Week 19 – Creamy Toscano cheese soaked in Syrah, guest starring Dominic

For cheese night this week Dominic came over to catch up and watch some Six Feet Under (seriously, how have I not watched this show before?!) He and Byron and moving out at the end of the month and I am endlessly bummed. Who is going to lend me measuring cups because for some reason I don’t already own a pair? Who’s going to open jars when I’m not strong enough? Or make sure I’m still alive if I haven’t logged on to Facebook Messenger for 19 hours? My only hope is some hot, straight, unmarried guy will move in, but, probably not, since Portland doesn’t seem to have any of those.

When I research cheese’s it can go two ways: either the cheese has been around for centuries and there’s a ton of information for me to research, or, it’s a newer/niche-produced cheese and information is harder to come by. I try to always have more than resource, but in the case of the Toscano we’ll all just have to take Trader Joe’s word on it.

The creamy Toscano is a cow’s milk cheese from Wisconsin, soaked in Trader Joe’s own Syrah. The Syrah gives the rind a beautiful plum coloring, but impacts the flavor of the cheese very little. They

describe their cheese as having “nutty flavor of an aged Parmesan with the creamy texture of a farmstead Cheddar” and recommend pairing it pears or apples. We paired it with a fine bottle of two buck Chuck and chocolate coconut covered almonds (which are frighteningly addicting). It’s a harder cheese, with a crumbling texture, and a sharp and salty flavor. While a great standalone cheese (Dominic and I happily munched away while watching the Fisher family and their crazy antics) TJ’s recommends grating over pasta or melting over apples and a French baguette.

I promise next week will be a more exciting entry, my mom flies into Portland tonight so cheese plans are afoot!