Category Archives: Toast Posts

July 4, 2012 · 10:21 am

Toast Post: Cravings for the Fourth of July-California’s San Joaquin Gold

San Joaquin Gold shaved onto toast

As the Beach Boys sang on a forgotten B-Side, “Wish they all could be California Cheese”.  And you will hum along too after a taste of the Fiscalini San Joaquin Gold from Modesto, CA.

It’s the salty buttery combo that is so seductive when balanced perfectly in a cheese and this one had me at first bite of this firm, aged wedge.  It will keep you captive well into a long, smooth finish.

In fact, I had to laugh at myself because I took a piece and held it up to my nose to get a sense of the aroma when suddenly it was gone! I ate it on impulse.  It was like holding a piece of ham up to my cat.

I’d better lay my cards on the table-you can’t get the San Joaquin Gold in Canada right now, but as many of us travel to the US I figured it might be a good one to enter into you TO DO list on the iPhone or Blackberry (or jot on a piece of paper that you will find 2 years from now in your denim capris).

Above is the label for your shopping reference.  You can see the cheese is farmstead, made from the milk of the Fiscalini’s own cows.  They are very proud that their milk standards exceed even the California State Standards and “cleaner” than organic.  The farm is animal welfare certified, environmentally certified and powered by renewable energy produced on-site.  This cheese is made from raw milk in 32 pound wheels and typically aged about 16 months.  The one I had was a bit older–from March 30, 2010.

The slightly “blueing” on the far edge of the cheese is simply a small crack where oxygen and natural bacteria snuck in. Nothing to worry about.

The cheese has a similarity to Parmigiano Reggiano and was originally created to be a Fontina-style product which ended up evolving into something rather unique.  The Fiscalini’s refer to the Joaquin Gold as their “Gold Medal Mistake” (winning Gold at the World Cheese Awards in London 2004/2005).  As it ages the cheese develops the tasty and crunchy tyrosine crystals and develops some toasted nutty notes.

Snack on it, grate it, melt it, travel with it.  This cheese is extremely versatile.

Fiscalini Clothbound Cheddar, 18 month–Fred Lum, The Globe and Mail

And while your mouth is watering you CAN get the amazing Fiscalini Clothbound Cheddar here in Canada (Sobey’s carries it).  For more details you can read my ravings in this Spread piece (because it really deserves to be raved about.).  Cheesemaker Mariano Gonzales, who honed his skills at Shelburne Farms in Vermont (where he created one of the first American clothbound cheddars) is responsible for the Fiscalini clothbound but credit for the San Joaquin’s creation goes to Tom Putler.

The San Joaquin gold is vegetarian friendly as it is made with a microbial rennet (and has a natural rind).  (The clothbound is also made with microbial rennet but rubbed with lard before being bandaged).

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May 16, 2012 · 6:00 am

Ticket Giveaway for The Artisan Cheese and Fine Food Fair June 2/3

I’m very excited to be have two passes (courtesy of the The Great Canadian Cheese Festival) to give away for their Artisan Cheese and Fine Food Fair which takes place in Prince Edward County on June 2 and 3.   This is the second annual event and numbers for the Food Fair will be capped each day so these are hot little tamales.

Monforte Dairy’s triple-cream Bliss and hand-churned butter will be available at the event.

If like me, the above cheese board is your perfect meal, you won’t want to miss the Food Fair where you will find over thirty artisanal and farmstead cheese makers from across Canada plus a dairy farm for the kids (I  plan to leave my son in the care of a responsible–but fun-loving–goat), a food court and 80 exhibitors in total showcasing their wares.

These two tickets are worth $80 and with admission you get:

-10 tasting tickets

-a souvenir Festival cooler bag for cheese purchases  (this is much better than a leather purse, trust me)

-free parking at the Crystal Palace where the event is being held

-and you can sit in on the All You Need is Cheese seminars being put on by Dairy Farmer’s of Canada  (and taught by Deborah Levy who is fantastic and very knowledgeable)

Here is a link to FEATURED WINERIES, CRAFT BREWERS and ARTISAN FOODS.

Sandbanks Winery, PEC image from About.Com

And if you’ve never been to Prince Edward County, you really must try to see it.  It is a perfect weekend away.

There is also a COOKS AND CURDS gala on the evening of June 2 which features Canadian chefs cooking with Canadian cheese, paired with local brews and wine.  The first sitting is sold out but the second sitting is still open.

