Weeks 27 & 28 – Catching up with Byron and Dominic

I know what you might be thinking, combining two weeks together? Kind of a copout way to stay caught up (which I am very much not). But, to be fair, we did split these up into two separate cheese nights. If only because sweet, sweet Byron went to Whole Foods, and grabbed six cheeses from their ‘odds and ends’ bin (not what it’s called but essentially what it is) and my ass walks into their apartment and immediately bitches about having to review that many cheeses. I know that sounds ungrateful (hahah un’grate’ful, am I pushing it with these cheese puns?) of me, I should be more than happy to have someone else providing the cheeses, but in my defense a good chunk of time gets devoted to reading, researching, vetting, and then taking that information and putting it into my own words. You’d be surprised how often I read something that cannot be verified anywhere else. Turns out the Internet is a web of lies. So we ended up having two cheeses one night, and the other four a few days later.

Going back to the last entry, one thing I wish I had thought about when I started this endeavor was keeping track of how much money has gone into this. Not that it’s important, I’m choosing to do this because I want to, but cheese ain’t cheap. Halfway through, even with rounding on the conservative side, and I’m certain I’ve spent easily a couple hundred dollars. It would just be interesting to know by the end of the year what the dollar total would amount to. Although, the more I think about it, the more I’m certain I don’t want to know. Which is why it’s always nice when someone else provides the cheese (and why I shouldn’t be Ms. Complainy-pants when they do).

On a side note: I have a new little cheese friend, straight from Amsterdam! Thank you Jon Allman! His name is Gus, he lives on my desk, and I will love him forever and ever. Don’t worry though, François could never be replaced in my cheesy heart.

Jon's always wanted to be featured in my blog. Bet you wish that a little less now, huh?

The cheeses: Beecher’s Marco Polo Artikaas’ Spring Cheese Igor Gorgonzola Dolce Sini Fulvi’s Pecorino Romano Rumiano Smoked Mozzarella Uniekaas Parrano Gouda

Guess I only took a picture of the first round, from left to right: Spring Cheese, Gorgonzola, Parrano Gouda, Smoked Mozzarella. (Not pictured: Marco Polo and Pecorino Romano)

Beecher’s Marco Polo: I recognized Beecher’s from their Flagship Cheddar that we tried in week 5 (and still one of the better cheddars I’ve had), and their Marco Polo cheese was just as good. Marco Polo is a hard, cow’s milk cheese of the cheddar family, with black and green peppercorns spread throughout. Named after the famous explorer, according to Beecher’s website: “[Marco Polo] celebrates the great thirteenth century adventurer Marco Polo – credited with bringing pepper and other discoveries to Europe”. That sentence quickly spiraled into me researching both the life of Marco Polo and history of pepper, and after a bunch of reading…well that’s just not true. Did Marco Polo travel to China and write about pepper in his manuscripts? Yep, absolutely. Did he introduce pepper to Europe? Not even close. Romans had many spices, including pepper, as early as 40 AD, and was documented by Pliny the Elder (who, fun fact, turns out was not a fan). Misleading

statements aside, this cheese was very good. The peppercorns complimented the buttery flavor of the cheese without being overpowering, something I wouldn’t have expected. We had it on just a plain cracker, which was good for picking out the different flavor notes, Beecher’s recommends trying it melted on a burger or with a baked potato, the latter being something I will definitely try, you can’t keep this Irish girl from her potatoes. When I do, I will be sure to let you guys know how its turns out.

Artikaas’ Spring Cheese: One of the bad things about grabbing the ‘odds and ends’ cheese is that I don’t get any background information, all I have is the what the label says. In this case, the Whole Foods label just says ‘Artikaas’ Spring Cheese’; Artikaas being the brand and Spring Cheese being the type. Here’s the thing though; from all the Internet searching I’ve done, Spring Cheese does not exist outside of Whole Foods saying it does. I mean, the Artikaas website doesn’t have it anywhere on there. Google comes up with nada, and even Whole Foods’ website doesn’t have any actual information on it. Here’s what I can tell you: Artikaas is a Dutch cheese making company that specializes in Gouda’s. I’m sure that the ‘spring cheese’ was just a special Gouda made for the season. The cheese tasted very much like a Gouda, with a smooth, buttery, caramel-like flavor, but outside of that I can’t really tell you much more!

