Tag: CHEESE

The Zingerman’s Deli has just broken open a wheel of delicious Montgomery Cheddar! This is some of the best cheddar in the world, fans of the curd should definitely stop by for a taste!

Zingerman’s Mail Order partner Mo Frechette sums it up:

English Farmhouse Cheddar
Universally imitated, never replicated. The original cheddar.

Like the British Empire, cheddar conquered the world—it’s the planet’s most widely copied cheese. Ironically, with so much emphasis on imitation, the original has become an endangered species. It’s rarely found in this country and is worlds apart in character from its copycat cousins.

Montgomery’s is one of only three farms in its ancestral homeland making truly traditional farmhouse English cheddar. Big, clothbound drums are made by veteran cheesemaker Steve Bridges every day except Friday. All the milk comes from Jamie Montgomery’s herd of just under 200 Holstein-Fresian cows, which graze on a nearby hill rumored, incidentally, to be the site of Camelot. Their cheeses have a golden color, a warm, flaky texture and a penetrating, memorable flavor. Each one is spoken for—they’re taking no new customers.

Once, at a bar in London, someone told me “Cheddar should be like a neighbour’s party,” which is a line I don’t quite understand but have never forgotten. It is a totally appropriate way to describe the easy, unforgettable flavor of Montgomery’s cheddar.

Last year, Zingerman’s Deli cheesemonger Chad Hayes toured several creameries in southwest Britain, Montgomery’s among them. Read all about his adventure on his Cheese Trippin’ blog.

 “If I could come back as a mouse, I’d like to live in your place! That English Farmhouse Cheddar is the best I’ve ever had!”
– Ellen from Creston, Iowa

Come to the Zingerman’s Deli this Thursday evening, 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and help us select the best-tasting wheels of Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese!

Earlier this year, the Deli’s cheese experts, Sean and Mike, got together with Uplands’ cheesemaker, Andy Hatch, and sampled over twenty batches of Pleasant Ridge Reserve from the 2011 season. From there, they narrowed it down to six cheese wheels, each representing a day’s batch of about sixty wheels.

But, we still need to choose the best of the best. And that’s where our guests can help!
Join us Thursday in tasting samples from these six finalist wheels. We want to hear what you taste, and what you think. Your comments will help us select the two best wheels (and batches) to sell in the Deli in the coming year.

Help us pick the best of the best!

Every so often at the Zingerman’s Deli, the call comes from the cheese counter that it’s time for more Emmentaler. Some fortunate person has purchased the last tasty portion and the time has come to break open a new wheel.

The cheesemongers are dispatched. Down they go, and into the cheese cooler underneath the Deli. Here, in chilled comfort, wrapped chunks, half-moons, and huge wheels of delicious cheese await their turn up on the sales floor. The air inside the cooler has a dairy tang, a promise of fine curds aged to perfection by traditional methods. The cheesemongers find the box they’re looking for and wrestle it upstairs. This is a public unveiling.

I’m fortunate to have cheesemonger Chad Hayes as my guide through this process, and he drops facts about the cheese as he works. This wheel of Emmentaler weighs in at 210 pounds, just about average for this cheese. It’s produced in “larger format” because it’s an Alpine cheese and was traditionally made by folks living high in the mountains of Switzerland who were often cut off by winter storms. The big wheels of cheese provided a source of protein for the long winter months of isolation. It’s made from cows milk and the curd is cooked to help stabilize the cheese for longer storage. This Emmentaler has been carefully aged for over a year.

 

 

 

 

Emmentaler originated in the area around Emmental, Switzerland, and is probably the best-known of all swiss, or Alpine, cheeses. The signature holes in the cheese are the result of trapped carbon dioxide gas during the fermentation process. The cheese has a mellow and savory (but not sharp) flavor and melts easily. It’s an excellent choice for fondue, gratins, or simply enjoying along with some fresh fruit and a nice glass of semi-dry white wine.

Please join us this coming Wednesday, March 6, 7 p.m. at Zingerman’s Events on 4th for a delicious evening of cheese tasting honoring the life and work of our friend and cheesemonger, Daphne Zepos. All proceeds go to the Daphne Zepos Teaching Award, an annual scholarship for aspiring cheese professionals.

The event will be a guided tasting featuring the favorite cheeses of some of the most noted cheesemongers in the business today. Each monger will pick one cheese they love most of all, and tell us everything they know about it. Some wine will be included, and a cash bar for wine and beer will be open all evening. Drink, eat cheese, hear some great stories, and meet some great people!

Among the guests:

Jason Hinds of Neal’s Yard Dairy, who pioneered selling farmhouse British cheese in America and who has trained legions of American cheesemongers in selecting, aging and selling at NYD’s home base in London.

Anne Salxelby of Saxelby’s Cheese, an all-American cheese shop in Essex Street Market in New York City. She was named Small Business of the Year in 2011 by Mayor Bloomberg.