Information about getting tickets to everything (but obviously you’re going to win these) is available on the festival site as is accommodation information.  See you there!

HOW TO WIN:

If you think you’d like to attend simply email me at thespread@globeandmail.com with the subject heading CHEESE FESTIVAL GIVEAWAY and I will do a draw next Tuesday, May 22 and mail you the tickets if you win.

Good luck and please spread the word, forward this, tell your friends to pass on information about this amazing event.   Much appreciated.

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April 18, 2012 · 6:00 am

Toast Post: Alberta’s Farmstead Buffalo Mozzarella

I had the pleasure of not only feasting on the above delicacy from Old West Ranch in Alberta, but I also had an amazing conversation with farmer and cheesemaker James Meservy.  At the end of it I was convinced he should host his own radio show, the man is a natural story teller.   But part of it is that he has an amazing story to tell.

You can read the piece in my article  in today’s Globe and Mail, but I never have the space I wish I had to full tell a cheesemaker’s story…….so here’s a little bit about James, his wife Debbie and their journey to cheesemakerdom (they started off as beef farmers) which didn’t make it into the piece.

Patch the Water Buffalo, in the rain. Photo by James Meservy.

In 2003 “mad cow disease” had killed the beef industry and by 2007 the Meservy’s were selling off cattle to make bank payments (therefore cutting revenue at the same time).  They had to do something drastic, “So naturally I thought, we’ll get water buffalo, isn’t that what everyone does?”  says Mr. Meservy.  He’d been fascinated with the animals since he discovered mozzarella was made from their milk during a childhood game of Trivial Pursuit and had already been researching the idea for a number of years. The couple encountered many stumbling blocks—from difficulty sourcing the water buffalos and once acquired, losing precious animals to illness.  When he finally saw his big, spunky beasts for the first time, Mr. Meservy only half-jokes that his stomach sank “ I thought, I’m going to get killed, I can’t survive that.”

With no formal training other than a home cheese book and a half-day spent at a Vermont mozzarella plant he made his first batch of cheese in March 2010.  Popping 10 balls of mozzarella into a jar he started canvassing Calgary restaurants.  The response was overwhelmingly positive, his mozzarella is now on the menu at the renowned River Café (among others) and sold at Janice Beaton Fine Cheese. 

James’ (and his family’s) perseverence seems like it could move mountains.  Perhaps typical of many agricultural families.   His cheese is pretty amazing.  James says he’s not trying to replicate the Italian version, he’s doing his own thing.  His goal was to create a more robust expression of the flavours normally found in buffalo mozarella and I think he really succeeded.

Take the lid off one of the containers of his cheese and just the wonderful, fresh, milky aroma will convert you.

Contact James Meservy at farm@oldwestranch.ca

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March 31, 2012 · 2:15 pm

Toast Post: Merlot Bella Vitano for your weekend munching

I only had enough change for a skinny piece!

Wine and cheese in the same package.  Perfectly portable and legal for the underage too.  I didn’t know that the award-winning Merlot Bella Vitano ( from Sartori cheese in Wisconsin) was gettable up in these parts.

But I went to the new Leslieville Cheese on Donlands and there it was.  It’s referred to as a cheddar-parm hybrid in some reviews and does have the creamy quality and acidity of cheddar mixed with the savoury, sweet crunch of the Reggiano.  In this one you also get a bit of that fermented grape tang.

I asked the cheese monger to write the other flavours on my cheese package/notepad–it also comes washed in raspberry ale, balsamic vinegar and rubbed with espresso.  If you like the coffee-cheese idea you can also get the delicious lavender/espresso rubbed Barely Buzzed from Sobeys.  Or you can read about my coffee and cheese pairing experience here.

Have a fantastic weekend!

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March 14, 2012 · 6:00 am

Toast Post: Tomme de Savoie (can keep you skinny)

Sometimes we fall in love with a food, eat it endlessly and then forget about it for months (or years like my Supernatural Brownie recipe).  That is what I felt like when I bought a wedge of Tomme de Savoie recently.  In fact I thought, really, I forgot about this?  I mean look at this guy–he couldn’t be more photogenic.  And more pokeable than the Pillsbury Dough Boy. The paste is so rich and unctuous that it holds promise of creamy fullness making it impossible not to touch.