Igor Gorgonzola Dolce: Gorgonzola! A cheese that we haven’t come across at all so far! And really that is my fault, I know I’ve said that I am not a fan of bleu cheeses, but that isn’t an excuse for me to shy away from them. Who knows, maybe I just haven’t found the right one to convert me into a believer. Gorgonzola is an Italian cheese, made with unskimmed cow’s milk, with typically a crumbly texture, and known for its blue/green ‘veining’. Originally beginning production in the ninth century, Gorgonzola began in a small farm town of the same name near Milan. At that time Gorgonzola was referred to as ‘green stracchino’ made from the milk of ‘tired’ cows, worn out from the trek down mountain pastures to the valleys; which made for a particularly soft cheese. Today, Stracchino cheese is still made in its own right, but that’s for another cheese blog. Now, Gorgonzola is produced largely in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions, with two types being produced, sweet (dolce) and spicy (piccante), which differ by the length in which they are matured. Typically Gorgonzola takes 3-4 months to ripen. In the production process, metal rods poke holes in the cheese, allowing mold spores to grow in hyphae (which in the simplest definition is a 'branching' mold), giving the cheese its blue/green veining it’s known for. Gorgonzola is also protected under PDO regulations, each wheel must be wrapped in goffered aluminum foil, without this, issued by the Consortium (aka an association of business companies), the cheese cannot be considered an official Gorgonzola. I’m not going to go into the whole taste profile of Gorgonzola, because really, that’s telling you how string cheese tastes; I’m assuming that, at some point in your life, it’s come across your taste palate before. Also, this post is getting really long and I still have three cheeses to write about. I’m lazy, sue me. (Just kidding though, don’t, I ain’t got shit for you to take anyway). P.s. – This was not the cheese to convert me into a believer.

Sini Fulvi’s Pecorino Romano: Me: *Takes bite* "Oh, well this one is for sure a sheep's milk cheese..." *Looks at wrapper to confirm* Dominic: "You can tell just by the taste?!" As it turns out, yes I can. Well, I mean, not in all cases. But as far sheep's milk goes, yeah that’s a pretty easy one. The texture

is just...different. It's not creamy like a cow's milk, or has that tinge of sour like a goat's, but has a chalky-like consistency, which I know doesn't sound that appetizing, it’s not my favorite, but that’s a good descriptor. It’s like that texture left in your mouth after eating a grapefruit. I'm not doing a good job selling it here. To be fair, it was a very good. What’s in a name? Shakespeare wrote that right? Oh wait, no, no, he did not. But you get the jist anyway. Pecorino Romano broken down is quite literally the sheep’s cheese of Rome (the Italian word pecora translates to sheep). It’s a hard, sharp, cheese, aged for 5+ months from the Sardinia Island in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s still made using traditional methods (according to ancient recipe it’s handmade into giant 65 pound wheels), and is one of Italy’s oldest cheeses. It was a staple of the diet of Roman legionaries (infantry men) since it kept well, was nourishing, and paired well with bread and soup. However, it should be noted, all Pecorino Romano is produced in Sardinia except one: Fulvi. Supposedly the most ‘genuine’ of all Pecorino Romano, Fulvi uses sheep’s milk from the Lazio region of Italy and uses the whole sheep’s milk (as opposed to Sardinia’s skimmed milk) giving it a higher butterfat context. I can’t speak for the Sardinia version, but the Fulvi was quite good. The higher fat content gives it a less salty and sweeter flavor, which sort of melts on your tongue. In taste and consistency it’s very much like a Parmigiano Reggiano and can be used similarly in dishes.

Rumiano Smoked Mozzarella: Don’t get me wrong, I love me some pizza, but Mozzarella just isn’t one of those cheeses that ‘wows’ me on the flavor side, I find it to generally be pretty bland, (although there is a lot to be said about fresh Mozzarella versus what you buy in a bag at the store, that’ll have to be its own separate post someday) but Rumiano’s smoked Mozzarella was a hugely pleasant surprise. In the 80’s Rumiano purchased a raw cheese line from RW Knudsen called “Landmark Cheese”. In addition to the cheese, it came with some equipment, including a refrigerator like box. Jack Gibson, former Rumiano Cheese innovator, thought “Hell, why don’t we smoke some Mozzarella?” Little did they know at the time that this would be a widely best seller. Today, they have since converted four walk-in smokers to keep up with high demand. They use fresh, organic, kosher Mozzarella, smoked using hickory wood chips giving it a nice, natural, smokey flavor. This was one of my favorites of the night, with the Marco Polo, and while great to be eaten on it’s own in front of the fridge at 12pm, would go great on a sandwich too.

Taken from their website, this is one of their actual smoke rooms.

Uniekaas Parrano Gouda: Gouda, Gouda, Gouda! Not going to lie, phoning this last one in. One, because I’ve reviewed a shit ton of Goudas, but also because this has been three pages worth of writing and I wouldn’t be surprised if I had already lost you. No? Still here? Well then fine. Parrano is

a semi-firm cow’s milk cheese from the Netherlands, aged for 5 months. While technically a Gouda, it’s combined with the flavor of an aged parmesan, and marketed as an ‘Italian-style’ or “Sort of Italian” cheese. It is sold under two brand names, Parrano and Prima Donna. Uniekaas is the exclusive producer of Parrano, and their main competitor Prima Donna, a trademarked by Vandersterre Groep.

And there you have it! Until next time friends, hopefully I won’t make you wait so long next time!