Collaborations

The talk in the academic world is on the importance to create collectives of people who are in different fields and disciplines and try to learn from each other. This may sound really obvious, but it has taken a very long time for scholars to get here. Academic endeavor is defined by the strict boundaries set up in the study of the physical and social sciences. The humanities are less strict about this, but they also have their fair share of border patrolling. The idea is to create expertise that can then be utilize to produce wealth, if interested you should read Max Weber.

It is with this in mind, that I have tried to expand my horizons and move away from the self-centered view that my work and my craft is most important and significant alone. I have tried to enter, establish and seek collaborations with people doing amazing food projects. Here I present to you four new collaborations. More information will be coming up, but this is a little taste of things to follow.

Educating Young Minds

Along with the HSMSE Gastronomy class run by a good friend of mine, we are taking 18 high school students to Flying Pigs Farm in upstate New York to participate in the Farm CampThis school group learns about food production through readings and films but also experiences like taste workshops, visits to farms, markets shops around NYC. Part gastronomy class – part cultural sensitization, the aim of the program is to introduce students to good food and “to expose the kids to new tastes and cultures encouraging an open-mindedness, which in theory would extend to all aspects of the students' lives.” experience.

We are going to Farm Camp to learn about the realities of food production and to gain an understanding of the importance of knowing the source of what we eat. We will be in the farm on 5/6 June and you will be able to follow us on twitter by tracking the #GastroCamp or the #FarmCamp tags.

Other twitter feeds to follow are: @FarmCampNY @FlyingPigsFarm I will have a small contribution on smell and the ideas of disgusting, nasty, tasty and gourmet. I have been working on this topic for a while now and I have a piece (in Spanish) on Letras Libres.

If you would like to learn more about the HSMSE Gastronomy class or on the teacher leading the initiative you can contact her check out their facebook page at: HSMSE Gastronomy Eats NYC or email her at jboylan @ hsmse.org She has prepared lesson plans and a syllabus, which she will be happy to share with other educators.

Mexican cheeses
I designed five different vegetarian sandwiches using Mexican cheeses for Aula Chocolate in Mexico City. These sandwiches are created around a traditional Mexican cheese and paired with local ingredients. Here are three that are already for sale:

Chiapas: Queso de Cuadro, berros, aceite de oliva, balsámico y miel.
Chihuahua: Queso Menonita, mostaza de grano y cebollas caramelizadas.
Michoacán: Queso Cotija, compota de sandía y menta fresca.

They are all made with bread baked on-site. The cheeses are produced by artisanal farmers and sourced by Lactography, and information on the makers is included with every sandwich. The purpose of this collaboration is to showcase traditional cheeses and ways to pair them with food and integrated them in a lacto-vegetarian diet. All profits from the sale of the cheese go directly to the makers and affineurs that produce them and age them.

For more information visit: Aula Chocolate or follow @aulachocolate

Cheesemonger certification

The American Cheese Society has been working for the past 10 years on creating a Certification Exam for Cheese Professionals and developing a Body of Knowledge document, which includes guidelines on all the cheese knowledge that someone to be certified should have. The purpose of such certification is to create professionals that are able to speak, promote and better cheese for everyone. I have been invited to be a Subject Matter Expert and hope to bring my expertise of Latin American cheese productions as well as experience as a Cheese Judge in North America to the effort. The first exam is scheduled to take place in early 2012 and you will be hearing more during the annual meeting of the ACS in August.

At this moment, I don’t envision traveling to Canada for the annual meeting, mostly because being a Mexican citizen I am requested by the Canadian government to obtain a visa to enter the country (this was not the case two years ago) and the price of application plus my situation as a full-time student makes the expense to apply for a visa, plus travel, plus enrolling in the conference prohibitive. If you would like to sponsor my participation or know someone that would, I will be forever grateful. I have budget the trip to cost US$1,000 dollars only on fees and travel expenses. I have friends in the Montreal to stay with.

For more information on the annual meeting and other events about the ACS you can follow them at @CheeseSociety

The other event that is taking place that may impact the certification process and which I have been doing some PR is the 2^nd Annual Cheesemonger Invitational, it will be hosted by Adam Moskowitz of Larkin on Friday, 8 July 2011, from 7 to 10 PM in Long Island City, New York. For more info visit Cheese Monger Invitational or follow him at @CMI_2011

Tea and Cheese

Harney and Sons will be hosting a small tasting in its newish SoHo store in New York City, we will be offering their tea-infused cheeses and other American cheeses paired with teas. I will be around to explain cheese tasting and pairings, while Emeric Harney will be explaining teaching people about tea. Cheese is a great gateway for this and should be a fun experience to have the cheesemaker there to explain us on the making of flavored cheeses.

Our tentative date is Thursday, 21 July 2011, from 5 to 8 PM, details to come. You can also find more information following @HarneySoHo and buy tea here.

