In order to kick off this year, I visited a shop on Long Island just minutes away from our friend’s house where we were visiting.

Artisanal cheese has made its way to the forefront of the local food movement. Farmstead cheesemakers elevate the milk from their farms, and the rock star cheesemonger expounds upon the history, the background, and unique qualities of that particular cheese. So what is the best way to accomplish this?

Specialty cheese shops are all over New York City and surrounding areas to bring a piece of the farm to your table, but is that enough to distinguish one shop from another? If the quality of the product is essentially the same across the board, and the level of care is (in a good shop) similar as well, then what sets one shop apart from another?

You can read the rest of my post here.

Some say the best match for cheese is wine. We say those people are probably the ones who thought Buttercup should’ve stuck with Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride.

Beer and cheese is where it’s at, folks and with the holidays approaching, you may want to treat your guests and family to this killer combination. But pairing is always a challenge, and you may be asking yourselves, “But doesn’t all beer go with all cheese? Aren’t they both delicious and snackable? Why should I care about specific pairings?”

As your friendly Cork Report beer and cheese editors, we are here to demonstrate the awesome power of a fantastic beer and cheese match with a list of must-try ideas. Julia’s well versed in the classic beer and cheese matchups, but with Aaron’s off-the-hook cheese expertise are are also able to suggest more adventurous matches too. Of course, we list New York examples of all beers and mostly New York cheeses, though we did include a few out-of-state cheeses for educational purposes and diversity’s sake.

Here is the rest of this jointly written post for the NYCR: Your Ultimate Guide to Pairing Beer and Cheese

I recently had the opportunity to attend the annual Taste of the Hudson Valley. Each year, local restaurants and artisans are given the opportunity to shine as they pair a couple of dishes with wine, beer, or other beverages of their choosing. The event is always well-attended as ticket holders move from table to table, chat with local chefs, sip wine, and comment on the successfulness of a particular pairing.

It’s a great time, but the purpose of this post is not to talk about the use of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, butternut squash soup, or local wine and beer. This cheese geek found the Sprout Creek Farm table, and I was anxious to chat with the cheesemaker to delve a bit deeper behind the scenes.

You can read the rest of my post for the NYCR here.

ROB KAUFELT and Brian Ralph were standing in a cool underground bunker below Murray’s Cheese Shop in Greenwich Village, giving a visitor a tour of five temperature-and humidity-controlled cheese caves.  The man-made chambers, they said, prevent many of the things that can go wrong with cheese when it is not handled properly.

Take slipskin. If a mold-ripened cheese is stored in a place that is too humid or warm, the mold that coats the outside can “grow very aggressively,” said Mr. Ralph, 26, the cave manager at Murray’s. “It gets thicker and thicker and it peels away from the paste.”

Or if Cheddar is ripened carelessly, he said, “sometimes it can turn sulfuric, kind of rotten-eggy.”

Mr. Kaufelt, who has owned Murray’s since 1991, said, “If it’s too dry, it can crack.”

On the surface, the conversation might seem like a mere collection of scary stories about good cheese gone bad. But underneath it all, the two men were offering a glimpse into a topic that inspires both evangelical zeal and scoffing among hard-core fanatics of fromage.

Photo courtesy of the New York Cheese Manufacturers' Association

Ever since I started writing about NY Cheese for the NYCR, my interest in cheese culture from region to region has grown. How does the cheese made in NY differ from that made in VT, WI, CA, etc…  Is there a difference?  I think so.  Wisconsin is generally regarded as this nation’s “Dairy State”.  Vermont is considered by many as the ‘Napa Valley of Cheese”.  Where does New York fit into this?  As I became more entrenched in the cheese scene and culture here, more and more questions cropped up as I investigated.

“Change is difficult.  If it were easy, then everyone and everything would be perfect…”  I have heard these words (or some variation) many times throughout my life as I am sure that many of you have as well.   Making changes is a way of life for us as we strive to learn, grow, and succeed.  Now you are probably asking yourself why the Cheese Editor is waxing philosophical at the top of a post but I assure you; this speaks directly to the state of New York cheese.

For years, New York has been one of the top 5 producers of milk in this country.   Beautiful grass makes for happy cows and plenty of good milk.  Dairy farming and industrial cheese has historically been a major factor for the NY dairy-farming industry.  Years ago, this was the way of life upstate.  Dairy farms produced milk and sold it to large milk buying cities such as Manhattan.  Farming was a way of life by which the men and women working could provide for their families and live out a hard-working, yet comfortable life.

