Cheese of the Week: Yellow Valley Gouda style

The label reads "Traditional Dutch Farmhouse," but it is made in Shanxi Province in China. So what does it mean to be traditional Dutch? and how about being a Gouda? The true is that this Chinese cheese should not be considered either, but rather a very good example of the what is possible to produce with good milk, salt and cheesemaking expertise.

The cheese (original flavor) is yogurty, more like an American Brick than a Dutch Gouda, with a good amount of salt coming from the rind. It has small eyes in the paste resembling a semi-hard rather than a hard cheese and the aroma is fragrant but a little sterile. Marc de Ruiter the cheesemaker, prides himself of a very clean production and definitely the cheese did not give any off smells from unwelcome bacteria. I also tried the 'italian" flavor, which has tomato and other spices, while it was less salty it was a little dryer making more a grating cheese than a table cheese. Overall, Yellow Valley is a good cheese that could use less salt and should be eaten a young age. It melts fast, making it a great option to add tor a "western" style meal (pasta, sandwiches, mashed potatoes) and if in China you should look for it.

The story of Yellow Valley is easy, you can read it in their website, a Dutchman move to China to support local sustainable farming and had a passion for Goudas of his native land. He started making cheese from an old recipe, pays above market prices for milk, and takes care of the people and animals who have decided to join him in producing this cheese. The story feels familiar because most cheeses of the Americas have a similar story. What is truly unique about this cheese is that its market depends almost a 100% percent on it being consumed by foreigners in a country with no cheese eating culture. Therefore the production is small, but the opportunity for expansion is huge if ever more Chinese people start incorporating cheese into their diets. Here a video about that potential posted by The Cheese Goddess from Chinese english TV.

However, what interested me about Yellow Valley is less about its market potential and more about an interesting way of approaching a common problem. Increasingly, the lifestyles of small farmers around the world are being eliminated by our reliance on the production of food by conglomerates. This means that the small guy is pushed out because of unfair competition from large corporations receiving large subsidies in the form of tax incentives, artificial low oil prices for production and transportation, and unlimited access to high-interest credit for consumers.

The story of Marc de Ruiter is similar to that of other in the cheese world who have moved around the world to help small dairy farmers develop a better market for their milk and have turned into cheesemaking as a real possibility. To mind comes Joseph Dubach, who taught Bill Hogan (West Cork Natural Cheese Company) maker of Desmond and Gabriel in Ireland to make cheese in Costa Rica. Other stories are those documented by The What Took You So Long Foundation in Africa about camel cheesemaking.

I hope to visit Marc soon and learn more about his work, but for now I have three wheels of his cheese which are great for snacking and taking a break from noodles and other Chinese food.

Chinese Cheese

It has been almost two weeks since I arrived in China. This is my third visit to this country and this time I am truly going to learn the language. As I mentioned before this blog will turn into more of a food blog and less about cheese. At least until I go back to a country that has a substantial cheese culture. But for now a small post on Chinese Cheese.

Many times people ask me, why do Chinese don't eat cheese. The most common explanation is that there is no milk-drinking culture in most Asian countries and therefore people here are lactose intolerant. However, that explanation is incomplete, not only because there is a growing milk-drinking culture and has there been one for at least a decade, but also because most semi-aged and aged cheese have very small amounts of lactose. More important, I think is the lack of a culture that supports eating cheese. For the most part, Chinese food includes either rice or noodles as the staple and then sauce, meat, vegetables and other things are served on the side to make a full meal. If you think about it, cheese is not something that we eat just on the side as an add on flavor. Even when melted, cheese is a big part of the meal not just and added flavor. This translates in a culture with no cheese eating habit and obviously not a cheese making culture to sustain it.

Still, globalization is quickly changing all that. More and more, middle class Chinese families try to emulate the eating, drinking and consumer habits of the US and Europe. This has translated in more super markets and American fast food chains opening in China than any other market in the world, but also into new products being commercialized for Chinese consumption. Among them are wines, liquors, sodas, chocolates and slowly cheese. Unfortunately the cheese being commercialized are not small artisanal cheeses, but rather commercial cheese foods that are emulsified with flour, oil, and whey to make cheese spreads or slices. So far I have not seen in any supermarket any non-commercial cheese and obviously the local markets do not carry it either. What the markets do have is a large variety of tofu, which I hope to try and cook.

Nevertheless, with globalization also comes different ventures and there are currently at least two places that are starting to makes cheese in a more "traditional" style in China. I still haven't tried them, but here are links to find them. If you know of any other or have tried them please let me know. I hope I will try them both soon and have a full review of them.

Yunnan Goat's Milk Cheese
Shanxi Cow's Milk Cheese

Also a group of ex-pats in China are trying to introduce cheese and wine into the Chinese market. Here are two links to two societies that are interesting. I also haven't been able to contact them, but in time I hope I could see what they are all about.

