Cheese Terms

Here is my article from last week's cheese newsletter.

With Halloween behind us, it's time to take down those spooky decorations and start considering family gatherings, dinner parties and gift exchanges. One of my favorite things about visiting my brother's family in France, especially during the holidays,  is that no matter how many courses or dishes are served up there is always a cheese plate. No exception. Wedges, wheels and bricks are arranged on the platter and presented simply with bread and yet another generous pour of red wine. C'est la vie!

If you find yourself hosting a holiday dinner party in the next couple of months, a cheese platter will appease your guest's growling bellies and buy you some time while you put finishing touches on the meal. Or it can serve as a fuss-free 'dessert' course. Putting together a plate is easy and requires almost no prep time! If you are attending a dinner party, specialty cheese also makes a great gift for the host or the foodies on your holiday shopping list.

For a cheese plate worth gathering around, follow these simple rules.

1.Keep it simple. Stick with 3-5 types of cheese, too many may become overwhelming to your guests. Plan on about 3 oz of cheese per guest as part of a meal or 6 oz if the cheese is the main event!

2.Variety is the spice of life! Choose a selection of milks, regions, textures and styles. Pick a few crowd pleasers and also a couple interesting or wacky cheeses, just to keep the party interesting.

3.Label them. People like to know what they're digging into. Many cheese are packaged beautifully, if you can, salvage the label and tape it to a tooth pick or simply write on a small piece of index card and display near each cheese.

4.Garnish your plate with a few accompaniments. Most cheeses pair well with sliced apples and pears, figs, grapes, dates, berries, chutneys, jams, nuts and honey. Also serve some simple bread or crackers. 

The hard part making a confident purchase when faced with heaps of cheese.  The first challenge may be, finding a store with a decent selection. Do an internet search for specialty cheese stores in your area. Once inside, you might find yourself staring blankly at the selection. Or, read a label only to realize you have no clearer understanding of what lies beneath the waxy rind or parchment wrapping. Never fear! Use this list of defined terms to help you gain an understanding of the tasty morsel you hold in your hand!

Raw/unpasteurized: milk has not heated above 100°F and cheese was aged for at least 60 days.

Pasteurized: milk was heated between 144° and 160°F for a period of time to kill bacteria

Aged: cheese was stored in certain conditions to allow the product to mature or ripen. The longer a cheese has aged the stronger and more complex the flavor will be.

Paste: the interior of the cheese beneath the rind. It will be described as hard/firm, semihard/firm, semi soft or soft. These describe the texture of the cheese and refers to the amount of moisture in the paste.

Washed Rind: a cheese which has been washed or rubbed with brine, wine, beer, cider or brandy which will impart flavor.

Bloomy Rind: a cheese that is ripened from the rind inward. Achieved by spraying the cheese with a mold. Cheeses like camembert and brie are examples of bloomy rind cheese.

Natural Rind: the rind that formed naturally, without the ripening agents or washing.

Bandaged: a cheese that has been wrapped in cloth or dipped in wax during the aging process to protect the cheese and manage moisture loss.

Double or Triple cream: at least 60% or 72%, respectively, butter fat in the milk solids used in the cheese making.

Turophile: a lover of cheese...that's you!

Even with these terms confidently under your belt, choosing can be a task. There is an infinite amount of variation between cheeses made in similar styles. Depending on how the animals were raised and what they ate will affect the flavor of their milk. Cheeses aged for the same about of time will taste different depending on the temperature, humidity and facility in which they were aged. Two cheeses that have been cloth bandaged can nothing like the other depending on the type of milk, length of aging, and environment. My policy to taste everything at least once. Use the labels as guidelines to make educated selections, but tasting is the only way to know for sure.  As always, be resourceful! If you have questions, get a hold of someone who can help! Employees at specialty shops are more than egar to give suggestions.


Tonight's dinner menu:
potato soup with celery root, parsnip and apple topped with caramelized apple and toasted pecans
whole wheat dinner rolls with fig butter
sausage stuffed portabella