Tag: cheese education
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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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What You Need to Know About White, Fuzzy Rinds
The other day, a mother and her pre-teen daughter were in the shop buying cheese. In our soft-ripened cow’s milk section (which is not labeled as such), the mom picked up a small wedge and put it in their basket. “Mom, why does it say Bloomy?” the daughter asked, peering at the cheese’s label. “I…
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The Truth About Pairing Cheese and Fruit
One of the most common questions cheesemongers get from customers is a varietal of “what fruit goes with this cheese” or “what cheese goes with the [insert fruit here] that I just picked up?” A lot of people are only imagining fruit when they ask you for a good pairing for a certain cheese. Why,…
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In the Buff—That Other Type of Cheese Milk
We’ve got cow, goat, and sheep on our radars when it comes to cheese. But what about that other ruminant animal? Buffalo milk is not among the most common milks used in western cheesemaking, but it is an important source of deliciousness. Perhaps the most famous of all buffalo milk cheeses to American audiences is…
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Trick-or-Treat! Don’t Forget the Cheese (Platter)
Whether you are heading out for an early evening of trick-or-treating with some tiny humans or staying in to hand out candy, Halloween is an excellent night for a cheese platter. And no, it’s not too late to throw something together, even if you are at work during all of the daylight hours. After all,…
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Three Reasons to Treat Yo-self to a Cheesemaking Class
About a year and a half ago, we hired a new baby cheesemonger named Janna at the shop I worked at in West Seattle. One of her previous cheese qualifications was that she had taken a cheesemaking workshop from another local grocery store, PCC Community Markets. Listening to Janna talk about the class, it seemed…
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Why You Need to Try Tête de Moine, the Tiniest Mountain Cheese
You know it is autumn when your cheese shop bulks up on Alpine-style cheeses. The summer’s proliferation of fresh cheeses and backpacker-ready goudas has been shrunk to a minimum. Meanwhile, Gruyère mountain grows in the “Swiss cheese” side of the case. It is as sure a thing as the leaves changing colors or pumpkin spice-flavored…
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A Tale of Cheese as Old as Time
Not too long ago, one of my dear readers submitted a question to the blog (something anyone can do, by the way; it’s nice to get a message from someone who isn’t a spambot). That question was as follows: Can a cheese be too old to eat? The question was prompted by the video I…
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Feta Makes Everything Better
There’s a common saying in our household: “Feta makes it betta!” And let’s face it, it’s absolutely true. A salad is not a “good” salad unless it is covered in crumbled Feta. Fish tacos are not quite as fresh-tasting without Feta. And mindless snacking is just not the same unless you are able to pick…
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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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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…
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Burrata: The Dumpling of Cheeses
Burrata and I have had a complicated relationship since my time in the cheese biz. That’s because it hasn’t always sold the way it was expected, or at least hoped, to sell. In the first cheese shop I worked at, I didn’t really understand what Burrata was. I stocked the few cases we received, it…
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Spring Cheeses: What They Are and Why You Should be Eating Them Now
I’ve written briefly in the past about summer- and winter-milk cheeses—wherein two wheels of the same type of cheese will look and taste differently because of what the animal was eating during the time of year when its milk was collected to make the cheese. But there are more than two seasons in a year,…
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How to Really Taste Cheese (and Other Foods)
More than a week has passed quietly on The PhCheese blog. Why? Because the cheese doc has been dealing with some afflicted sinuses. Springtime is beautiful to behold, but terrible to inhale. When the sore throat, runny nose, and hives turn suddenly into a stuffy, hard-of-hearing, difficulty speaking, excuse-me-I-need-to-blow-my-nose-yet-again mess, there is more at stake…