Mateo Kehler of Jasper Hill, who, along with his brother Andy, make their own cheese, and, perhaps more importantly, select and age cheese for other Vermont cheesemakers. They have created a hub of operations for all Vermont cheesemakers and have revived clothbound cheddar in America.

Daphne Zepos was an internationally known authority on cheese whose expertise encompassed the buying of it, the selling of it, and the making of it. She was a writer, teacher, consultant, importer, chef and cheese-competition judge. As the The New York Times wrote of her in 2005, Daphne Zepos was “one of the most respected voices in the field of American cheese.” (Not the processed stuff)

From 2002 to 2005, Ms. Zepos was associated with Manhattan’s  Artisanal Cheese Center. In 2006, she helped found the Essex Street Cheese Company, a New York City-based importer and wholesaler of a small number of artisanal cheeses from Europe, her favorite among them, Comté, a French cousin of Gruyère, which she once described as “unleashing a tsunami wave of cream” in the mouth that “… leaves that incredible aftertaste of cream and butter on the tongue.”

In 2011, Ms. Zepos became an owner of the Cheese School of San Francisco. In addition to her work, Daphne Zepos wrote about cheese for the Atlantic magazine and she is often credited with helping inspire the current interest in artisanal cheeses here in America.

“Twenty years ago, the image of cheese, other than amongst a very tiny percentage of Americans who had traveled a lot, was really about mass-market cheese,” says Zingerman’s Founding Partner, Ari Weinzweig. “Today, thanks in part to Daphne’s leadership and teaching and training, a far bigger slice of the American populace understands what artisan cheese is, and can be.”

“She wanted people to support small makers of cheese and to understand all the work and the love that went into it,” says Corby Kummer, senior editor at The Atlantic. “She told people how to appreciate the full range of scents and taste and how to look at and how to feel cheese — literally: touch it, crumble it, understand the texture. She never was blasé. She loved what she did. She loved the people who made cheese. She loved looking at the light in your eyes when she put a piece of cheese into your mouth.”

“Nearly every cheesemonger everywhere knew here and considered her a friend — she was the kind of person who was very immediately close and interested, no matter how long you’d been in the industry,” said Zingerman’s Mail Order Managing Partner, Mo Frechette. “She created a cheese mastery class that was taught, among other places, at ZingTrain. The fact that we have a group of cheese industry people coming to ZingTrain for education is a legacy of that work.”

The Daphne Zepos Teaching Award is an annual scholarship awarded to an USA-based cheese professional who uses the funds to travel, learn and further their education on cheese. This award will grow a squad of cheese professionals who teach about the history, culture and techniques in making, aging and selling cheese. Each year someone new will go forth to learn about cheese. The scholarship will fund travel and living expenses. The winner will return to share their learnings with the cheese community — at the annual American Cheese Society Annual Conference and beyond.

Please join us for this very special event.

$30/person, Call us to reserve your seat, 734-663-3400 or reserve online here.

In the past, it’s been difficult to import the delicious cheeses made in the snowy reaches of Quebec, but Wisconsin’s Artisan Cheese Exchange is working facilitate a thaw and Zingerman’s is the beneficiary. The Deli recently took possession of a 90-pound wheel of the award-winning Louis d’Or cheese from Canada (one of just two to make it to the U.S.!) and the demand has been swift and appreciative, according to Deli cheese monger Chad Hayes.

Made by Fromagerie du Presbytere in Neuville, Quebec, Louis d’Or is a washed rind, organic, raw cow’s milk cheese with a smooth, consistently rich flavor. The cheese draws its name from the Louis d’Or farm, which produces the milk used to create it.  Inspired by the expert cheese makers of France’s eastern Jura Region, Louis d’Or is a wonderful example of the mountain-style, which draws comparisons to the flavors and textures of the very best Comtes and Gruyeres.

The cheese began attracting attention in 2010, when it took three awards in Quebec’s notable Selection Caseus fine cheese competition. In 2011, it was voted Best in Show at the American Cheese Society Competition, and that same year Louis d’Or was named Grand Champion of the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix, taking awards in four other categories as well.  This past year, the cheese again took three awards at Selection Caseus.

Louis d’Or has a light, golden color, and a soft, nuanced aroma. On the tongue, it begins with a subtle, creamy texture that soon evolves into a full, rich, and amazingly mellow flavor that lingers for a long time without shifting into a sharp note or aftertaste. I heard one the Deli’s guests describe it, as “lovely” and I would have to agree. This is probably one of the most delicious cheeses I’ve ever tasted.

Chad suggests that this cheese would be “very nice” used in a fondue, or lightly shaved and served over potatoes. But the rich flavor of Louis d’Or is also something to be savored on it’s own, or perhaps paired with a nice white wine. In any case, Fromagerie du Presbytere’s beautiful Louis d’Or is truly an exceptional cheese.

Due to the difficulties of importing, the Deli only has a limited amount of Louis d’Or. Don’t miss your chance to taste this wonderful cheese from our amis in Quebec!