Category Archives: Cheese

Fungal Cheese Tuesday, March 31st, 2015

Hey everybody!  I decided to bring a bunch of blue cheeses today, making for a very special, Fungal Cheese Tuesday.

First off, we’ll start with the one non-blue cheese that I brought in, Kerrygold’s Red Leicester.  I’ve tried other Red Leicesters and been a bit on the unimpressed side.  It is like a super mild cheddar, and I figured that if Kerrygold makes it, then it must be "best of breed".  Sure enough, Kerrygold’s is like a super mild cheddar, too.  So there you have it.  Kind of boring as far as cheeses go.

Next we have Castello’s Sage, a Blue Brie.  This cheese is so creamy that it hurts, with just a hint of earthy blueness.  It is a remarkable flavor combination that got a ton of compliments.

The other Castello cheese for the day, Castello’s Traditional Danish Blue is intensely strong.  It will punch you right in the taste buds and you will like it!  It is absolutely amazing, and my favorite by far.

Lastly I brought Clawson’s Blue Stilton.  The funk is strong with this cheese.  The aftertaste was a bit off putting for a lot of people, but I really love this cheese as well.  @Satipera should try this one on his porridge sometime!

Stay Cheesy!

Stinky Cheese Tuesday, March 24th, 2015

Howdy, folks!  Another week with no pictures, so you’ll have to use your imagination.  I do it all the time!  Like the time I tore Saturn apart with just the power of my mind and then put it back together again so that no one would know.  Or when I started a successful stint as a skull farmer and cornered the market in shrunken heads.  On to the cheese…

This was more of a "Simple Cheese Tuesday" than a Stinky one.  We started off with Red Apple Cheese’s Kosher Extra Sharp Cheddar.  I must admit to bing a bit confuzzled about what the difference between kosher and non-kosher cheese could possibly be, but the good people at Kosher Quest were able to fill me in.  Basically, the rennet used must either be vegetable based or from a kosher animal ritually slaughtered under rabbinical supervision, and it has to be made under rabbinical supervision as well.  Apparently there is an ancient injunction about eating cheeses made by gentiles.  As far as this particular cheese is concerned, it is a fairly mild cheddar in flavor, but does have a bit of a bite at the end.  Definitely worth it, especially since I learned something interesting in the process!

Next is BelGioioso Asiago.  If you need a basic, nothing fancy, but still solidly good asiago, this is the one to get.  A great hard, salty cheese with just the right amount of saltiness to give it a wonderful aftertaste.  A good cheese, and today’s favorite by a large margin.

Lastly is Great Midwest Habanero Jack  This one has been here before, and just last month at that.  Shame on me!  Anyway, with as tasty as this cheese is, I hope that I can be forgiven for bringing it in after a mere six week hiatus.  Just a touch of heat unless you get a seed.  In which case, keep the milk handy!

Stay Cheesy!

Stnky Cheese Tuesday, March 10th, 2015

Hello everybody!  No picture again this week, and fairly terse descriptions to boot, since this week has been a blur…and it’s only Tuesday.

First off, we have the ever popular Applewood Smoked Gruyère from Red Apple Cheeses  This is a favorite around here and is actually the reason that I started bringing in cheese every Tuesday.  The smokiness is not overpowering, and the taste of the cheese is divine.  Beautiful as always.

Next we have Kerrygold’s Dubliner, another standard that everyone enjoys here.  Like a slightly sweet, aged cheddar, Dubliner is a great cheese for snacking on, and I’m sure that it would absolutely liven up a burger or mac & cheese.  I need more data on that, however.  To the lab!

Lastly is BelGioioso’s Crumbly Gorgonzola.  This one was raved over by the folks that don’t really like blue cheeses.  It is incredibly creamy, but the pungent bite of a typical Gorgonzola was replaced by a mild "meh".  If it had not been called Goggonzola then I may have not been so disappointed by it.  It is a very nice tasting cheese, but Gorgonzola it is not.

Stay Cheesy!

@Cheese Forum+

Stinky Cheese Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015

Sorry for the lack of pictures again, but today was just plain stupid.  On the bright side, Pastor Barb brought in the cheese for the day and it was 2/3s wonderful!

We’ll start off with the blandest, weakest, least memorable cheese I’ve ever encountered, Bond-Ost.  This is a brined or pickled cheese that is aged for about 6 weeks, and it is about the blah-est thing ever.  It has a texture akin to Velveeta and a flavor that is like Velveeta turned down to a whisper.  Not my favorite.

The next two cheeses were phenomenal, however!

Old Amsterdam Aged Gouda is an exquisite aged cheese.  Salty, crunchy, and nutty, it is gouda at its finest made better with the addition of time.  A damn fine cheese, and one that got a lot of compliments.

My favorite of the day was Blaser’s Antonella Garden Vegetable and Sweet Basil.  I would have devoured the whole brick if there hadn’t been other people present.  The base cheese is a simple one in flavor and probably would not have stood out on its own.  The addition of the tomatoes, chives, and onions and the crusting with fresh basil just sends it into the realm of greatness.  The herbaceous flavors just meld so perfectly that it reminded me of a wonderful spaghetti sauce with parmesan cheese on top.  It was absolutely wonderful.