The word “Tomme” refers to small to medium-sized alpine-style cheeses from France and usually the region’s name is attached (Savoie in this case).  The word Tomme is used also used a bit more freely to describe a smaller style of cheese which is good for ageing, has a rustic rind and a semi-soft interior.  These “other” Tommes can be found in Canada (such as Tomme de Grosse Île and Tomme Haut Richelieu).  Originally a Tomme would be made from the milk of several different herds, not just from one farm, but always from animals that grazed in the same region.  (Thank you Steven Jenkins and Max McCalman for this last bit of information.)   I also have read that these smaller “Tommes” originated to use the the skim-milk left over from bigger, richer cheeses like Beaufort.

In case you wanted to get closer. And kiss it.

Tomme de Savoie is a raw, cow’s milk cheese (bask in its beautiful colour) and it has a thick, rustic inedible rind.  I can just picture this cheese in my pocket when cross-country skiing or in my hand at the kitchen counter while I procrastinate from cross-country skiing.  You’ll get flavours from the pastures the cows’ grazed in, a slight herbaceous, grassy quality with nutty milky notes and a beefy mouth feel to match its earthy, pungency.

AND, because you will want to eat a tonne of it (or a tomme of it! drum roll pls) , since it is still traditionally made with skim-milk it actually a lower-fat cheese (with high-fat flavour).

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January 18, 2012 · 3:21 pm

Toast Post: Fromage Fort

Today I wrote a piece in the Globe about a spread called Fromage Fort.  Without repeating myself (as you can simply read the actual piece), I thought I would expand a little on the recipe that is in the Globe and tell you the specific cheeses that I blended to make two versions of the spread as I was testing it.

This makes such a fabulous grilled cheese or quick meal just broiled on baguette that I almost had to stop myself from eating it twice a day (I didn’t stop myself though, that would be wrong).

And my cheese drawer is suddenly SO spacious.  I feel some cheese shopping coming on….

Yep, 5 or 6 of these and contentment is yours.

TRIAL 1:

The first trial was made of actual leftover cheese in my fridge.  I used:

2 oz Stilton (blue)

3 oz Pierre Robert (soft, triple creme)

2 oz Garottxa (hard)

2 oz asiago (firm)

handful parsley

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup white wine

lots of fresh ground pepper

So, just about an even ratio of everything though I threw is some extra Pierre Robert that was leftover on the cutting board.  (Why  did I not just eat it?  Oh the willpower I possess.)

Then I just buzzed it for 30-60 seconds in the food processor til completely combined and it was done.

TRIAL 2

Same wine, pepper, herbs and garlic, I went out and bought specific bits of cheese for this one:

2 oz Abondance (firm)

2 oz old cheddar (firm)

2 oz Munster (soft, washed rind)

3 oz Brie (soft)

This version was quite strong (though the blue in the first batch really spoke out) but it was a little more pungent due to the Munster.

But again–I find when melted the flavours mellow out a bit (not if you ask my husband about the Munster version though!)

TA-DAAAAA!!!!!!

I know I am going on about this, but it is truly some of the easiest and most rewarding “cooking” I have done.   And it all has to do with cleaning out the fridge.  Two birds…lots of cheese bits.

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December 21, 2011 · 11:03 am

Toast Post: Cheese Wedges to Fill Your Stocking Toe


There’s always too much good cheese and not enough space in my Globe column to include it all so I’ve listed a few other cheesy ideas below (with advice from our local cheese mongers in Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver).

SOBEYS (Ontario)

Fiscalini Ageing Rooms (photo from Fiscalinicheese.com)

Fiscalini, Clothbound Cheddar:

Andy Shay, the cheese buyer at Sobeys has just brought this California cheese into stores within the last week.  Made in traditional English style, this cheddar is a world-class award winner (including “outstanding Cheese of the Year”).  I’ve been looking forward to this one like, well, like a kid at Christmas.  (Also ask for it at Les Amis du Fromage in Vancouver)

Juliet Harbutt’s Line of British Cheese:

(For a detailed list of the whole line see my post on British Cheese)

Specially picked for best quality (and also keeping in mind being stored at a larger retailer) all these cheeses are fairly hardy and can be left out for an afternoon of nibbling.  The Stilton is made by Cropwell Bishop who make some of the most outstanding examples of this product.

