they never left. But I haven’t seen olive-stuffed cheese balls in decades and now I’ve baked multiple trays of this marvelous 1950s hors d’oeuvre. I spotted the recipe recently on another blog, A Well-Seasoned Kitchen, and it almost made me tear up. My mother, an unapologetic non-cook, had only one party appetizer in her repertoire and this was it.
Read moreSecond Time Around
This focaccia bread pudding with mushrooms and goat cheese got good reviews from [ital] Planet Cheese [end ital] readers last year so I’m bringing it back for an encore. If you’re ready to change up your Thanksgiving dressing, or need a vegetarian alternative, please give it an audition. It’s crusty and custardy, with soft nuggets of goat cheese, sweet leeks and toasty bits on top.
Read moreThe Salad You’re Missing
If you have room for one more dish on your Thanksgiving table, I nominate this one. A crunchy, colorful salad is often what’s missing on the menu, a contrast to all the rich, creamy, brown food that Thanksgiving is usually about. As we know, but sometimes forget, the holiday is a harvest celebration (although where I grew up, in Dallas, it was more about football). A salad with persimmons, radicchio, grapes and walnuts is autumn in a bowl, and of course a few nuggets of blue cheese will only improve it.
Read moreThe Cheeses to Beat
Gourmino board: (l to r) Ur-Eiche, Emmentaler AOP, Bleu de Combremont, Le Gruyère AOP
The wins just keep coming for Gourmino. This Swiss marketing co-op has 13 cheesemaker members who seem to have a lock on the top prize at major international competitions. Last week, a Gourmino Gruyère prevailed at the World Cheese Awards in Wales, besting 4,433 entries. Earlier this year, a Gourmino Gruyère from cheesemaker Michael Spycher was named World Champion Cheese —for the third time. I can’t overstate how remarkable that is.
Read moreColor Theory
thought I knew why producers added color to cheese, giving some Goudas and Cheddars the hue of a Garnet yam. But I recently read more about the origins of this peculiar practice, and now I’m a little less sure of my facts. What’s certain is that Mimolette (above) without its screaming orange interior would be just another aged cheese and not the head turner it is. Wisconsin Cheddar without its trademark orange tint would look just like Vermont Cheddar. But if you’ve ever wondered what inspired cheesemakers to manipulate their products’ natural color, and why the tradition persists, here are some more or less believable stories.
Read moreOozy Does It
With November around the corner, we’re entering the ooey-gooey season. Fall is prime time for those unctuous, bark-wrapped cheeses that spread like buttercream frosting, and this year we have a new one to celebrate. It took more than three years to get this beauty through R&D. Turns out the style presents all sorts of hurdles.
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