Other (older) ongoing food collaborations:

Camel milk and cheese project – I am part of the Advisory Board of the What Took You So Long Foundation film project “Respect the Camel” for more info on the film being produced and many camel cheese related events follow them at @wtysl or at WTYSL Foundation.

Judging guidelines – We are looking to develop guidelines for cheese judges. This project is in conjunction with the Guild of Fine Food organizers of the World Cheese Awards and it will involve all the current Supreme International Judges. Follow them at @guildoffinefood and visit them at Fine Food World and for info on the 2011 Awards.

Denomination of Origin – I am continuously helping the Rancho San Josemaria, producers of one of the finest sheep’s milk cheeses in Queretaro, Mexico, to apply for a certificate of trademark in a first step on the long process to have this cheese awarded a DO. Follow them at @QuesosOvejaSJM or visit their site.

Finally, I call them collaborations because I have not been economically remunerated for any work under this scheme. I write this not to brag about my philanthropic spirit, but to differentiate these collectives from the work that I do commercially which includes classes, tastings, trainings, and consultancies. If you have an idea in mind that could impact the way we think about the food that we eat or how we consume it, email it to me and we can set up a collaborative. If you are interested in any of these projects and have an idea also email me or any of the people involved. All inquiries welcome to cheeseconsulting @ gmail.com

Fromage, Cheese, Queso

"Aunque la mayoría de los quesos “famosos” son españoles, ingleses, suizos, italianos o franceses, el queso no es oriundo de Europa: el queso original es árabe."


Here is my newest piece on Mexican cheese in Spanish for Letras Libres - Fromage, Cheese, Queso.

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.

Feria de Fomento Gastronómico Nacional

There is a really interesting group of Mexicans and foreigners living in Mexico City working towards a more sustainable future. They are doing this by supporting local producers, learning how to eat, shop and promote small producers and to recover part of the culinary culture that Mexico is quickly loosing with the commodification of markets. I have come to learn about their work by following other Politics students tweeting about many issues in Mexico, one being good food. They too have a passion for food and politics, I call them the lactographers and along some awesome people around the world we have a vision of eating better, while also helping small producers keep their livelihoods.

It is for this reason, that Lactography goes beyond the blogosphere and the halls of cheese contests to let residents of Mexico city to taste some of the most amazing cheeses being produced in the country during a unique event hosted by a group of students concern on issues of sustainable gastronomy. Lactography will have a small stand with cheeses from Chiapas, Queretaro, Oaxaca, Puebla and Michoacan; showcasing five styles of traditional Mexican cheese.

The event details are:

Cocinando el Futuro de Mexico
Dia: 18 de Noviembre - 11 AM a 6PM
Lugar: Universidad Anáhuac del Sur

If you are in Mexico City, make sure you go and visit. There will be two cheesemongers trained by me (one is my sister, who shares my passion for food) and you will be able to taste, purchase and learn more about our culinary culture.

Camel Cheese

If you are in New York City and would like to have a taste of cheese from China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan join me and others to welcome the team of the What Took You So Long Foundation as the come back from the first leg of their tour to document the culture of Camel cheesemakers.

Here are the details:

PRE-EVENT EVENT!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Time: 6 or 6:30PM @ Barnyard Cheese Shop (http://www.barnyardcheese.com/)
Location: 149 Avenue C, New York, NY

CAMEL CHEESE EVENT
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Time: 8 to 11PM @ THE BLIND BARBER (http://www.blindbarber.com/)
Location: 339 East 10th Street, New York, NY

In attendance will be special guests to add an entertaining and stimulating twist to the night including a cheese scholar (me), DJ, Photographer, and performers of various kinds.

Dress to Impress!

Cost : $5 + it will be added to our Kickstarter and you will get a reward.

You can still get a prize if you can't make it: www.kickstarter.com/projects/353808285/what-took-you-so-long-to-find-camel-cheese

or you can also find them on facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110088319051370

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.)

Wedding Cheese

The original idea was to give people some guidelines on how to go about buying cheese for their wedding, but then I thought to myself, I will not take someone else's rules. This is my event and only the two people getting married know what the entire event should be like. But before I turn into Groomzilla, here are my menus and a small explanation of why I choose the cheeses in the boards and dishes.

One of the first events we had on our way to getting married was a good-bye picnic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn where a lot of our friends from New York came. The day turned out to be a gorgeous sunny, warm and aromatic day. I love the smell of Prospect Park; the air from the marshes there along with the briefs swifts of ocean air, make the place a perfect spot to clean out your lungs from the city traffic.

For this event, we asked friends to bring food potluck style and everyone outdid themselves. From small sandwiches, to spring rolls and awesome endive salad with a fatty pecorino. Everything was delicious. I got the cheese for the picnic at Lucy's Whey at the Chelsea Market, at Murray's Cheese in Greenwich Village and at Formaggio's and Saxelby at the Essex Market.

