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‘Cheese’

There are various ways to categorize cheese – by age, texture or firmness, milk used and so forth. But what the connoisseur cares about most is the experience. Read the rest of this entry »

Charles de Gaulle is reported to have once said ‘How can you govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?’ But whatever may have been the administrative skills of that old French soldier, he was right about one thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Like fine wine, the making of a quality cheese requires a foundation of knowledge, years of practice and a certain amount of art. But one doesn’t need to be an affineur or cheesemaker to grasp the elementary steps of this delectable product. Read the rest of this entry »

We may never know with certainty how cheese was first invented. Sometime at least 5,000 years ago some ancient affineur in Mesopotamia was either lucky or very innovative. Read the rest of this entry »

Americans are catching on to one of the best of Europe’s traditions: serving a cheese course after a meal. Providing a variety of tasty cheeses tops off a great roast beef or halibut, or nearly any main course. Read the rest of this entry »

No one needs to tell you how to eat. You learned that long ago. But to enjoy to the maximum a gourmet cheese, there are some small bits of wisdom that can prove useful. Read the rest of this entry »

Taste is unquestionably an individual affair. Some will rave over the flavor of a Limburger, while others won’t touch Brie. But no matter your preference in type of cheese, there are certain factors that always should be taken into account. Read the rest of this entry »

Cheese makes for a wonderful addition to many recipes. In some cases, such as Welsh rarebit, it is an essential ingredient. But whether it’s the centerpiece or just a tasty topping, cooking with cheese can be tricky. Read the rest of this entry »

Because of its relatively high fat content, cheese has gotten a bad reputation in certain circles. But cheese, in fact, is one of the healthiest foods available. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most important steps in the making of cheese is the aging process. It can be nearly absent, in which case so-called fresh cheese is produced. That’s consumed right away and there are many fine cheeses of this type. But the majority experience aging of various lengths. Read the rest of this entry »

Cheese is one of the healthiest foods we can consume, in moderation. A single ounce provides over 200mg of calcium, about 20% of the daily recommended minimum. Read the rest of this entry »

Some people don’t tolerate well some of the ingredients in cheese. Made from milk, the lactose can affect some negatively even though the amounts in cheese are much lower than in the base product. The whey – the liquid part that forms when milk curdles – contains most of it and is separated off during the cheesemaking process. Read the rest of this entry »

Taking its name from the region from which it originates, Brie is among the most famous of cheeses anywhere. Made in much the same way in France today as it has been since the 8th century, this soft, yellow-white cheese is rightly called the Cheese of Kings. But, one needn’t be Charlemagne to appreciate its fine qualities. Read the rest of this entry »

Tales of the origin of Camembert abound, all of them full of romantic drama. One popular version attributes its invention to Marie Harel, who allegedly named the cheese after her native village. She, in turn, (or so the story goes) gained the recipe from a priest fleeing persecution during the French Revolution in 1790. Marie agreed to hide the fugitive and in return he blessed her with the secret of a magnificent cheese. Read the rest of this entry »

For many years a goat’s milk cheese was just mundane. Produced in abundance in France south of the Loire, it had become as boring as many of the ordinary wines of the region. But in the 1970s, with revived interest in fresh and imported foods, goat’s milk cheeses experienced the same kind of Renaissance as wine. Read the rest of this entry »

Named after the Swiss valley from which it originates in the canton of Fribourg, Gruyère is a work of art. Made from cow’s milk fed on grasses on the edge of the Vaudois uplands, it has a sweet flavor that makes it perfect for an appetizer or as an ingredient in the main dish. Read the rest of this entry »

Though perhaps not as well-known a fact as wine or beer origin, cheese too is distinctive by country. Read the rest of this entry »

Nothing is more a matter of individual taste than, well, individual tastes. Pairing wine and cheese is one of the best examples. There certainly are guidelines that reflect a large consensus about which wine goes well with which cheese. Even individuals can have similar tastes. But there’s plenty of room in pairing for the most rabid iconoclast, too. Read the rest of this entry »

Cheese, to state the obvious, is a food product. That means that in order to enjoy it at peak flavor, it needs to be kept under the right conditions. For most cheeses, most of the time, that means storing it away from exposure to air and at a cold temperature. Read the rest of this entry »

The cheese enthusiast will be happy to know that there exists a never ending array of tools for working with cheese. Some are intended primarily for cheesemaking, others for sampling, still others for preparation in the kitchen and some for serving and eating. Read the rest of this entry »