Beijing Cheese Society event
Grape Wall of China Blog

Finally, I would like to talk about about cheese from the "other" side of the world. Let me start with my six hour trip to Amsterdam. In my way to China, my flight from Boston to Detroit to Shanghai got cancelled and in order to leave the US in time to beat the upcoming snow storms, I was put in a Boston-Amsterdam-Shanghai flight. This brief but enlightening trip to The Netherlands, corroborated my worries about cheese in Europe. As you may remember, during my trip to Paris a couple of weeks ago, I was discouraged by the amount of commercial cheese in supermarkets. This was the same situation in Amsterdam. All the places I went had, yes "dutch" cheese, but still all pre-packed and all were more than just rennet, milk and salt. Everything had a chemical additive.

I'm sure it has to do with the places I visited and this is the same everywhere, but to think that the consumers in theses markets in places like France, England and The Netherlands with real cheese cultures would settle for commercial cheese is really sad. In any case, to end on a positive note, I leave you with two of the latest post from David Labovitz who recently visit two Comte cheese facilities in the Jura region of France and in his writing you can totally sense the cheese culture when the cheese makers go back to eat breakfast.

Enjoy

Comte posts from David Lebovitz on Making and Ripening.

Mexican Adventures in Cheese-buying

This is from another supermaket in Mexico City. As you may remember, I wrote that there are very few cheese stores in Mexico city and the places with the largest selection are supermarket chains. This one is called City Market and it is definitely upscale, with their fine food prepared food menu, brick oven pizza shop, gelato counter (not helado), and a pinxtos bar (not tapas, they use the Portuguese word to add to the snobbery). However, it is the only place around me that has organic eggs, soy and rice milk, and decent coffee selection from Chiapas.

Their cheese counters have flags from the countries they say they bring the cheese from, but it is all a mediocre selection of pre-processed - pre-cut cheese. They did have a Foume d'Ambert that looked ok, but was completely unwrapped and exposed making sure that this very expensive cheese will be dry and old in a couple of days.

The only interesting offering was an artisanal quesillo, which promise to be good from the huge "enredado" in the case. The brand is La Huastequi and it said it is artisanal. I bought a piece and will be tasting it soon, at the counter it tasted good if a little dry. I also got a small Queso de Petate (another name for farmer's cheese) from Oaxaca made according to the label in an artisanal way with no preservatives by a company called Xipe.

Cheese selection @ City Market - (Col. Del Valle, Benito Juarez, Mexico, D.F.)

Mexican Adventures in Cheese-buying

These trucks are everywhere in Mexico city every Wednesday and Thursday, when these families come from Oaxaca to sell their products in the city. The quality is good, clean and the prices average. We buy from them Queso de Canasto and sometimes Quesillo. The only problem is that we don't know about the production methods back in the farm. If you are in the city, stop by one of them and try their cheeses, buy a little piece of quesillo, a tlayuda, some chapulines (grasshoppers) and ajos salados (tosted garlic with chilly and salt) to make a salsa for your very Oaxacan quesadillas or Tlayuda as they call it.

Their selection includes: Queso Oaxaca (quesillo), Panela (a feta-like cow's cheese), Menonite, Canasto (farmer's cheese), and Requeson (ricotta-like), Chiapas (Doble Crema de Cuadro), Cotija, Chihuahua (cheddar-type).

Cheese selection @ El Puesto Oaxaqueno - (Col. Napoles, Benito Juarez, Mexico, D.F.)

Mexican Adventures in Cheese-buying

For this first installment from Mexico, I wanted to show you in pictures the terrible selection of cheese at commercial outlets. This, however, it is in no way a representation of the nascent artisanal cheese industry in the country. In the coming days, I will be blogging about cheese produced in Mexico that is of great quality and you should look for.

The two first pictures are the selections from Comercial Mexicana (Col. Mixoac) and the second two are from Walt-Mart Superama (Col. Napoles), while I did find an organic option at the subsidiary of Walt-Mart and a cheese flavored with Nogada, everything is pre-packaged making all their cheese to taste plastic in the outside and impeding any maturation that may have turn both cheeses into very interesting options.

These two commercial outlets cater to the middle and upper middle class in Mexico and therefore seek to offer more "variety." The problem is that most Mexicans are still new to cheese and buy anything that is available even if not of the best quality. For those reading this in the rest of North American, the situation here is similar of that of Canada and the US back in the late 70s and early 80s, when people there started looking for fine food options but the only products available where those produced by conglomerates.

Cheesers in DF are starting to go back to local markets and tianguis to buy from the puestos that source crema and queso from local ranchers in the nearby states.