My idea for the cheese was to have a fresh board, nothing heavy that will be difficult to eat with the heat of the day and also nothing with a rind that would start turning crusty and old after being out of the fridge and in the sun for a while. Because the picnic was also part of the wedding celebration, I wanted something romantic and have to admit that looked everywhere for Coeur de Neufchatel, but nobody in the city seems to carry it.

I also wanted local cheeses and crowd pleasers, so I made my mind and got some American and some French, the board included (pictured on top)

Cremont from Vermont Butter and Cheese Co.,
Langres from France,
Mountaineer form Meadow Creek Dairy (in Virginia),
Tomme de Savoie from France, but this is produced by a small cheesemaker and the production is really limited only available at Formaggio's, and
Gorgonzola Picante from Italy (this was the only outliner and a total wild guess, that worked great in the summer heat)

The other cheese that I bought but didn't make it to the board as my husband and I ate all the night before the picnic was Moses Sleeper from Jasper Hill Farms. This was available only at Saxelby and it was so perfect runny and creamy that needed to be eaten right away.

All the cheeses worked well together and people got to taste them with food, which is great. We had a couple of baguettes on hand and tons of other food to munch on. My personal favorite that day was Cremont and Will's was Mountaineer. Langres is a huge crowd pleaser and it is too bad that Murray's no longer washes them in-house before putting them in the shelves. Back when I was in the caves, we brushed them every other day and they turned even more funky after being with other washed rinds. If I ever start an affinage room in my house I will definitely try to wash my Langres too.

In a non-wedding note, the day of the picnic was also the day of the first cheesemongers invitational organized in NYC. I was at the event and got to see so many friends and people in the cheese world. It was truly a unique experience.

The second event involving cheese to celebrate our marriage was a cheese tasting for our friends and family in Mexico City. Since Will and I are not religious, we wanted to do various events where our loved ones will share in the experiences that make us individuals but also a couple. Will choose to have a private showing of the Polyforum Siqueiros light and sound show for everyone and I organized a tasting of Mexican cheeses.

Here that challenge was even greater, but with the help of cheesemakers, cheesemongers and my mom, all the cheese arrived on time and was ready to be tasted by everyone a day before the wedding. I choose four Mexican cheeses, from three different regions of the country. The reason was that I believe that these cheeses represented our culinary culture and a distinct terroir.

The board had:

Queso Doble Crema de Cuadro, Chiapas (pictured alone)
Queso de Bola de Ocosingo, Chiapas
Queso Menonita, Chihuahua
Queso de Oveja, Queretaro

The two first ones are made in Chiapas with cows’ milk, if you check back in some of my older posts you will find a description of them. The third one is made in the North of Mexico by a Mennonite minority. The ones that I got were not on top of their game, but you could taste the terroir of the Northern pastures with a more fat flavor and perfect coloring. The last one is made by a great couple who just started making cheese a couple of years ago. They established themselves in Queretaro, which is becoming a Mecca for cheese and wine. This particular cheese is excellent when is slightly mature, you can find information about them at Quesos de Oveja.

I paired these cheeses with grapes from Hidalgo, Pitahaya from the coast, caramelized figs from the middle part of the country, freshly squeezed orange juice and Bola De Oro coffee. I gave a little presentation about cheese tasting and invited future members of the board of the Mexican Cheese Society. It was such a fun thing to do.

I wished I had been able to bring Queso de Poro de Balancan and real Cotija and Quesillo de Oaxaca, but synchronized logistics in Mexico are still our Achilles heel and you cannot completely depend on people sending the cheese on time.

The last event was the wedding itself, and the banquet afterwards. We choose a restaurant call Saks in San Angel, mostly because they are one of the few restaurant in Mexico that serve organic and local produce and meat. There were two different cheeses in the menu at the banquet, not as main dishes but rather as part of another dish. The first was Requeson, which is not really a cheese; it is like Ricotta a second cooking of leftover whey. This was served on blue corn tortillas to make an amazing quesadilla. The other cheese was a manchego style cheese (read my entry on Mexican manchego style cheeses to understand what is this cheese) melted with mushrooms, squash blossoms and spinach, inside a phyllo pie dripped with poblano cream. This last one was our vegetarian option and for the meat eaters we had local ribs of lamb encrusted with herbs.

The menu was a total success with everyone feeling super full and happy. For me and Will this was the best present, to have everyone that loves us with us that day eating, experiencing and enjoying all the things we love. Cheese!

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)

Flavoured cheese

Another question that I get is about cheeses that have added flavours. You know the type, jalapeño jack, dill harvarti, or truffle pecorino. I sense the question normally has two hidden agendas, depending on who asks.

