News From The Cheese Caves

There is a great book by that title, if I say so myself. The idea for a book by that title was suggested by my Random House editor – Ms. Rica Allannic. She knew about the Master Intensive Series we offer. The series has been a mainstay of our curriculum since the Artisanal Cheese Center opened in May, 2003.

As we close in on our eighth birthday we can look back with pride on those series. Scores of students have used what they learned to begin or enhance their cheese careers. We in turn have gained excellent feedback so that we can improve the series, either by scheduling changes or modifications to the class content. These comments have helped us to hone our Master Series to one that focuses more time on those areas of particular interest.

As mentioned earlier in this column, we have consolidated the series into a two-day course. This seems to work best for those who are coming to New York from out of town, far easier to spend two days here than three, or if here for a couple of extra days this allows for other pursuits while visiting. It is easier for full-time workers to get away for a Sunday and Monday than to take off a third day or more. It is a little less disruptive to busy people’s lives to get it all wrapped up in two days. Combining all of the contents into two days means that we make the days longer; there is so much to cover, and so many cheeses to eat too!

Keeping the classes small allows for greater interaction and individual focus. The two ten-hour days seemed to suit everyone that attended the last series just fine. As the title suggests, it is “intensive” yet it is also quite a lot of fun.

The explosive growth in the domestic craft beer industry mirrors the growth in the American artisanal cheese industry. A surging growth in each has been coupled with major improvements in quality. The per capita consumption of beer has not soared as dramatically as that for cheese but the quality of beer produced and consumed has risen steadily, as it has for cheese. Beer connoisseurs seem to be happy with the beers by themselves, though finding successful pairings with fine cheeses brings even greater appreciation for those craft beers; the nuances of the many different beer styles are highlighted by good cheese partners.

One of the more pleasurable tasks we have here is to plan for our classes sampling a broad variety of beverages with a broad variety of our cheeses. We discuss the synergies; pick up subtleties in both the cheeses and the beers, synergies that we might not detect when each is tasted on its own. These planning sessions may sound like simple fun but we do take these exercises rather seriously. In preparation for our next American Craft Beer event highlighting Schmaltz Brewing Company we worked with a couple of their experts: Jennifer Dickey and Michael Pearson. Joining us was my colleague, Matt Bonano, our cave manager and a beer aficionado himself. The four of us contrasted seven different lagers and ales with thirteen perfectly ripened cheeses.

We did not expect that we could realistically taste all 91 combinations in the time we had allotted but we did make a good go of it. Sure enough, each of the beers had its own preferences for cheese partners. Recording the pairings provided a roadmap for a successful event. By “successful” I mean an event where the nuances in the cheeses and beers will be most clearly recognized, and/or new flavors will emerge.

For those that argue that beer makes the best pairing beverage for cheese, I can say that none of the pairings were bad, most of them were very good, and several of them were outstanding. The people that come to the American Craft Beer evening here are in for a great evening. Our own beer expert, Ms. Candela Prol, will be hosting this event and will be joined by Jennifer and Michael as featured guests.

I was happy to see cheese show up on Men’s Health recommendations for “Best Foods.” Cheese often makes the “worst” column but every once in awhile cheese gets a nod. A Men’s Health snap poll of favorite sources of protein placed chicken at the top with nearly 40% of responders, followed by beef with about 25%, then fish with 20%, eggs with less than 15%, and cheese with only 3%. Might those percentages be different if it was Women’s Health I wonder?

We are encouraged to see the publication’s recognition of cheese as one of the “Best” foods but not at all by the responses to the poll of its readers. 3%, really, is that it?

With our growing appreciation of cheese in this country, a near-tripling of per capita consumption in the last thirty years, we can only get to 3%?

Is it that most people still think of cheese as an indulgence? Some still regard it as poisonous, never mind that it is derived from our first food – milk. The protein content in cheese is not simply that, it is well-balanced proteins and the amino acids which make up those protein chains, as well as a wine array of minerals, vitamins and beneficial fatty acids.

You will derive greater nutritional values from cheese for your dollar than you will from chicken, beef, fish or eggs. Fortunately Men’s Health seems to be recognizing that cheese is good food, and that it is not just a risky indulgence.

When Laurie Greenberg and Kathy Guidi asked me to be on a panel introducing the idea of establishing a Fromager certification at an American Cheese Society conference we hoped we might have a certification up and running right away. The response to our suggestion was so strong that the room was not large enough to hold all the members that were interested. We snagged a second session at the conference to form an exploratory committee. That was seven years ago. One of the strongest supporters for the program was Susan Sturman. Susan has tirelessly served as the Chairperson of our committee ever since.