The last picture is from smaller outlet. El Capricho Gourmet is a little store that I used to consult for, but since has change ownership and its still looking its niche. Their cheese selection is respectable but lacks a knowledgeable monger to care and sell their cheese.

Adventures in Cheese-buying

This cheese store in Williamsburg has an impressive selection.

However, it is my least favorite of all the cheese stores in the city. The two reasons for this, are 1) it is expensive and 2) the cheesemongers are terrible at explaining anything about the cheese.

For me a bad cheesemonger ruins the whole experience of buying cheese. The problem is that most of the mongers here seem to be more interested in their own knowledge, rather than on educating the consumer. The clientele here seems to appreciate that, but to me this translates into a place that can overcharge for cheese as people are more interested in the consumer experience than in enjoying and learning about cheese.

I know this is really harsh, but while I know it is difficult to find committed people to be mongers, it is also true that if you provide a work environment that is nice and make mongers feel comfortable in their work they will turn into loyal promoters of your store.

Having been a monger myself, I know that sometimes it is difficult to deal with customers. However, my manager was so awesome at being supportive, making me tea after a bad customer or taking over an abusive one, that it was always easy to take care of the next person with a smile.

I got Stilcheton and Tomme de Berger - I went for these two, because I knew what to expect and that way I could just go in and out of the store.

Cheese selection @ Bedford Cheese Shop - (Brooklyn, NY)

Adventures in Cheese-buying

The great thing about the selection at Whole Foods is that it is cheaper than in many other places. The problem is that their mongers are not the best trained and so they let the cheeses dry, crack, or age too much.

This time I didn't get anything because the line was insanely long, but I normally go to Whole Foods to buy things that are going to be used within the week to cook.

Cathy Strange is the Global Cheese-buyer for Whole Foods. She is a great person, who I got to meet in the Canary Islands for the 2009 World Cheese Awards. You can follow her on twitter @WFMCheese.

Cheese selection @ Whole Foods (Bowery) - (New York, NY)

Cheese Images

Here are two sets of pics with images that didn't make it to the blog. Most pictures are taken with my iPhone.

Since, I am moving to China, a country with no cheese culture, this blog will start to include other foods. Mostly artisanal, but also traditional ways of cooking and eating. I hope to follow in the footsteps of a great blog that my boyfriend used to write. You can see his writings at Cooking Fire. It was in that space that I published my first blog post about being an apprentice at the caves of Murray's Cheese in New York.

Enjoy. Carlos
Lactographer

Adventures in Cheese-buying

The newest addition to the list of cheese stores in New York City is BKLYN Larder.

They have a nice working cave to hold their cheese and a good mixed selection of imported and American cheeses. The staff is nice, their signs are funny and the non-cheese selection really complete. Including some of their own in-house made cured meats and some meats from Dickson's.

I got a big chunk of Tractor Cheddar from VT and a small piece of Pantaleo from Italy. I had never tried the cheddar and I was looking for something easy to put in sandwiches. The Pantaleo was one of the cheeses in the dessert list at Lupa Osteria Romana in the city. I didn't have it there, because I was too full from an amazing fish dinner, so I wanted to try it.

Cheese selection @ BKLYN Larder - (Brooklyn, NY)

Cheese of the Week: Tronchetto Miele

This has to be one of the best flavored cheeses out there. The paste was chalky the underind full of goaty flavor and the rind had a hint of honey that got more pronounced as the cheese aged. Overall an amazing cheese.

The label has this little rant in Italian supporting raw milk: Il latte "crudo" e un alimento "vivo," non viene privato delle sue caratteristiche originaire e mantiene tutte le sue qualita.

I got this amazing cheese at the Formaggio's on Essex Market in NYC. Brooke the head monger at this cheese store is superb and always has great recommendations. A couple of weeks ago she recommended Papillon Pur Brebis Pave d'aveyron from Belgium.

Coming up a post on flavored cheeses, stay tuned...

Thanks to my fried Ale for my newest cheese-board.

Adventures in Cheese-buying

Everyone in NYC told me I had to check out Pastoral when I travelled to Chicago, and they were right. Their selection of world cheeses is good, their American selection strong, but the best part is that they have cheeses from the Midwest that we normally don't get in NYC.

I visited the store twice, and while the first time the cheese selection was not as good. In my second visit, I got a great cheesemonger that was able to introduce me to great cheeses. Hail to the Savvy Cheesemonger! The second time I got:

Ewe Bloom - Prairie Fruits Farm (Champaign, IL) - Bloomy ewe's milk triangle made with pasteurized milk. Perfect gooey under-rind and chalking middle. Great for spring days. The taste as fresh, with a hint of pepper, but mostly really sheepy.