On one side are the "amateurs," who want a guilty pleasure validated. On the other are the "experts," who are tasting my cheese knowledge. My answer always, for this and other questions about flavour is - eat what you like and if you have the opportunity look for non-commercial cheeses that only have natural flavours and not chemical compounds to give the extra taste.

Flavoured cheeses are not an invetion of modern cheesemaking. There are great European cheeses with a large tradition that have added flavours. My favourite of these type of cheeses is Brin d'Amour (also known as Fleur du Maquis). This Corsican cheese is covered with herbs and peppers which infuse the paste made with sheep's milk to give it a subtle pastoral flavour.

Many other European cheese have added flavours, amongst the most famous are: Pecorino Rosso, Aromes au Gene de Marc, Sage Derby, Taramundi and Nokkelost. In this category we should also consider the smoked cheeses and those wrapped in leaves like Banon or Valdeon (Blue). Of the smoked cheese the Italian - Ricotta Affumicata and the American smoked Mozzarella are two of the most famous in this family.

Lately, many Canadian and American creameries are debuting flavoured cheeses. Most famous is the amazing Barely Buzzed by Beehive Cheese Co. in Utah. This cheddar type cheese is rubbed with lavander and coffee to create a great dessert cheese. A new one that they also developed is SeaHive, which has honey and salt. I love this creamery not only because they are innovative, but also because they take risks and know their craft enough that they can turn a crazy idea into an awesome cheese.

Other amazing cheeses in this category are, the pungent Hoja Santa made with fresh goat milk's or the Rosemary Cheddar by Rouge Creamery or their Rouge River Blue.

Finally, there are collaborations between creameries and other food companies designing interesting mixes. Two that I tasted lately are made by Harpersfield Farmstead Cheese Co, both were semi-hard cheddar type cheeses. One had Raspberry Herbal Tea and the other was made with Lapsang Souchog Black Tea, both were commissioned by Harney and Sons tea.

Like always the mix is the result of the ingredients, in this case both the tea and cheese were of excellent quality, but their aging needs a little work. However, I recommend you getting some if you see them or if you buy tea. Remember that the only way that cheesemakers can improve their craft is by having people like you and me eating, tasting, and giving feedback. Here is a pic of the cheeses, apologies for the link, my computer is busted and my photo memory is lost in the immensity of the time machine.

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.

Cheese for the Soul

… the mind and the body.

By now we have all heard of the miracle cheese compresses that helped sky champion Lindsey Vonn to get gold in Vancouver.

Cottage cheese was credited with being the magical cure that Vonn used to heal her bruised chin. The whey, which is full of nutrients, is often credited in helping people get better from bruises, undernourishment and headaches. In Ireland, it is feed to pregnant women to help them recover nutrients passed-on to the unborned babies. Along with a pint of Guinness a week, the cheese diet is credited for healthy Irish babies.

Tomorrow, I will be taking my first PhD exam, a four-day marathon that will test my knowledge of American politics. So, I been preparing for over five months and yesterday I went out to buy the cheeses that will nourish me over this weekend.

In thinking what cheeses will be able to help, I imagined the different moods that I will go through. I guess, I will be anxious, bored, tired and finally excited to be done.

The cheeses that I chose, I hope, will help me in each stage. For the anxiety before I get the exam, I got Cherry Glen – Monacacy Ash. This goaty drum will be great for snacking with crusty bread and pass the time. Once, I get the exam and after a couple of hours of intense writing I will be bored of the questions and the exam. For this stage I got a piece of Quesillo from Oaxaca to shred in thin pieces and think of the responses for the difficult questions. I also hope the chewiness of it, will distract me and give me the badly needed break from writing.

By day three of the marathon, I will be tired, so I’m guessing I will need something sharp to bring me back to life. This time I went for a Mahon Curado, which is super salty right now and I hope will do the trick. Finally, I will be done and with a little bit of luck I would have turn in a good exam. I will need nourishment and a celebration, so I got Winnimere. This beauty from Jasper Hill Farms is perfectly ripped right now. It is oozy and creamy at the center, the rind melts in your mouth and you get a feeling of completeness when eating it. I hope to pair this with bubble wine, maybe a light Lambrusco and toast to the rest of my academic career.

For now, back to the books and the studying. Wish me luck.

Cheese of the Week: Mimolette

Normally when I think about Mimolette, I think of cheese mites. Those little insects that I used to brush off from hard mature cheeses with a big brush when I was doing my apprenticeship at the caves in Murray’s Cheese.

The mites normally are present in cave environments and they like to eat cheese. They are cultivated in the sense that they are allowed to exist in small quantities to help the cheese-rind of some cheeses develop, but are controlled to impede that they destroy whole wheels of cheese.

Mimolette is also famous for its orange color and its buttery taste. I bought a piece last week and have been nibbling on it everytime I’m craving for something salty. I like it cold as it is firm and so I leave it in the cheesedome in the fridge. The sharpness is nice and once the piece gets a little older I will put shavings of it on top food.