As our small but enthusiastic committee looked into certification programs for other occupations we quickly discovered that there would be much more to it than we initially thought. It would be much more complicated than preparing a simple multiple-choice 100-question exam, then deciding on a passing grade. When the American Cheese Society membership showed strong support for the project its Board of Directors decided to endorse the program.

As it is, a big component of the Society’s mission statement is about cheese education. With all the many facets regarding cheese taken into account and all the existing cheese jobs descriptions, it was immediately evident that this would become a much larger undertaking than writing up that little test. We were fortunate to have someone in the certification industry as one of our earliest committee members. This gave us a deeper perspective of what designing a credible certification would entail. The first surveys sent to the ACS membership were relatively easy to prepare and distribute. Analysis of the results required a little more focus, though it clearly indicated very strong support for creating the certification.

Many ACS members have asked me what the holdup could possibly be. To that I think to myself of the myriad of conference calls and face-to-face meetings that our committee has had over the years, the hundreds of e-mails, the surveys and analyses, the consultations with a professional certification company (after screening several companies’ proposals), the solicitation of volunteers to help with the work (and facing the waning enthusiasm of some of these), the preparations of slide presentations, designating Subject Matter Experts and providing a forum for their contributions, working with the ACS Board of Directors and Administration, etc.

After all these years I believe our small committee can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are hoping that we can remain on track to offer the first certification exam at the 2012 ACS conference. We have developed a Body of Knowledge which will serve as a baseline for the content of the exam. This document will be tweaked, and with the way that the cheese industry changes it will certainly evolve, but we believe that we have put a stake in the ground. Now we require the assistance of that professional certification company to see it through to completion. We are almost there!

The Fromager Certification program will be a sustainable non-profit entity when it is fully up and running. At this point the Committee is working to fund the start-up. There is still plenty of work ahead but again, we are almost there.

The Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano recently came out with an issue of their Pin Dot Press promoting the nutritional values that can be derived from Parm, particularly the Calcium. The article goes on to point out that sufficient vitamin D is required to pump that Calcium into our systems. The recommended minimums are listed for different age groups, from newborns to those over 70, as well as for pregnant or lactating women. The highest requirements for this mineral are for those last two cohorts, though the 9-18 y.o.’s and those over 70 are not far behind. One ounce of Parmigiano Reggiano supplies 300mg of Calcium. This makes this type of cheese one of the best sources of Calcium around. All cheeses supply the mineral and generally speaking, the harder the cheese (such as a Parm) the higher the Calcium content.

We associate Calcium with bones and teeth, yet it apparently offers several other benefits. Not only good for your teeth, it is also good for the gums that surround them. It is reported that it is important in the maintenance of a regular heartbeat and the transmissions on nerve impulses. Some reports claim that Calcium lowers cholesterol levels and that it can help prevent cardiovascular disease. It is required for muscular growth and contraction, and it helps prevent muscle cramps. There are several other benefits that have been associated with Calcium, including cancer prevention.

Again, the nutritive value that is most frequently associated with Calcium is that which it does for our skeletal system. A little extra calcium is required during the formative years so pack a little in your child’s lunch, then offer a little more for an after-school snack. And for anyone that is pregnant or is lactating, make sure that you get that extra bit of cheese. And to help prevent osteoporosis later in life, start loading up on your cheese today.

We just rediscovered some lovely cheeses from Israel. We recall trying these cheeses several years ago and thought they were very good; they are even better today. The Shahat, Tiltan, Tavor and the Gilboa are produced at Barkanit Dairy, a small family farm in the northern part of the country. The herds of goats and sheep graze on the dairy’s 500 acre pastures which are verdant year-round. The animals provide fresh high-quality milk from which the cheeses are crafted. The cheese makers studied cheese making in France and Spain to develop the recipes for their handmade cheeses.

The cheeses are produced with pasteurized milk and the cheeses are OU and Cholov Yisroel Kosher. The young cheeses are air-shipped to us to ensure that they arrive in good form. To maintain the Kosher status we leave the young cheeses in their wrappers and allow them to mature gracefully in our own temperature and humidity controlled cheese caves.

Dairying has been practiced in this region of the world for millennia. We believe that they have perfected the craft of cheese making today.

Many of you are probably already familiar with the 16 cheeses Artisanal is offering in color-coded boxes, from mild (in the light yellow boxes) to strong (in the dark red boxes). These individually wrapped cheeses take much of the guess work out of choosing which cheeses to buy from the wide world of cheeses. The Artisanal stamp of approval lets you know that it is a high quality cheese. The color-coding provides a guideline for the “strength” of the cheese. This is important to know when you taste multiple cheeses – the milder ones are better enjoyed before the stronger ones.

