After nine months of renovations, Zingerman’s Creamery is set to open a new retail space, the Cream Top Shop. We are so excited, and we’re looking forward to welcoming you to our new digs  at our all-day Grand Opening party on Saturday, April 29 from 10 am to 6 pm. There will be tours, tastings, and even prizes! It’s so close, but we cannot wait. We hope you’ll stop in!

In the meantime, we wanted to give you a sneak peek of what we’ve been up to.

We’ve been testing recipes, like our grilled sandwiches—the one above is pimento cheese on Zingerman’s Bakehouse Rustic Italian bread. We’ll have a full menu of sandwiches featuring Zingerman’s Creamery cheese, and we’ll also be serving Munchables, our name for our customized snack trays that we fill up with cheese, bread or crackers, and your choice of other delicious things, like nuts, dried fruit, and cornichons to name a few.

“Make the Cream Top Shop, home of Zingerman’s Creamery your new lunch destination!” says Aubrey Thomason, Managing Partner of Zingerman’s Creamery.

In addition to our own award-winning cheese, we’ll also be selling our favorites from other (almost) exclusively American artisan producers like us. Here’s Tessie enjoying a whiff of a freshly cut half wheel of Flory’s Truckle Cheddar from Milton Creamery!

We’re pretty excited about our new look, too. The cows were created by hand by our in-house illustrator Ryan Stiner and will be proudly displayed in the shop very soon, and how about those  red stools? They’ll be available for guests who’d like to eat in (along with seating in our brand new tasting room), and they look right into our new production space—we’ll keep the lights on during the day, so you can see us in action.

Speaking of production, our equipment is shiny and ready to go. We’re already making our fantastic cheese and gelato. All that’s missing is you, and we’re counting the days. See you at the Grand Opening!

Creamery Cheese Shop Manager and American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional (read more about that coveted designation here) Tessie Ives-Wilson is sharing tips to help you create the perfect cheese plate for any holiday party. If you’re in the area, and you’d like to take your cheese smarts to the next level, join us for Pairing 101-Holiday Edition on November 17 from 6-8 pm.

One of the most common requests for help I’ve gotten in the last 8 years behind a cheese counter comes from folks who are entertaining friends and family and want to put together a cheese plate. When faced with a well-stocked cheese counter, the options can seem overwhelming, but a few simple guidelines will help narrow the field and let you pick the perfect cheeses for any crowd!

1. Know your audience! 

Are your friends and family food adventurers or do they prefer the classics? Will this be an adults-only gathering or one filled with the giggles and joy of many generations?  These questions can help you decide on the intensity of flavors that make up your cheese plate. A funky, washed rind soft cheese might be perfect for an adults-only cocktail hour, but rejected by more conservative pallets as “too stinky”! When in doubt, I suggest having at least 1 or 2 cheeses in the mix that are easily recognized and have accessible flavors; a middle-aged gouda or cheddar will usually do the trick.

2. Know where and how the cheese will be served! 

Is the cheese plate going to be the star of a course or part of a larger spread of food? Appetizer or dessert course? This set of questions can help narrow down how many cheeses to choose and how much cheese to get. Generally, if the cheese plate is going to be set out with lots of other dishes, I recommend keeping the number of cheese smaller, maybe 2-3, but with slightly larger portions that can be presented as full wedges, and your guests can serve themselves. However, if you are serving a plated cheese course, you might choose a few more cheeses, as many as 6 or 7, with slightly smaller portions, so that you can showcase a variety of flavors and textures.

3. Know your cheesemonger! 

Whether it is at one of the Zingerman’s cheese counters, or another cheese shop, chances are, the people behind the counter spend much of their time tasting, talking about, and thinking about the cheeses that they serve. If you come to the counter armed with the information from tips 1 and 2, they can be your guide through the selection of cheeses they have to offer. They should also offer you tastes of the cheeses that you are interested in. If they don’t, it’s time to find a new cheese shop! Real, artisan cheeses will change with seasons, batches, and cheesemakers, so even if the cheese is one you have had before, it’s always good to taste to make sure that what is being offered is up to your standards.

Don’t have a great, local cheese shop? Still want more guidance? I’m hosting Pairing 101 on November 17th, which is all about the science of creating a great cheese plate and picking the perfect beer and wine pairings to go alongside.

There are currently only 740 Certified Cheese Professionals in the world, and our very own Tessie Ives-Wilson is one of them! That’s right—Tessie, the retail manager at Zingerman’s Creamery, recently took and passed the very grueling exam that the American Cheese Society offers once a year. The three-hour test includes 150 multiple choice questions about everything from the cheesemaking process to wine pairing. It’s serious business!

The ACS launched the exam in 2012 to push higher standards in both knowledge and service in the cheese industry. “It sounded really cool!” says Tessie, adding that she spent seven months studying. Although there are 150 questions on the actual test, there are about 1,500 questions that all candidates have to prepare for.

Tessie has been with Zingerman’s for a decade. She got her start with Mail Order back in 2006, and a couple of years later, she transferred to the Deli. There, she delved into the meat program, teaching hand-sliced ham program for years, but she also began thinking about a future in cheese.

“That’s when I finally realized that cheese was one of those things I could do for a living, and not just because I like cheese,” she explains. “I mean, who doesn’t like cheese?”

This realization led her to the Creamery, where Tessie decided to concentrate on what she calls, “the full range of what cheesemaking and cheesemongering is.” Taking the exam was a natural part of that process and her progress.

“For me, it was that I’ve been doing this for ten years—am I as good as I think I am? It’s that next level of personal development and professional development,” Tessie explains.

While taking the test was tough, equally nail-biting was waiting for the results, which took five long weeks. She was at a nail salon when she finally found out. “I may have scared my manicurist,” she says with a laugh. “I just randomly checked my email. I was like, ‘Oh my god! I passed! I passed! Ah!'”

Tessie couldn’t wait to tell her family and everyone at Zingerman’s the good news. And while she’s excited about the perks of the certification, Tessie is also proud of the prestige the certification brings to the Creamery.

“It just lends a little more weight to what we’re doing,” says Tessie. “We know that the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has fantastic cheesemongers, but this is kind of that example to the world. It’s that level of professional certification that says you’ve really invested the time and energy in knowing your craft.”

If you’ve never seen Tessie in action, now’s the time! Come to one of our Creamery events. She’ll be hosting Beer & Cheese 101 on September 29 and Wine and Cheese 101 on October 13.