Lately, I been craving really salty food and eating a ton more. I blame the studying for the PhD exam that I have coming up, but I need to control this nibbling habit because my jeans are starting to be tight. This is also to say that I will be a little absent as the studying intensifies. But before, I go on a break; I wanted to write a more political cheese post. I know this has been less the case lately, but never worry cheese politics are still my driving force for this blog.

So, apparently those mites really have an effect on cheese beyond making the craters in Mimolette. Recently, I find out that Montgomery Cheddar is having a problem with mites, which is making a lot of its cheese blue inside. I know Jaime Montgomery from the WCA and I know he is working hard on fixing the problem, but in the meanwhile exports are on hold for this fine cheese.

The people in cheese blame a recent change in European health code, which required cheesemakers to change production methods impacting the way the cheeses mature and therefore the way it develops. Although, I am not sure of the precise changes this seems to be a case where standardization is affecting local products.

The European Union in its drive to make products acceptable across countries has been setting up standards on productions, products and techniques for cheesemaking. Many of them go against traditional ways of making cheese and affect the flavor of the end product.

A lot is said about the terroir of cheeses, highlighting the importance of maintaining ecosystems (grasses, air quality, insects and nutrients) to preserve the original taste of cheese. Terroir is often times credited for specific flavor profiles and used as a call to stop transformation of traditional agricultural lands into corporate fields where production yields are fostered by pesticides.

The recognition by wine and cheese makers of the importance of terroir, should now be followed by the idea of craftsmanship. This would not only encourage cheesemakers to maintain production methods, but would also foster traditional techniques for making cheese. This obviously would impede many cheesemakers to optimatize their cheese production by standardizing processes, which may translate into smaller production. However, the concept of craftsmanship then could also be marketed and we the educated consumer should start paying for it as well.

Cheese of the Week: Jalapeño Jack

For a while now I been really into Jalapeño Jack. Yes, there I said it. I however think there is no shame in writing this. It has a nice flavor and normally the stuff that I get is spicy enough that I don't have to add salsa to my nightly quesadilla.

Other cheese people turn their nose to added flavour cheeses, and while I certainly don't like or understand the idea behind truffles in cheese. I think there is something to be said about the everyday comfort-food cheese.

I think most of the objections againt added flavor cheeses are related to the idea of "fancy" that most people have about artisanal cheese. That concept is what allows pieces of imported cheese to be sold for US$ 36 dlls a pound.

The price matches our idea of quality, unlike in other places where prices pay for the craftsmanship. Yes, price many times can signal quality, but only if the product is actually produced in a special way and not just because it has a label on it.

My cheese budget is only second to my rent. I even pay more for cheese than internet and phone combined. However, in that budget I always save a little for the cheese that is consumed everyday at home. So normally along the pieces of Appenzeller (Will's favourite) and Grayson, there are always some slices of Jalapeño Jack and a quarter pound of Quesillo.

I get the Jalapeño Jack at my local Armenian deli and I only get enough to last for two days. After that the slices are dry and the flavor of the chilli has turned bitter. This probably is due to the cheesemaking process and not because the cheese is necessarily bad. After all cheese and chillis are not historical from the same place, but nonetheless they taste good together.

Here is my recommendation: only get the cheese that you are going to consume during the week. Cheese does not keep well in the fridge once it has been cut. If a week has passed and you still want to eat that cheese, no matter what it is, it is better to cook with it. Cooking with cheese gives a little extra to your dish and a second life to that piece of nice cheese.

For last week's recommendation of Point Reyes, I still have a piece in my fridge that is still nice to eat with a piece of crusty bread or over toast in the morning, but I am rather using it to make potato & leek soup with blue cheese to fight the cold winter nights of New York City. This way I'll enjoy the flavor of the cheese and give it another use, leaving me space to get another blue cheese for the week.

If you have an added flavor cheese that you would like to recommend, let me know. I hear that people really like the Havarti with dill and the Horseradish Cheddar.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.

Cheese of the Week: Point Reyes Blue

Point Reyes Blue is probably one of the most famous artisanal blue cheeses made in the US. Even before I got into cheese, I had heard of it and had tasted it. Because it is really famous the makers now commercialize small wedges individually wrapped perfect for display in super market shelves. This, however, is not a sign of poor quality associated with some mass produced/marketed cheeses.

I got one of this wedges while on vacation in San Francisco. The Cowgirl Creamery shop in the Ferry Plaza had them on display next to big pieces ready to cut to order. The really nice cheesemonger, gave me a taste of it and it was amazing.

It was sweet, little salty and you could really taste the milk. It had that characteristic mineral flavor that good blues have and it was so fresh that it melted in my mouth. I have had Point Reyes many times, and definetely it had never tasted so good as in California.