I’m going to have some pretty big news in the next few days, so keep an eye out for it.

Stay Cheesy!

@Cheese Forum+

Stinky Cheese Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

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Yesterday’s Cheese Bearer contracted a wretched case of the Creeping Crud and was unable to bring in the delectables for Stinky Cheese Tuesday, so SCT is SCW this week. And it is a doozy!

Starting at the top is the ever popular Marco Polo by Beechers. This stuff is beautiful. It is their Flagship cheese with green and black peppercorns thrown in for good and savory measure. It has been a very popular cheese today.

On the bottom left is Comté by Esprit de Liberté. This close relative of Gruyere packs quite a powerful flavor and smell. It is one of the stronger cheeses that most people still handle well.

In the middle is Midnight Moon by Cyprus Grove. This is the clear winner of the day. Strong, goaty, gritty, and just plain packed with flavor, this is simply amazing. It is a truly wonderful experience.

Lastly is Castello’s Havarti Jalapeño. This one is super creamy, like most Havarti cheeses, and that cuts the spiciness of the jalapeños down to zero. It retains the jalapeño flavor but loses all of the bite.

Stay Cheesy!

@Cheese Forum+

Stinky Cheese Tuesday, February 17th, 2015

Sorry for the delay, but yesterday was atrociously busy.  Busy in a good way, but busy none the less.  Oh, and that means no picture either.  Maybe next week?

On to the cheeses!

First off, I brought in Reny Picot St. Rocco Brie.  I was going to say something about how much I normally hate brie, but I just did a search on previous posts to find an example to link to and there are none.  None.  Every post that mentions brie or any other washed rind cheese talks about how much I was surprised by it.  With the notable exception of Limburger, of course.  There was a Double Cream Cremont goat cheese from the early days of SCT that really treated me badly, but aside from that, I guess that they’ve really grown on me as my experience with them increases.  I guess that what I’m saying is, I’m surprised that I’m not surprised that I really loved the St. Rocco Brie.  It was buttery, creamy, spread well on the little crackers that we had, and was just plain yummy.  No longer shall I talk smack about the ripened cheeses, nor shall I fear putting them in my mouth.  Except for Limburger.  Seriously.  To hell with that crap.

Secondly, we had Williams Sharp Pinconning.  Pinconning is a relatively new type of cheese, having been made for the first time in 1915 in Michigan.  It is an aged colby, and as such has beta keratin mixed in to give it its orange color, and is quite crumbly.  It has a flavor that is almost like a sweet cheddar, with a very smooth texture.  This one was actually quite sharp and really makes me want to try their extra sharp variety.  It was wonderful, and received a lot of compliments.

Finally, we had BelGioioso Extra Sharp Provolone.  This is one of the sharpest cheeses that I’ve ever had, and it was amazing.  It has an incredible Provolone bite to it, hitting you right in the hinge of the jaw, with a wonderful, dry texture and an aroma that warned you that this is going to be intense.  We did have a couple of visitors to the Official Table of Stinky Cheese Tuesday that upon catching a whiff of it, decided not to tangle with this rather serious cheese.  BelGioioso can certainly produce a mean Italian cheese!

Stay Cheesy!

@Cheese Forum+

By the way, for those that read the blog and see the link to the Cheese Forum and are wondering what it is, it is one of my channels on RedMatrix.  It is really hard for me to put Red into a 30 second "elevator pitch", since it is so many different things rolled up into one beautiful package.  For some people, it is like Facebook where you get to write the privacy policy, decide what is important enough to see on your wall, and none of your activity gets sold to advertisers.  For other people it is like WordPress without ever having to worry about spam comments.  People use it like Drupal or Joomla with built in, cross site authentication and privacy features.  Still others are using it as a tool to facilitate direct democracy in their communities.  Most importantly to me, it is also a community of wonderful people from across the world that are trying to make the internet what it should have been in the first place.

If any of that sounds interesting to you, hit up this link for a list of public servers and create an account.  It might take a bit of getting used to, but there are tons of great people willing to help, and it is so very worth the time.

Stinky Cheese Tuesday, February 10th, 2015

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Yet another Stinky Cheese Tuesday and it was a beautiful one!

Starting up at the top we have Sincerely, Brigitte’s Garlic Basil Jack.  It was actually quite a bit mellower than I had expected, with the garlic flavor actually not as distinct as either the basil or the cheese.  Very nice, with a lot of compliments.

Next up, going clockwise, is Old Croc Extra Sharp Cheddar, the first Australian cheese that I’ve brought in.  It claims to be Extra Sharp, but unlike most everything else from Australia, it really has no bite whatsoever.  However, it is a very tasty mild cheddar and does its county proud.

