News From The Cheese Caves

This is brilliant. Earlier last week, Chowhound posted a wonderful call for mouth-watering stories, entitled: “Cheese - the best cheese experience you ever had” It begins with, “Roqfort, soft and squishy, pungently fabulous on crisp lavosh with a Temprinillo to divert the taste buds momentarily before returning to another heady mouthful.” Oh that does sound good. And the comments, … “A round of Brillat Savarin (triple creme), drowned in cognac soaked golden raisins….;” “Atwater Market in Montreal on visits back to my home town and picking up 4 Québec and/or French cheeses…;” “Large wedge of Beaufort cheese, some kind of dried ham, fresh baguette and wine for lunch while hiking Grand Balcon du Nord in the Alps;” … Check it out.. !

Fiscalini Bandaged Cheddar took home the gold for Best Extra-Mature Traditional Cheddar In The World at the 2007 World Cheese Awards.

From Heather Fiscalini:

John and I are so proud of our 18 month bandaged cheddar winning the Best extra-mature traditional cheddar in the World, this March, 2007 in London, England. This is the first time the Wyke Farms Trophy has been awarded outside of England for cheddar, and we are delighted to have brought this distinction to the United States.

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Last week, in our regular staff meeting, we were discussing the upcoming class on Women Cheesemakers. This is definitely going to be a terrific class, everyone here is certain of it. But it has been hard to get that word out! What’s so exciting about women cheesemakers? But that’s just the point. As we asked that question and our discussion got rolling, we came up with many more related questions that intrigued each one of us.

Jessica wondered why the craft of cheesemaking in America seems to be attracting more and more women. Alex related a little history of women on the farm worldwide, making cheese for their own families, and so on. I asked whether we should post a blog entry on whether or not this is traditionally “women’s work” … and was hammered with a chorus of derision and mockery… how could I even suggest such a reactionary outlook? Well, apparently I was not the first to wonder.
And as for Jessica’s question, read more here.

Meanwhile, here (below) are just a few of the women cheesemakers of the world that we know and love, and that you might encounter in the class next month, along with their farms and some of their wonderful cheeses.

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When I began working at Artisanal Premium Cheese, the company was in its infancy. I too was in my infancy, my infancy regarding exposure to and knowledge of artisan made cheeses. I had always been in love with cheese, but my experience with it was very limited. This was a fantastic opportunity and as I learned, I wanted to share the knowledge and the cheese with my friends and family.

Everywhere I went I brought cheese. Meeting a friend for drinks or dinner out? I had a little sample or two stashed in my bag for them to take home and enjoy later. (I would bring anything that looked good. Later, after reports that cheese had been forgotten in bags overnight, I had to revise this to any hard cheese that looked good.) Making a casual weekday dinner at a friend’s? Of course we would need cheese to nibble on before or after dinner. Invited to dinner? With the host’s permission, I would bring a carefully thought out selection to compliment the meal. On several occasions I have brought a one to two pound hunk of cheese as a hostess gift, sometimes for the same hosts. I have even brought samples to my doctor. Anytime I went home to my parents’ I always brought a large selection of cheese, eager to share with them all of my new and old favorites.

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I had never really given this serious thought before, but I came across these pages on cheesemaking.com a few days ago, and found it intriguing — exciting even!

Setting up your own cheese cave [Part 1]

Setting up your own cheese cave [Part 2]

What a great idea, if it could really work.

So I asked Alex Garcia, Artisanal’s Cave Manager what he thought.

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Q: What is your favorite cheese?
That is like asking me to pick a favorite child, I have to say that it changes with the seasons. Overall, I would say I love an 18-month-old Comte.

Q: What’s your favorite cheese accompaniment, condiment, or chutney?
I truly like the pressed Spanish Fig and Almond Wheel. Honey is a great addition to Stilton or a creamy Great Hill Blue.

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As Spring slowly creeps in we are gearing up for the fresh, luscious cheeses the season will bring us. To jumpstart the process the Artisanal Premium Cheese “Cheese Committee” recently convened to begin the selection process. The process of tasting and selecting cheeses is a lengthy one. We gather our “Cheese Committee” led by Director of Affinage (Alex Garcia) Maitre Fromager (Max McCalman) and Chef/Proprietor (Terrance Brennan) along with members of our Sales, Marketing, and Production teams. We taste, critique, and vote on each cheese before it becomes part of Artisanal Premium Cheese’s cheese collection.

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In today’s Daily News Rush & Molloy column: SNL alum Rachel Dratch, known especially for her character Debbie Downer, was seen with a girlfriend at Artisanal Fromagerie & Bistro yesterday! Debbie has good taste after all!

Zagat Survey has provided a way for organized expression that over 250,000 surveyors take part in worldwide. It has been a trusted survey for the last 25 years.

To become a Zagat Surveyor is easy, and free. Simply register and vote for your favorite restaurants, hotels, nightspots, attractions and other categories featured.

Take a look at this month’s featured surveys, which include ‘New York City Restaurants’ (which include Artisanal Bistro and Picholine, of course) among others.

Well it’s hard to believe it is here and gone but just last Saturday was St. Patrick’s day and on the 16th a full class of Irish Cheese lovers showed up at the Cheese Center braving a late season snowstorm to attend our first, and hopefully not last, Irish Cheese Class. With Sarah Bates on hand as our guest lecturer we took a journey through Ireland both visually and with our taste buds. The first stop was Tipperary starting with Cooleney Cheese we then moved on to Cork for some Durrus and Ardrahan, then up the road to Limerick for some Cahill’s Porter Cheese and back to Tipperary finishing with some Tipperary Cheddar and Cashel Blue. All of this without leaving the Cheese Center at 37th & 10th avenue in NYC. A good time was had by all and many participants commented that it was a great way to get into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit. We did have a rush on our supply of Irish Cheeses but we do have some Cashel Blue That is just coming of age and is reaching it’s peak of perfection.