I attribute this to the shorter distance it had to travel from the farm, the less refrigeration and the less handling and movement it had to endure. Being so close to the source meant that the cheese was fresher and more like the cheesemaker intended to have it sold.

Most blue cheeses don't know how to travel well, they all lose moisture in their trip and become saltier in the process. Unlike hard cheeses, subtle temperature changes really change the way a blue cheese develops.

If you have the oportunity to travel to California seek Point Reyes, as well as any other local cheeses that you have had and are curious of their taste closer to the point of origin.

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Happy New Year 2010

For the past three days, I been reading on the cheese blogs and news feeds about the best cheeses of 2009. I was surprise to read that so many people are recommending Mont d'Or, as I also like it a lot.

I first discovered Mont d'Or in Ireland while working at Sheridan's Cheesemongers. They sell the big wheel and so you can buy a slice of this creamy, pungent, luscious cheese. In the US and Canada you can only buy small wheels (retail price US$35).

Because of it's format, and because it does not keep well once opened, I recommend that you eat it all at once. You can eat it in spoon fulls over a nice crusty bread and pair it with bubbly wine for your NYE celebration.

While cleaning boxes that we have stored in Will's parents house, he found some of my first cheese notes from a class we took together. Funny enough I had written down "cheedar > Brie," for the amount of pressure used to make those cheeses. Little did I know that almost a decade later I would be writing a cheese blog.

2009 was by far my best cheese year, not just because I had the honor to be a supreme judge at the World Cheese Awards or because I traveled around tasting cheese. It was the best because after going to Chiapas twice, now I know that cheese makers there have a good chance of earning a decent livelihood with their product.

Cheese for me should not be considered an elite food, but the craftmanship should be regarded as high skill and honored as such.

Mont d'Or is a perfect example. While you can pair it with fancy Champagne, the most interesting thing about this cheese is that is made with the same milk as Comte. Cheesemakers change to the production of Mont d'Or in the middle of the fall when cows start producing less milk and the flavor changes too much to keep making Comte.

They use everything that is available and hold the cheese with a piece of bark that infuses the cheese with a very distinct forest flavour, imagine tasting some of the logs in the fire place.

I am guessing those cheesemakers like changing the cheese that they make to keep things interesting, but always within the thing they know: Cheese.

For 2010, I have big plans within the things I know best. I will be doing field work for my PhD and will be helping Mexican cheesemakers enter their cheeses for the World Cheese Awards.

I hope you all have a great beginning of the year and thank you for reading. Happy 2010.

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Cheese of the Week:Crystal Brook Farm Goat Chevre Log

For New Year’s celebration, my sister instituted a family tradition a couple of years ago. At 12:01 on the first day of the new year, you have to go out of your house with a small bag in hand and run around the nearest pole seven times. She attributes the extensive amount of travelling that she does to this tradition. My mom, Will and I have also started following it and seems like we are travelling more. Most recently we ran in Guadalajara, Mexico on our 2008 New Year’s Eve trip. Will and I have ran in Boston and in New York, convincing friends to follow us in what always is a very fun and accelerating activity for an otherwise un-climatic moment.

I love to travel, having grew up in a pre-NAFTA Mexico I find the diversity of the world full of possibilities. The one thing that I love the most about travelling is eating and finding new foods. Recently, the quest to find new local cheeses in the places I visit has open up a world never tasted before. In my recent trip to Europe, I had a layover in Reykjavik from America and found nice cheeses in the duty free area of the airport (see pictures below in the blog). I bought two bloomy rinded cheeses, one with extra blue mold making it a very cheese. The cheeses had a mixture of cow’s and goat’s milk and they claimed that the milk of these animals is unique because they eat grasses watered with glacier water. My friend Peyman, who kindly enough hosted me in London with his wife Alpha, loved the cheese and claimed that he was able to taste the tundra. Talk about an interesting terroir.

Finding local cheeses has pushed me to venture to walk on the highway interconnector in St. Louis, MO and to practice my rusty Italian with an Albanian bus driver in Milan. However, during this holiday break finding good local cheeses was easy - Will’s parents took us to the Cheese Shop in Concord, MA (http://www.concordcheeseshop.com). This little store has a great selection of world cheeses, with all the families covered. Still, the real treat was to find Massachusetts chesses.

Of four that I tried, I bought two: Crystal Brook Farm Goat Chevre Log from Sterling and Great Hill Blue from Buzzard’s Bay (Marion). I choose them because they were the most complex in flavor and I knew people would enjoy them. Will’s family likes creamy full-fat cheeses. My family likes sharp cheeses and Will and I enjoy the rounded flavors best.

Crystal Brook Farm makes this goat chevre with the milk of their own animals. The chevre is fresh, milky (lactic), and a little bit sour. Making it a great chevre to mix with food. They have a version with locally grown cranberries and another one with ginger. I did like both flavored ones, but decided to buy the plain one, as I didn’t want people to be unable to taste the freshness of the milk.