Saving the best for last is Sartori’s MontAmoré.  This is Sartori’s BellaVitano with a new name.  Apparently, they decided that BellaVitano was not a good enough name for it if it doesn’t have something added to it, so their plain old BellaVitano is sold as MontAmoré.  I couldn’t care less what it is called, because this is a masterpiece of creamy goodness.  It is salty and gritty, which comes with the aging, with sweet and creamy notes that make for a solid chunk of mouth watering happiness.  My favorite by far, and most everyone else agreed.

See you next week, and stay cheesy!

@Cheese Forum+

Stinky Cheese Tuesday, January 27th, 2015

Hello everybody.  I’m posting two weeks in a row!  Go me.  Anyways, today’s SCT brings us three cheeses which are all new.

Starting with the absolute, hands down, best cheese of the day, we have Henri Hutin Belletoile Triple Cream Brie.  This is the mellowest, butteryist brie I’ve ever had.  I’m normally not a big brie fan, although washed rind, soft ripened cheeses are certainly growing on me.  This cheese is stellar and makes me happy in my heart, despite it being a type of cheese that normally ruins my day.

Next up is Sartori Black Pepper BellaVitano.  I’m normally a huge fan of all things Sartori, but the Black Pepper Affiné that I’ve written about before has spoiled me as far as black pepper cheese is concerned.  For me, the BellaVitano is too sweet a base for something as savory and forceful as black pepper to properly mesh with.  I may have a dissenting opinion, however, since I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback about this cheese in particular.

Finally, I brought in Henning’s Horseradish Cheddar.  This cheese is mild both on the horseradish side and on the cheddar side, leaving me wanting more of both.  It has elicited quite a few “yums” over the last few hours, but I’m not sold on it.  Then again, when I eat something labeled “Horseradish” I expect it to kick me in the jaw, not caress my tonsils.

Until next week, stay cheesy!

Stinky Cheese Tuesday, January 20th, 2015

Sorry for the horrible lapse in posts as of late.  The SCT blog server took a dive for three weeks, and things had just been too damned hectic with the holidays and all of the end of the year stuff for work.  I am, however, going to try to get back into the habit of posting the delightful delectables that grace our palates every week.

Today’s Stinky Cheese Tuesday, along with January 6th’s was provided by TeamWorks Media, the company that McCormick Theological Seminary has brought on to help redesign and rebuild the website.  On their first visit here, they heard tales of Stinky Cheese Tuesday and just before Christmas we received a box full of lovely cheeses from them with a note stating that the next SCT was on them.  They are truly, a wonderful bunch of people over there!

First off, the one cheese that I brought in today, Henning’s Fire Mango out of Kiel, Wisconsin.  This is a quite spicy cheese with a very mellow cheddar flavor.  Put head to head against Great Midwest’s Fire Mango, Henning’s would come in a distant second.  It is really no contest.  The flavor of the cheddar in Great Midwest’s is so much more developed and the mango sweetness is more noticeable.  That said, Henning’s is still a good, hot cheese for those who like their spice.

Secondly we have Fiscalini Cheese’s Extra Mature Bandage Wrapped Cheddar from California.  This is an amazingly well aged cheddar, with a sharpness that goes straight for the hinge of your jaw.  It has that wonderful grittiness of tiny salt crystals that is the hallmark of cheddars aged for more than a year.  One of the best cheddars I’ve ever had, hands down!

Saving the best for last, we have Beecher’s Smoked Flagship out of Seattle, Washington.  I have praised the virtues of Beecher’s Flagship cheese here multiple times, so I won’t rehash that too much, but adding the smokiness to the equation elevates it from the divine to the I-Will-Push-You-Down-The-Stairs-For-This.  It is just smoked enough to give it a faint aroma and a positively lovely flavor.  I’m so deeply enamored with this cheese!

Stay cheesy!

@Cheese Forum

Scary Cheese Tuesday, October 28th, 2014

Sorry, no picture today.  It’s OK ’cause no picture could possibly come close to summing up the abject HELL that I have transformed the second floor into.  

In honor of Halloween this week, I figured that I would do Scary Cheese Tuesday and bring in cheeses that are scary for one reason or another.  That meant that I brought in Comté, Great Midwest Mango Fire Cheddar, and Amish Country Limburger Cheese.  The Fire Mango and the Comté I’ve already covered, the first being "hot as hell" and the second I described as "smelling like a dank basement two weeks after a flood", so I’m going to be spending the rest of this on the Limburger.

Nope.  Just plain nope.  The first thing that one must understand about fromunder Limburger is that it is made with the same bacteria that give a nasty human foot the rank odor that makes it distinctive.  One of my coworkers, Jamie, aptly described my desk as smelling "like a nursing home".  Believe it or not, it actually tastes worse than it smells.  It is, without a doubt, the worst thing that I’ve ever put in my mouth on purpose.  Every other cheese that I’ve brought in, no matter how much I didn’t like it, at least made it down the hatch.  The Limburger gave me an instinctive need to expel it.  The Bene Gesserit could have used this instead of the pain box during the Gom Jabbar Test of Humanity.  There were a few people that actually enjoyed eating it, but I’m pretty sure that if I had the sunglasses from They Live then we would have know the truth about them.

Never again.