Tag: cheese education
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Get Your Goat with Queso Ibores
One of the most frequent requests we receive at my cheese counter is for raw-milk goat cheese. While there are plenty of raw-milk options among our cow’s milk cheeses, there are ridiculously few options in the sheep-and-goat set. We recently brought in a cheese to help fill the void—and add a bit of color to…
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10 Intimidating Cheese Names and How to Say Them
A specialty cheese counter can be an intimidating place. You walk up and are presented with 400 different types of cheese all sitting together, begging for your attention. If you don’t know what you want, it can be a struggle to pick something out from the multitude before you. (Luckily, that’s what cheesemongers are for—to…
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What in Consternation is a Tomme?
Literature nerds may chuckle softly to themselves at the title question, “what in consternation is a Tomme?” Even the Oxford Companion to Cheese starts its explanation of the name with a reference to words: “The name most likely derived from the Greek word tomos or the Latin tomus, meaning a cut, slice, or section of…
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A Wisconsin Cheese Journey: Part 3
[This is the final post in a three-part series on the Cheesemonger Invitational winners’ trip to Wisconsin in October. You can read the first part here and the second part here.] My third full day in Wisconsin started off by jolting me with the hard, cold reality that I had already acquired a lot of…
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Fantello Farmstead Creamery: A New Washington Cheesemaker to Know
It was a grayish, early spring day in western Washington when I set out to spend my day off doing what I do best: getting cheesy. I drove from my home in Federal Way through the town of Auburn and into an agricultural area beyond that I had never before explored. The space between Auburn…
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The Non-Melting Cheese That Should Be a Staple in Your Kitchen
One of my favorite cheese puns is a joke about Halloumi: “What does cheese say when it looks in the mirror?” “Hallou-mi!” I’m not just a fan of this pun because it teaches you how to pronounce the name of a cheese that is obviously sassy and feeling itself, but also because it is about…
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How to Tell if a Cheese is for Cooking or Just Eating
Here’s a conversation that happens at least once every hour at the cheese counter: Cheesemonger: “Let me know if I can answer any questions for you.” Customer: “Yeah, I’m looking for a cheese that will go well on crackers.” Cheesemonger: “Well, you’ve come to the right place. Everything you see is good with crackers.” [Customer…
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How to Pair Cheese & Chocolate for Valentine’s Day (or Any Day)
Cheese and chocolate pairings don’t always work. But when they do, the combination can be magical. I will admit that I haven’t always been a fan of putting cheese and chocolate together (in fact, I have admitted it before). But here I am, a person who co-teaches cheese and chocolate pairing classes at Theo Chocolate…
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What It’s Like Competing in the Cheesemonger Olympics
Last month, on January 13 and 14, I competed in the olympics of cheesemongering. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen posts about the Cheesemonger Invitational (#cmisf). The invitational usually happens twice a year, during the Fancy Food Show. The winter edition is in San Francisco in January, and the…
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A Resolution for 2019 That We Can All Do
It’s that time again: out with the old, in with the new; a fresh start; a renewed sense of [insert deep internal need/desire here]; time to lose weight, get more sleep, be more productive, and do it all. Did someone say “New Year’s resolution?” Now, I don’t know too many people who actually set New…
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Pairing Chocolate and Cheese at the 2018 Northwest Chocolate Festival
This past weekend, one of the largest chocolate conventions in the world took place in a cruise-ship terminal on the southern crest of Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood. The Northwest Chocolate Festival, which celebrated its 10th year, hosted hundreds of exhibitors from around the globe and a steady stream of hour-long chocolate education sessions that took place…
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There’s White Stuff Growing on Your Cheese That Isn’t Mold
Two weeks ago, one of my best friends and ex-cheese comrades, Chelsea, brought our old mentor/boss-lady, the illustrious Kim Martin, into the shop. Neither of them had visited us before, and it was pretty exciting to show them around our little corner of the co-op. As they were getting ready to leave, Chelsea pulled me…
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What do you ask a cheesemonger?
“Where’s your bathroom?” – That’s the No. 1 question I answer all day, every day at work. Despite the mundaneness of turning people back to the front of the store from whence they came, it is but one of many questions a cheesemonger anticipates every day. Often times, people walk right up to you with…
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What is the Difference Between Chèvre and Goat Cheese?
“Where’s your goat cheese?” I answer this question at least three times a day at work; my response is usually not immediately helpful to the person asking. “Here is our goat cheese section in the cheese case, and over here we have two shelves of goat cheese on this wall. Is there a specific type…
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Parmesan vs. Parmigiano: What’s the Difference?
I grew up consuming Parmesan that came out of a green shaker. It was grated, it was white, and it went on top of spaghetti, lasagna, manicotti, cannelloni, and pizza. As a child, I was fearful of tomato-based foods. (I have no idea why; I just knew mom was trying to poison me every time…