Great Hill Blue was really nicely covered with blue mold all over. I am guessing they use penicillium roqueforti because the veins were green and blue. The cheese is made with raw milk, and it was very lightly salted. It was also very fresh and the smell was full of mineral notes. The fact that this cheese is made and aged near the ocean is unique and it has a definite impact on its flavor. I really liked that it smelled like wet rock, which made me think of the rocky beaches of Massachusetts.

The goat chevre was a success and we finished almost all of it. The remaining piece may go into a quinoa/cranberry salad that we are copying from a friend who brought it for our Thanksgiving potluck.

If you want to find out more about Massachusetts cheeses, I found this link (http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/cheese.htm) while browsing for information on the cheeses that I got. It belongs to the Massachusetts Agricultural Department and has a nice list by county of cheese producers in the state.

Apart from being a great cheese, I am making goat chevre the selection of this week because any good cheese plate should start with a fresh cheese. Since this is the first choice of the year it is perfect that it starts with a cheese that is fresh, from Massachusetts (where I took my first cheese class at the Boston Center for Adult Education from the buyer at Formaggio’s) and one discovered during a trip. Come midnight of December 31st, 2009, I will be out of the door running with my suitcase to wish that 2010 brings a lot of trips to find new cheeses and interesting politics research.

Feliz Año Nuevo.

(In the picture Crystal Brook Farm Goat Chevre log is in the upper left hand corner, Great Hill Blue is in the upper right hand corner, at the bottom there is Bound for Glory Cheddar from Greensboro, VT on the left and Queso de Vaca Urgelia from Catalan Pyrenees, Spain)

Cheese of the Week: Cheese Traditions

The Christian high holidays are here, and like most other religions the preferred way to celebrate them is with a big meal. Traditions are both easy to start and easy to forget, especially those that you only have to perform once a year. But traditions that come with food are always easy to remember even if recipes change a little every year.

In Mexico, most people cook a turkey for the dinner of the 24th. When growing up we were no exception, but it was the other dishes that I remember most.

The more Spanish side of my family used to make two turkeys. One had sweet stuffing (prunes, apples and raisins) and the other had a savory stuffing (pork and almonds). But, the highlight of the meal at my uncle's house was a dish called: Bacalao de Castilla. This dish is made with six ingredients (and I should say a lot of them). First is the salted cod, which needs to be soaked for three nights to get rid of the extra salt out and loosen the fish meat off the skin. Then there are tons of garlics, olive oil, tomatoes and almonds. The cod is cooked for over six hours until most of the oil and tomato sauce has cooked off. The final touch is jalapeño peppers and the dish is a bomb of flavor, spicy, fishy, oily, garlicky and above all full of memories.

The other side of my family, the more “Mexican” not indigenous but certainly earlier settlement in the country is known for Romeritos con tortitas de camaron.

This dish is made with a plan that resembles a young rosemary, but it is less aromatic and the leaves have more cellulose therefore they are more substantial. The plant is carefully cleaned and then cooked in a rich Mole sauce. Shrimp croquettes are made too and added to the final dish as garnish. Unfortunately, neither one of my Mexican families has a cheese dish.

However, at my boyfriend’s house, the tradition includes cheese straws. But these are no regular cheese straws they are serious-cheddar-cayenne-chilly-fluffy straws. They are just amazing! For that reason this week’s recommendation are cheese traditions. If your family has one, pass it along and help me and Will start a new cheese tradition of our own.

Happy holiday.

Cheese of the Week: Stilton

The winter arrived to New York this week in full force. After having unseasonaly warm days with 60 F in November, this week it was really cold. Still no snow on the ground.

This weather makes me change my entire eating patterns. While I normally go for light food, when it gets cold outside all I want is stews, soups, and vegetables instead of fruits and tacos. My cheese cravings also change. Instead of washed and bloomy rinds, I only want hardy and blue cheeses.

Cheeses in the blue family are always my favourites and I always find an excuse to buy a piece of blue cheese to eat. I love blue cheese and red wine and Roquefort in potato & leek soup. Gorgonzola is great on toast and Bayle Hazen Blue and Cashel Blue are great introductory blues for a cheese board.

This week for my class at Murray's, I choose Stilton for the cheese plate. I normally don't think of this cheese, as it can be really salty and it is expensive. However, Stilton made it to the last round at the World Cheese Awards and it was easy to get for my class. When I tasted it, I was surprise at how well balanced it was and because the paste was moist and had blue everywhere.

People in my class seemed to like it and worked well to close the class with a familiar cheese. The flavour was described by someone as chlorine, which I attribute to the mineral notes of this cheese and not to a fault in the cheesemaking process.

