Tag: Courtney Johnson
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CSAs: A New Way to Get Cheesy
Step aside, grocery stores and online shopping. The CSA is here! You may already be familiar with the acronym CSA as it relates to fruits and vegetables. CSA stands for “Community Supported Agriculture,” and it is a way for folks to buy shares of a local farm’s harvest. Think of it as everyday people helping…
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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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How to Pair Cheese and Beer
The first beverage pairing that comes to mind for many cheese eaters is wine. But humans have been eating cheese with both wine and beer for a very long time. Humans started making cheese between 6500 and 6000 BCE.[i] Then they started making the oldest-known wines in 5980 BCE[ii] and the first beers around 5000…
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It’s Been a Long Summer!
If you follow this blog, you haven’t seen a new post since May. Somehow five months passed and October has crept up on us. Summer is over, which means the high cheese season is getting ready to hit full swing. I am sorry for not posting in so long. There have been plenty of topics…
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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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Why You’ve Gotta Try Garrotxa
It’s the cheese that nobody knows how to pronounce in our goat cheese section. How do you even ask a question in English about a cheese that ends with “txa”? First of all, I recommend holding a wedge up to the cheesemonger so that he or she can see the name on the label and…
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Why Do Cheese Shops Always Sell Fig Bread and Date Cake?
“This is cheese?” That’s the question—always practically shouted, always with incredulity—we get 99-percent of the time when a customer notices our fig bread and date cake for the first time. Last week, an older gentleman even picked up a wedge, looked me square in the eye, and said, “so this is what’s become of fruitcake?”…
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The Logistics of Giving the Gift of Cheese
I was going to put together a holiday gift guide for last-minute shoppers, but I waited as long to finish writing it as I did to do my own holiday shopping—which meant it would be too late for anyone else to get their gifts in time for Christmas if they got an idea from my…
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Thanksgiving Leftovers: Will They Raclette?
We are now four days removed from the American Thanksgiving holiday. (Yes, Canadians are also Americans, but their Thanksgiving was on October 8.) If, like me, you still have a lot of leftovers in your refrigerator, there’s a high likelihood that you are growing tired of recreating last Thursday’s feast every day. I will provide…
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Sunday Pun-Day: Conversational Skills Starter Pack
It’s been a while since we’ve had a good Sunday Pun-Day on this blog. Since the last time, I’ve gotten really good at working cheesy puns into everyday conversations. Sometimes, the puns fall flat. Like when someone doesn’t know what Scamorza is. (Read this, and you, too, will know what a Scamorza is.) So, for…
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Hey Honey, Comb try these Cheese Pairings!
Honeycomb is delicious, luscious, and expensive. So you know when you are about to eat it that you want the experience to be worth the money, honey. Since cheese is also delicious, luscious, and sometimes expensive, it makes a great partner for honey and honeycombs in kind. I asked in a social media post a…
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What Happens at Cheese Camp Doesn’t Stay at Cheese Camp
Yeah, I went there—with the bad “what happens at _______ stays at ________” reference in the title AND to cheese camp. You’re welcome. [metaslider id=890] So I went to Cheese Camp last week. And if you are wondering what that means, sit tight; I’m about to tell you all about it. For the…
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Grand Ewe’s One Tough Gouda
Okay, okay. I’ve definitely gotten the memos from my readership that this blog needs MOAR VIDEOZ. And so I took some time out of my busy workday of managing a cheese shop to stop and cut the cheese–and film it for y’all. (And no, mom, I did not “glam it up” for this one. This…
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Ricotta Ice Cream Will Rock Your World
Hi, it’s me again! Ricotta’s biggest fangirl! (Don’t believe me? See exhibits A, B, C, and D, for starters.) But seriously, I just made the best batch of ice cream I have ever created, and it is thanks in no small part to the greatness of ricotta. I got the idea from a customer, actually.…
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Fresh Cheeses to Freshen up Your Summer Picnics (and Everyday Life)
Fresh cheeses are the wee babes of the cheese world, you might say. Allowed to sit for only a few days before they should be consumed, these youngest cheeses are fresh in all senses of the word. Understanding fresh cheeses requires a quick lesson in cheesemaking. The milk, which must be pasteurized if a fresh…