You can read the rest of my post for the NYCR here.

This past week I found myself making list after list with anything and everything that one might need in preparation for a hurricane. This is not something that my fellow New Yorkers and I have to typically think about. Ordinarily, I would dismiss the hype from the media, make a couple of sarcastic remarks about buying a month’s supply of bread and milk, and then go along my merry way. Given that we felt the aftershocks of an earthquake on the east coast just a few days before, and the storm of the century projections that Irene was garnering from far and wide, I decided that I probably shouldn’t tempt fate.

My hurricane list included all of the recommended essentials: water, batteries, scotch, beer, cheese… like I said. The essentials… Anything else is superfluous… The benefits of participating on the Point Reyes tasting panel continues to pay dividends as a package arrived on my doorstep the day before the storm hit. Inside I found a letter providing an update on the progress of the yet-to-be-named Blue. In the interim, we were sent a wedge of “Tomme” that is yet to be released. What timing! I picked up my pen and crossed cheese off the list.

You can read the rest of my post for Culture Magazine here.

Word out of Vermont is that this is the worst storm and flooding  since the 1920’s.  Villages and farms underwater, bridges washed away, and if reports are true, an institutional cheese making facility wiped out.  Pictures posted on the Consider Bardwell Farm Blog show areas completely underwater.  The video link below shows a raging torrent of water plowing through what was once Grafton Village.

We can prepare for the worst and hope for the best.  My thoughts are with all of the communities that suffered damage as a result of this weather system.  How this will have an effect on the farms and cheesemakers of the Northeast remains to be seen…

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D4HwhFIZS794&v=4HwhFIZS794&gl=US

The aroma coming off of this hit me square in the face.  It smells like a foot…  That’s right.  A foot in the middle of a dank and dark cellar filled with musty sacks and hay.  Unbelievably strong and unbelievably awesome.

I love the look of the crusted wheel with orange and brown streaks interspersed with blue and green.  Definitely needs a scrape, but pretty cool to look at.

I actually held my breath as I began to cut through the middle of the wheel with my knife.  Great density and moisture.   “Fudgy” is overused quite a bit when describing cheese, but in some cases (such as this) I find it appropriate. A cheese wire would have been ideal here as they are best used for creamy cheeses that have a tendency to stick to things (like knives with wide blades).

I didn’t know what to expect in regards to the veining.  I poked several holes throughout the wheel from top to bottom as well as side to side to create maximum veining potential.  The blue mold “activates” during the aging process once exposed to air.  By poking holes deep into the wheels with a sterilized tool (such as an ice pick), the mold propagates within and grows along the channels created.  The veining is not as extensive as I anticipated, but there is even distribution to where I am definitely satisfied.  Pretty cool.

All right.  I have to admit that I hesitated before taking a bite.  Why?  Well…look at it.  I made this…at home…in my kitchen.  Every time I encounter mold in my fridge, I usually throw the offending object into the garbage. I say ”usually,” as there are obvious exceptions.  This time, I encouraged the mold to grow.  This is what I wanted, but I haven’t done this before.  So before that first bite, I hesitated for approximately .001 seconds.

I am still smiling even as I write this.  This might be the best cheese that I have made.  I have said that a couple of times so I can only hope that as I continue to learn and refine my technique, this tells me that I am getting better.  This is a strong cheese and not for the faint at heart.  The clean flavor of the milk is not overpowered at all (love the milk from Tonjes Farm Dairy).  With the earthy broth-like quality and touch of fruity acidity on the end, there is a balance here that I don’t think I have achieved before.

In talking about cheese tasting, there is a 6^th taste or “umami” that some people mention when looking for descriptors.  It isn’t anything that you can necessarily put your finger on, but an indescribable quality that continues to tempt the palate.  This is the closest that I have come to creating something that embodies that characteristic.

My recent experience with Point Reyes has inspired me to follow a similar process.  I am going to ask some cohorts of mine to taste this cheese, write down their thoughts, and then report back.  Maybe have a couple of people guest blog?  As much as I would like to maintain objectivity, I think I have reached a point to where I need to extend beyond my comfort level in order to improve.

And speaking of comfort levels, I need to move…  I mean physically move.  My cheesemaking has officially outgrown my small apartment.  I need new digs or a friend with a house and cellar…

If you have a ticket for this coming Sunday, July 24th consider yourself lucky.  This is a great way to connect with people committed to bringing us the very best that they have to offer. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend this time; but I am already looking forward to the next.

If you have a ticket and are planning on going, let me know how it turned out!  Would love to hear from you!