The politics of this cheese are particularly English. This is the only British cheese protected with a Denomination of Origin. The regulation calls for pasteurized milk, which is strange for a DO cheese. Most other cheese making guidelines require that the milk be raw. However, for Stilton, the particular history about the creation of a British milk board was key to have pasteurization as a requierement to be certified.

In a push to industrialize and make the dairy industry more profitable, the British created a milk board that collected milk from various regions and then served as the sole national supplier. Eventually, the milk quality dropped and pasteurization was necessary to ensure nobody ot sick. This in turn created a national anxiety over raw milk and all cheesemaking techniques changed to use pasteurized milk.

Stilton is the pride of English cheesemakers, so it makes sense that a cheesemaker associated with Neal's Yard Dairy is trying to revive the original recipe made with raw milk. That cheese, however, cannot be called Stilton so it goes under the name of Stichleton. If you find it, buy it. It is amazing and really improves the flavour of the blue mold.

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Cheese of the Week: Meadow Creek Grayson

So the holiday parties are in full force. What a great excuse to eat more cheese. My idea for this year is to bring cheese for my hosts, rather than wine.

I am recommending Grayson because everyone always love it. It's creamy, stinky, meaty flavour goes great with any type of bread and with most red wines. It's square form reminds me of an Italian taleggio, but the flavor is unique. The only problem of this cheese is it's smelly nature. It is a washed rind cheese from Galax, Virginia. Last time I bought it people kept looking at me in the subway, so make sure to not buy it much in advance of you getting to your house.

The politics of this cheese are straight forward. The story is a common one of American artisanal cheeses and it is rapidly becoming a very sucessful and famous cheese. It won't take long before it becomes an export cheese.

It is made with raw milk and the family that makes it is using environmentally sustainable techniques to make their cheese. They also respect their animals and only produce cheese with milk from the normal periods of lactation, instead of injecting their cows with growth hormones to produce more milk. And only when the cows are on grass and not on silage, which makes the cheese more flavorful and there is less risk of infection from the unpasteurized milk.

Last year it won the 1st in it category at the American Cheese Society awards and it is set to become a staple of the new wave of American cheeses. When Virginia was red (Republican), I feature it in my American Cheese Politics: Blue state vs Red state class. Next year when I'm teaching again that class, I will be using it as a sample of blue state (Democratic).

On Wednesday (Dec. 9. 2009), I will be teaching a class at Murray's Cheese. I will be presenting six cheeses that made it to the supreme panel of the World Cheese Awards. The class will be about the politics of judging cheese and about the unique opportunity that we have to taste so many cheeses from such diverse traditions.

If you are interesting on what it entitles to be a cheese expert and didn't get a seat for my class, watch this video from the 2009 Caseus competition in France. (At Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvr19PsnO68)

This competition is known as the cheese Olympics. I have trained for it for many years, but I'm still looking for another Mexican national to go with me. If you know of anyone, please let me know.

Hope you enjoy Grayson and come back on Tuesday to find out on the cheeses that I will be teaching for my class.

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Cheese of the Week: Mozzarella di Buffala

It seems like my iPhone lost the post and never published it online. This is a short reproduction.

Cow's, goat's, and ewe's milk are the most commonly used type of milk in cheesemaking. However, cheese is also produced from the milk of other animals. Camel, Mare, Yak and Water Buffalo are other types. The most famous of these other four in the 'west' is Water Buffalo and perhaps the most famous cheese made with this milk is Mozzarella di Buffala.

This cheese has an Italian DO and is mostly produced in Lazio and Campania. The cheese is in the pasta filata category and is always eaten fresh. A smoked version also exist, and it is the main ingredient in pizza made in Naples.

The story of this cheese is full of myths. The most famous involving the Second World War, the Nazis and new herds of Water Buffalos. According to the story, Mozzarella stopped being produced after the war because all water buffalos were killed by the withdrawing fascist troops.

Apparently, the troops got orders to destroy the livelihoods of the farmers and this meant the killing of all farm animals. Soon after the establishment of the new republic, a herd of water buffalos was brought from South East Asia and production restarted.

In North America, only one producer uses water buffalo milk. The Vermort di Buffala company used to produce an ok mozzarella out of their facility in Woodstock, Vermont. However, since they move to Quebec in Canada, I have not seen any of their cheeses.

In New York you can get cow's milk mozzarella in most delis. They are normally produced somewhere in Brooklyn or are hand pulled in the kitchen. However, it is possible to find the water buffalo version in a couple of places. They normally come in a little green plastic bag with some whey to conserve them fresh. But if you want to eat them really fresh and are willing to put up with the guilt of a heavy carbon foot-print product, the best option is the Mozzarella bar in midtown.

The place is Obika and they have fresh Mozzarella di Buffala imported weekly from Italy. The flavor is milky with a tangyness distinctive of this milk. They also have a nice selection of meats and salads. I will be taking my partner to celebrate his birthday, and I will be taking a lactaid to be able to consume so much lactose.