A TASTE OF QUEBEC (Toronto)

Pied De Vent (photo from fromagesduquebec.qc.ca)

Located in the beautiful Distillery District the store carries only Quebec products.  Aside from amazing cheese you can get Quebec honey, charcuterie, preserves and lots of other easy to prepare nibbles.  Suzanne at the store recommended the following:

Pied de Vent

The name of this cheese refers to the sun’s rays peeking through the clouds. It has a copper-coloured rind and buttercup yellow paste. Until recently, Pied de Vent was only available in Quebec. This luscious cheese has a supple paste with a full, meaty aroma. The flavours are buttery, robust and nutty. A great after-dinner cheese all by itself.  (Also at Loblaws Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, and Les Amis de Fromage, Vancouver)

La Tomme des Demoiselles

A hard pressed  cheese aged more than 6 months with salty and fruity flavours.  Made by the producers of Pied-de-Vent and also raw milk.

EVERYTHING CHEESE (Edmonton)

Chaource (photo from aritisinalcheese.com)

The scoop from Tania and Lydia at this great new (just over a year old) cheese shop in Edmonton is the following:

Chaource

This decadent double-creme is made in France’s Champagne region and is the perfect pairing for your bubbly.

Gingha Fruit Cheese

This  “Scottish Pear” is made with a mix of Scottish cheddar, cream cheese and pear Schnapps. It is formed in the shape of a pear and covered in wax.  (See how easy it is to eat more fruit?)

They also carry Shropshire Blue and classics like Epoisses, Valencay (so gorgeous on a cheese board), and Robiola (Heaven is a gooey Robiola).

LES AMIS DU FROMAGE (Vancouver)

Cropwell-Bishop Stilton

Allison at Les Amis was kind enough to stop and email me some ideas in between the holiday rush.  I’m putting my money on the Ported Stilton– apparently it’s going very fast!

Ported Stilton

The right way to marry your port and Stilton–have a professional do it.  “We pierce the outside of the Stilton and pour Port into the wheel, we start at the beginning of November and give it at least 6 weeks,” says Allison.

Goat Cheeses

They have lots of fabulous little goat cheese with fresh ash, Espelette peppers, aged pyramids, logs buttons, leaf-wrapped and soaked in Marc.

(these types of goat cheese are so lovely they must be seen to be appreciated, go immediately)

Mountain Cheeses

My favourite  cheese category–they’ve got lots reports Allison,  including Abondance from Savoie and Le Marechal from Switzerland.

BLUE CHEESE

Blue Juliette (photo from Provincial Fine Foods)

Today’s column, The Spread was based around Stilton and Roquefort and blues in general.  It was quite a struggle to whittle down, and here are a few other blues that you might consider (amongst dozens!  I know!)

Blue Juliette, pasteurized goat, BC

This soft, creamy, shadow of a blue is made from goat milk and hails from Salt Spring Island, BC.  There ‘s no oxygen allowed into the interior of this soft-ripened cheese so the mold only develops in a lace-like blue/green pattern on the rind.  Beautiful on a cheese board and only mildly feisty.

Montbriac (also known as Roche Baron), pasteurized cow, France

If Cambozola’s been your blue cheese compromise, ditch it for a sexy French ally.  A brie-like bloomy rind cheese that gets silky and runny when ripe, its exterior is a striking charcoal colour due to the ash covered rind.  Blue mold is minimal but creates a rich, tangy flavour with a hint of spice.

Erborinato al Cacao e Rum, raw cow, Italy

Tis the season of pampering, and if you’re hoping to indulge your guests look no further than this Erborinato from Italy’s Piedmonte region.  This blue is Infused with 8-yr old rum and coated in cocoa powder.  A hard-to-get cheese with an appropriate price tag, it’s currently available at Toronto’s Cheese Boutique. 

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December 7, 2011 · 12:02 pm

Cheese Whiz: British Cheese Tasting with Juliet Harbutt

That’s a half-wheel of Stilton (producer is Cropwell-Bishop)  staring you straight in the face.  And holding it is Juliet Harbutt, British cheese guru and knower of all things cheese-related. (There, I think I’ve deftly summed up Juliet’s dense full page resume of achievements).  Juliet, among many other things, started the British Cheese Awards in 1994 to help recognise excellence in British cheese.  She was in town last week (at The Cookbook Store) promoting a selection of British cheeses in Canada.

The entire selection consists of sixteen traditional cheese that have been consistent medal award winners at the British Cheese Awards. Only about 30% of 900 entries each year garner a medal and 22 “rise to the top” says Juliet.   Sobey’s is carrying six of her sixteen choices exclusively at their stores. (There is a bonus 7th cheese on the plate below)

So shall we get on with our tasting?