The color-coding also provides a guide to probable successful matches for the cheeses with wines or beers. Over the years we have found that the milder cheeses generally pair better with the milder wines or beers, while the stronger cheeses favor the bigger wines or beers.

A new addition to the 16 program is Terraluna, a firm pressed cow milk cheese. It is similar to cheddar but not too sharp, buttery flavored and a little mellower. This places the Terraluna in the medium quadrant of the CheeseClockâ„¢, meaning that it may not be the first cheese that you taste in a group, but there are certainly bigger-flavored cheeses that can follow it.

Additionally, because it is in this quadrant this would suggest that it pairs well with medium wines and beers, which it does. One quality we are recognizing in the Terraluna is its success in pairing with many wines and beers, from mild to strong. It is rare that a cheese has such a well-balanced flavor profile. This cheese also has tremendous keeping qualities; if you happen not to finish your wedge of Terraluna it will keep well for many days in your fridge.

One of our guests at last night’s Cheese & Wine 101 came up to me after the class and said that he was surprised to discover how well the white wine was pairing with the cheeses, something that he had not thought possible, that white wine and cheese can work well together. We all have our preferences for wines, and cheeses too. Yet when you find a particularly successful marriage between a wine that you might not ordinarily choose and a cheese (that you also might not usually have) the good pairing can enhance your appreciation for those cheeses and wines (or beers) that are not your favorites.

Or maybe it was not his preference for red wine but instead is was something that he had heard or read – that only red wines pair with cheese. There certainly is plenty of dogma about cheese pairing. There are others that insist that only white wine pairs well with cheese, or that Ports pair well with all cheeses. The suggestion that cheeses and wines must be from the same region to work is one that I hear far too frequently. The terroir idea may make a good idea on paper but there are many pairings that fall well outside that dictum. One of the more amusing tidbits that I heard recently was that cheese only pairs with beer, and not with wine. LOL, as they say.

There are several principles of successful cheese pairing. A saltier cheese will probably work better with a fruitier or sweeter wine, or beer. A bigger flavored cheese will usually work better with a bigger flavored wine otherwise the cheese can easily overwhelm the wine. In more cases than not cheese pairs nicely with wine. The successes far outnumber the misses.

For hundreds of customers, today’s the day they wait with anticipation for the arrival of their Cheese of the Month cheeses! Every month they receive four of our cave-aged artisan cheeses, one from each quarter of the Artisanal CheeseClock. Whether it’s the 3, 6 or 12-month Cheese Club membership, we feel the club gives a diverse range of cheeses so at the conclusion our members have sampled the full range of the incredible cheeses we have to offer. We’re careful to choose cheeses that are aged to their peak ripeness, but also to ensure a special selection of our most interesting and exclusive cheeses.

Getting out all the cheeses for the club is quite an undertaking, literally taking over the Cheese Center with packaging, boxes, ice packs, and of course cheeses cut straight from the caves. All in the name of proselytizing the greatness of artisan cheese!

Smoked cheeses have been around almost as long as cheese itself. Heat is involved in the preservation of the milk (as it has been wit many other foods) and the heat was usually derived from the burning of vegetative matter – usually some sort of wood. The wood that was, and still is, used in many of these cheese making operations would be a type that would lend a pleasant flavor note to the cheese after smoking.

The incidences where the actual smoking of cheeses occurs today are fewer than in the past. The smoking would help cure the cheese, help dry the cheese, and would also keep the cheese makers themselves warm in the cooler climes.

To ensure consistency and increase efficiency in many operations the use of liquid smoke is often used. Another advantage to liquid smoke is that it has bacteriostatic properties. This also presents a challenge to the cheese maker, as good bacteria are part of what gives cheeses their greater flavor and aroma. There are advantages and disadvantages to using the cooler vaporous smoke or the liquid smoke.

Idiazábal is a cheese that has been around for millennia, or something very much like it. It is a name-protected cheese that is produced from raw sheep milk, one that was cured with smoke wafting around the wheels for several days. Nowadays the producers of this cheese are moving toward the use of liquid smoke. This may sound a little chemical and thusly alarming. However the liquid smoke is derived from actual smoke with no added chemicals added, at least in virtually all cases.

There is a non-smoked version of Idiazábal but this is one cheese whose flavor is enhanced with a little “smoking.” It adds a little sweetness to the cheese.

You can get a little more information on smoking and other cheese making practices in our Mastering Cheese Intensive series.