Little Darling - Brunkow Cheese of Wisconsin (Wisconsin) - This hard cheese, is sharp to taste with a gorgeous cream color. The rind smells amazing, like walking into a moist cave and the texture is soft. This cheese reminded me of those small production cheddars from Ireland, it is made with cow's milk. Great cheese!

Marisa - Carr Valley (Wisconsin) - Sheep's milk cheese for those starting to experiment with non-cow's milk cheeses. This is a perfect example of what can be achieved if the cheese maker knows her trade. Flavor, smell and texture are perfect, creamy, and fatty. Wish I had bought more.

Cheese selection @ Pastoral Cheese - Loop (Chicago, IL)

Adventures in Cheese-buying

Blue Apron in Park Slope is quickly becoming my favorite cheese store in the city. They have a great selection of cheeses and it is close to my house in Brooklyn.

This time I got Fleur Vert, I use it as a substitute of cream cheese. Love it on toast in the morning. It is a fresh goat cheese enveloped in fresh herbs and juniper berries. Tangy, herbal, with a very green flavor.

Cheese selection @ Blue Apron Foods - Park Slope (Brooklyn, NY)

Adventures in Cheese-buying

I know that D&D played a key roll in bringing fine cheese to the US under the direction of Steven Jenkins, but lately their selection looks really old (stale). The cheddar's that they have from Neal's Yard looks really abused (meaning mis-handeled).

This is happening in a couple of places around the city, I think the slow recovery of the economy is still impacting cheese sales making it more difficult to move big quantities of expensive European cheese. The problem is that many of the big cheese stores are only able to make a profit because they buy big volumes at a discount - economies of scale. The trade-off is that if they cannot sell their inventories all their cheeses sit on shelves for longer periods of time. Stores are not a good environment for cheese, as they are normally too dry and most cheeses need regulated moisture in the environment to not crack or become old. Once a cheese is open, it is really difficult to keep in good shape in over-refrigerated environments.

A way to prevent that the selection looks old, is to have a good team of cheesemongers (no attitude is important) to take care of the cheese, but also to approach inexperienced customers that would like to buy something but are unsure about what to get. Good knowledgeable staff is difficult to come buy, specially when sales are low, however there are ways to ensure that your employees help sell more cheese. A good way is to give them a good environment to work (benefits, breaks, job stability) - if mongers are happy they will sell more cheese. I know this from experience. Sheridan's Cheesemongers in Ireland is a great little company that cares for its employees and when I was there it was easy to sell cheese because people weren't worry about their job.

Dean and Deluca is still a good option to get cheese, they are conveniently located in the city and have good quality. They just need to ensure that cheesemongers are happy, approachable and they will do the rest by selling more cheese. Their cheese needs more attention and love.

Cheese selection @ Dean and Deluca -SoHo (New York, New York)

Adventures in Cheese-buying

Cheese selection @ Supermercado Ley (Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico)

Adventures in Cheese-buying

Cheese selection @ Comercial Mexicana (Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico)

Adventures in Cheese-buying

The great thing about Formaggio is that they go for depth in their selection. While other cheese stores have all the staples and the big names in cheese. Formaggio's takes it one step beyond and finds rare, small, and really unique cheeses from Europe.

They are one of my favorite cheese stores in America (the one in Cambridge is best, but NY is good too). I have great loyalty for them, as I took my first cheese class with one of their guys and they are from Massachusetts (my adoptive America home state).

Cheese selection @ Formaggio - Essex Market (New York, NY)

Adventures in Cheese-buying

Cheese selection @ Saxelby Cheesemongers - Essex Market (New York, NY)

Check out their website at Saxelby Cheese.

I love their American selection, I got cheese curds from Hillcrest Dairy (NY) and Winnimere from Jasper Hill Farm (VT).

Adventures in Cheese-buying

Cheese selection @ Lucy's Whey - Chelsea Market (New York, NY)

I love their American artisanal selection, this time I got:

Fil-a-buster from Westboro, VT

Appalachian from Galax, VA

Prairie Breeze Cheddar from Milton, IA

Barely Buzzed from Uintah, UT (yeap, Utah makes a good cheese)

Adventures in Cheese-buying

Cheese selection @ Market Cheese Store (Brooklyn, NY)

I got Halloumi, which is great to grill. Normally, I think of this cheese as a summer cheese, but I craved its saltiness.

We had it for breakfast on top of grips with a fried runny egg. We put slices of the cheese under the broiler and waited for it to get lightly crispy. The flavour of the cheese, egg and grits was amazing. Perfect to start a snow day with a long walk in Prospect Park and some vegan hot cocoa.

Adventures in Cheese-buying

Cheese selection @ Murray's Cheese / Bleecker St. (NYC, NY)

I got Caciocavallo, Crottin, St. Maure, Mimolette and Tomme Crayeuse.