Starting at NOON (with the vibrant orange Red Leicester and moving clockwise)

1. Red Leicester

This was interesting for me.  I love Red Leicester and usually only buy the farmhouse clothbound version.  Tasting it next to the larger scale industrial version, there is no comparison.  But Juliet introduced us to this younger non-clothbound version which is made at a big creamery, but using artisinal methods.  It is made by The Pembrokeshire Cheese Company, a farmer’s cooperative in West Wales.

This wedge was younger than what I was used to but still had the savory-sweetness that intensifies as it ages.  Beautiful on a cheeseboard and easier to slice for a snack (or sandwich) when it is softer and younger.

2. Creamy Lancashire

Have you ever had a cheese and thought it was so-so and thus never tried it again?  (bad–don’t ever do that. Give Cheese a Chance)  I did that with Lancashire.  I had a crumbly, drier wedge one time and gave up.  This has me converted.  It’s buttery, tangy and richly mouth-coating.  Made with a loose curd, you can see the delineations where they been pressed together to form the cheese.  I mention Lancashire in my Globeholiday cheese column ….(PLUG!)  Juliet described the Lancashire as having a “raw onion tang”

3. Double Gloucester

Hailing from Lancashire England, the producer of this Double Gloucester is Butler’s Farmhouse Cheese.  It is made using traditional methods in open vats, cloth bound and matured for up to 8 months.  There is a slight hint of orange-pink to the paste as it is coloured with annato (a natural colouring from a South American seed also used in orange cheddar and the Red Leiscester).  Dense, nutty and firm textured.

Pale Orange Double Gloucester

4. Oak Smoked Lyburn Farms

Loved this one.  The smoke is subtle and delicate.  It’s naturally flavoured over oak chips and the milk comes from the cheesemaker’s own farm.  The cheeses has a caramel coloured rind and will win you over if you’ve been turned off by over-smoked fellows that leave a campfire in your mouth.

5. Wyfe of Bath

This was the “bonus” cheese and is not available at Sobey’s.  Wyfe of Bath is a creamy, buttery cheese made from organic milk and molded in cloth-lined baskets..   Juliet’s  identified a “rubber boot aroma” (that sharp, pleasant new-ness).

6. Special Reserve Shropshire Blue

The bright orange blue cheese on the upper left of the plate is the Shropshire Blue.  Made at Cropwell Bishop (as is the Stilton) it’s based on the Stilton recipe but was actually created in Inverness, Scotland in 1970.  Annato gives it its colour.  Peaks  at 3 months.  Not as strong as Stilton you still get buttery, cocoa notes and a real punch of colour on the cheese board.

Half-Stilton

7. Special Reserve Stilton

Only five producers make Stilton. Cropwell Bishop is one of them and the family has been making Stilton for over three generations.  Milk suppliers are hand-picked to ensure the quality of this famous cheese.  Also peaking at 3 months, this 13 week old piece was buttery, spicy with a dark cocoa flavour on the finish. You can see the beautiful, and typical “shattered porcelain” veining in the piece Julia is holding at the top.  Stilton is a dense cheese so the blue veining spreads in a finer, spidery pattern than seen in a looser blue like Roquefort.

Finally, if you’re looking for a great reference book of the cheese sort, The World Cheese Book edited by Juliet is great.  You can just have it sit by the bedside and nightly flip through pictures and well-written, succinct information about the world’s major cheeses.

Then you will hop out of bed for a midnight snack.

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December 1, 2011 · 11:38 am

Centre Ice is now the Tuna Aisle (but the cheese wall makes you forgot your woes)

The line-ups were back outside Maple Leaf Gardens yesterday.  I arrived at 7:15am for the Loblaws grand opening, shocked to be greeted by a cue of people winding from Church Street back towards Yonge.  Loblaws employees were handing out muffins and tea and media were huddled outside the entrance waiting to witness the reveal of what one photographer referred to as an “airport-size” grocery store.

For nostalgia’s sake, here is centre ice (check out the funky orange grocery carts, might help the sadness melt away).  At least canned tuna is puck sized.

I don’t know if it’s cool or uncool to like this store.  But, I liked it.  I would like shopping here–it’s a grocery store, has all the same products you expect (from detergent to Cambpell’s soup) but caters to foodies without the price tag of Whole Foods.  So, certain products are more luxurious…..look at the dried mushrooms on offer (the fresh mushrooms were also amazing).

