The Gruyère Experience in Switzerland, Part 2
Our story left off when you had just heard that Maria was going to milk a cow that afternoon, won’t you join us as The Gruyère Experience in Switzerland continues! Read More…
The Gruyère Experience in Switzerland, Part 1
We came to Switzerland to visit Benno and Nora, friends we had met long long ago in Costa Rica. Back in 2015, she worked at a winery, and his family owned a dairy farm in the AOP region for Gruyère cheese. Then fast forward 7 years to today, and now they live on that dairy farm. Benno runs the show, caring for the cows, plowing the cornfields and potatoes. They’re full blown farmers. Read More…
Caring for my Camembert
When I was choosing which classes to sign up for at The Art of Cheese, the one with bloomy rinds kept jumping out at me. This was a topic discussed at the Cheese Bootcamp but it was in the beginning of the course and I only attended the end. But, at the end of the bootcamp, Kate asked me if I’d like to take a wheel of camembert to age at home. Always being up for a challenge, I said yes. Read More…
Cheddaring at The Art of Cheese, Longmont, CO
My second class at The Art of Cheese was the Cheesemaking Bootcamp. We covered brining your cheese, piercing a blue cheese, aging your cheese with rubs, washes and leaf wraps, an introduction to alpine and swiss cheeses as well as the process of cheddaring. For your sanity, and mine, we’ll be limiting todays entry to the cheddaring process and the cheeses we tasted that day. Did you know that there’s a separate process involved to make cheddar cheese than other cheeses, well you’ll get to learn all about it today! Read More…
Introduction to Hard Cheeses at the Art of Cheese in Longmont, CO
When we chose to come out to Longmont, CO, we had no idea that there would be a cheese school 15 minutes from our rental. What an amazing bonus for our stay here! Neil and I have “dipped our toes” into cheesemaking but just handful of times so when we found out we could attend Cheesemaking classes, we figured it was our duty as cheeselovers. Our friend Jinnee was in town when the class occurred, so we all attended together. Jinnee said, “I love hanging out with you guys, we always eat so well!” Read More…
Looking Glass Creamery, Fairview, NC
We visited Asheville, NC, a few weeks back with our friend Doris. While we were coming up with ideas for the trip, I searched for local cheese shops. We were staying in Fletcher which is about a 20 minute drive outside of Asheville. Imagine our surprise when we found Looking Glass Creamery on that list and it was only a few minutes away from our AirBnB. We chose to go there Saturday in the early afternoon. The timing couldn’t have better as the sky opened up into thunderstorms just as we walked into the shop. Read More…
Making Cheese in a Tropical Setting, A Visit to Quesos Monte Azul in Chimirol de Rivas, Costa Rica
When we have visited Costa Rica in the past, we noticed that most of the cheese here falls into the “fresh category” but never really put much thought into why that might be. We usually just chalked it up to which foods are popular here and that a wedge of hard, funky cheese didn’t really fit in. Once we discovered the Monte Azul brand of cheese as something more relatable to our palates and one that was possible to pair with wine, we found out the information we had been missing. Cheese is different in Costa Rica for good reason! It just so happened that Monte Azul was near where we were staying so we arranged for a visit there. Our entry will share the things we learned that day. Read More…
Cheeses Named after Places
After learning last week that Gouda cheese is named after the town of Gouda where it was originally traded, we decided to continue down the same path and find out what other cheeses are named after the places where they originated.
Making Goat Cheese with Lexi and Alex
As you may remember, Neil and I made chèvre about a year ago and dazzled our friends. (https://wineandcheesefriday.com/making-goat-cheese/) Since I am visiting my niece and nephew in western Massachusetts, I thought I would share the fun with them. The kit we purchased from Belle Chèvre (http://www.bellechevre.com/) had more than enough supplies remaining from last time so we just had to find some goat milk. This did prove to be a bit challenging but luckily there was a Trader Joe’s to pick up our last ingredient.