Realistically many of the shoppers here will be Ryerson students who can still find KD, diet coke and Mr. Noodle.  And maybe pick up a caramel cupcake at the cupcake wall (they’re big on the food walls here).  I should mention they make their own donuts in the bakery.  Apparently the recipe began at Zehrs and word is they are pretty good for dunkin’.

Loblaws is also trying to cater to ethnic tastes and have incorporated T&T to set up a sushi bar and have some of its products for sale.  Plus, there is a section just for asian greens. I love that this could be part of my everyday shopping.  (cuz I need more variety of vegetables going bad in my crisper–how I hate myself sometimes…)

Another nice touch is the ability to pay for items in each section of the store.  You can buy a juice at the juice bar, pay for your cheese at the cheese counter.  Makes shopping more efficient and if you forget an item (and I always forget an item) you don’t have to go back through checkout at the front of the store.

The aisles are wide–here’s a shot of the produce department from the upstairs kitchen (where all the “to go” food is prepared daily.  The chef told us that their goal -though they do work with Second Harvest–is to only make as much food as they will sell in a day.)  There is a butcher and fishmonger off to the left.

In a first impression I tweeted that the space was like a loft– it’s open, industrial, when you walk in they’ve kept part of the original wall from the Gardens.  There’s a sculpture made from the chairs in the original stadium in the shape of a Maple Leaf.   But— let’s get to that cheese wall.

Pretty impressive, right?  I kind of imagined it more open–like maybe I could actually climb it, finding toeholds amongst wedges of Gruyere and Comte.  But, this will do.

What is actually most impressive (and I hope this is kept up) is the quality of the cheese.  In the display case across from “the wall” were many soft and semi-soft cheese, all looking very ripe but the rinds still intact and in great shape. This is tricky at a large retailer when often you have to prepackage this type of cheese in unbreathable saran wrap.

Voila–they have introduced–breathable cheese paper for your fresh cut product. (Sobeys is hoping following suit–retail revolution people!!)

The cheese department here  will cut cheese on demand.  You can still reach into the fridges (those are sliding doors in the picture) and quickly grab a pre-cut piece of Mimolette (yes, they have Mimolette.  SCORE!) or cheddar.  But you can also turn around and have wedges cut smaller or request a taste.

On opening day Gurth Purdy (the cheese buyer and passionate supporter of artisinal cheese) and his team were cracking full parmesan wheels in the traditional way.  Check out this short demo from Whole Foods.  Quite an art.

They also are the exclusive Ontario carrier of a soft washed-rind, raw milk, Quebec cheese called Pied-de-Vent.  it used to be snuck into the province years ago but was not federally licensed.  It looked droolingly delicious.

Living in the east end, I’ll probably be sticking to my hood for the groceries but with a large parking lot beneath the store I might just head over from time to time to stroll the aisles. There’s a Joe Fresh and LCBO upstairs too. Eat, dress, drink.

No word yet if you can bring in a hockey stick for a quick face-off with some canned salmon.

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November 7, 2011 · 11:14 am

Toast Post: Black Label 8-Year Old Cheddar

Yes, I’m on a bit of a President’s Choice kick this week, I’m trying out some of the new Black Label line.  Today for breakfast I cracked open the 8-year old cheddar.

The PC cheddars are made for Loblaw by Mapledale and I’ve been a fan for a while.  Their 1 and 2-year-old cheddars are a staple in my cheese drawer.  Mellow but flavourful and I love the creamy finish.

This 8 yr old packs a wallop of flavour from first bite. It has the expected “sharpness” of an aged cheddar though I hesitate to use the word as I sometimes associate that with a higher acidity or hints of  bitterness in some older cheeses. This guy is very smooth and rounded.  Not so crumbly that it won’t hold its shape when sliced and it melts in the mouth to a creamy, delicate finish. I think this is perfect for pairing whether on a cheese board with a chutney or made into a sandwich with some Branston pickle.

The label says this cheddar is made from unpasteurized milk which I take to mean thermalized (still heat-treated but a gentler process).

Price?  Probably around $12-$13.  And in the case of this elderly gent, a little goes a long way.

(The cheese is reading over my shoulder and is offended by being called elderly.  I’m more freaked out that it can read.  Well, what else are you going to do sitting around in an ageing room for eight years, responds the cheese.  He recommends “The Sisters Brothers” for the 2011 Giller Prize by the way.)

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