Cheese

You’ve probably noticed that our blog has fizzled. Sorry ’bout that. Now we’re trying out facebook, as it’s a widely used site with an easier interface. Hopefully more cheese workers will write about what’s up in the department, and hopefully more cheese afficionados will share ideas, opinions, and links in comments and messages. Please look for Rainbow Grocery Co-op Cheese Department on facebook and say hi.

This blog? Oh, I’ve had a great time writing my absurd, rambling posts, but let’s consider it dormant for now, since, well, it is.

See you over the cheese counter, kiddos!

Sorry folks, I know I haven’t posted in here in awhile. But, I am breaking my silence to tell you about two awesome cheese deals.

The first is a customer favorite: La Tur. Italian, mixed milk (goat, sheep, and cow), soft-ripened, a favorite both for parties and for devouring while sitting by yourself taking a break from the rest of humaity. It’s got character, but it is not pungent. The inside texture is fluffy and amazing. Now til the end of the month at $17.99/lb (reg. $22.99)

The other great deal is regular old Danish Havarti. It’s creamy and rich and offends no one and until we run out of this batch it’s only $3.99/lb. Wow.

Do you favor Coyote or Roadrunner? Oh, who am I kidding? Roadrunner’s a smug little thing and Coyote’s a brilliantly tragicomic portrait of the human condition. So for all of us who howl while Wile E’s hoofing air half a mile above the canyon floor, for those of you who root for the underdog, try some Capuccetto Rosso, an exquise but ugly soft raw Italian cheese wrapped in bark and named after Little Red Riding Hood.

Red Riding Hood, I kid you not. I told my mother that today I wouldn’t lie, so you should be forewarned that if you ask me something, I will tell you the unvarnished truth.

Once, years ago, I imagined International Truth Day, twentyfour hours in which everyone told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It would, of course, be followed by International Damage Control Year, during which relationships would be repaired, babies would be born, senators would be recalled, wars would be fought, and many companies would go out of business. Truth is an amazing thing.

But as usual, I digress.

Capuccetto Rosso’s a delectable Italian cousin of Vacherin Mont d’Or, Forsterkase, and Winnemere, those legendary cheeses that we workers, in a fit of collective giddiness, described as “like taking a walk in the Bacon Forest during autumn.” We haven’t figured out a suitable description that will equally enchant vegetarians, but we promise that it’s very very good. It’s in a little wheel of about nine ounces, wrapped bark and encroached upon by an unsightly but harmless mold on the rind. We’ll cut smaller pieces so you don’t have to commit to the whole wheel, and you could definitely ask for a taste.

Hey! It’s spring. I can tell because last week we had a mini-heat wave and this week has been chilly as all gitout. Also, my back yard is full of lettuce and nasturtiums and I’m harboring a fresh grudge against the IRS. Spring! About time. If your own nefarious behaviors haven’t put some sproing in your step, try some Caprino Caciotti; it’s a super exciting Italian goat cheese with an almost peppery taste that goes on and on and on. Next time you want something with kick, this is the cheese for you. But don’t wait too long, because we don’t have a lot around.

Hey cheddar fans, maybe it’s time to try to try some Sparkenhoe Red Leicester. First thing first: it’s reddish orange. Don’t be daunted. I meet a lot of customers who steer clear of orange cheese because they assume artificial dyes are used, but the source of those cheerful hues is the annatto seed, not something whipped up in a lab. It’s all very wholesome, made by David and Jo Clarke, dairy farmers whose families have farmed in the Liecestershire area for generations. Red Leicester is a hearty English cheese, cheddary, earthy, with a hint of sharpness. I’d eat it with beer and some good rustic bread. We have plenty of it around, so ask us for a sample the next time you visit us.

I was seriously considering writing a post about our new vegan cheese with fake bacon bits.

This space has intentionally been left blank for you to fill with what you imagine I might say about that.

I’m not writing that post today.

Instead, let me introduce you to Mt. Townsend Creamery’s Trailhead, which won a hotstuff Gold Medal in 2008 at the American Cheese Society. While I take issue with the quote on website implying that it’s practically interchangeable with Parmigiano Reggiano, I would agree that it’s a lovely, nutty, slightly milky-flavored, semi-hard cheese that would be welcome in many a dish. I invite you to come ask for a sample next time you’re around.

You may have noticed that it’s raining. I sure have. If I weren’t at work now, I’d either be at home watching a movie, or maybe (ha!) I’d go to Golden Gate Park and enjoy the way the rain knocks the smell down from the eucalyptus trees. If you’re very quiet and watch carefully, you might luck out and see a koala.

Those of you who’ve been shopping here since waybackwhen will remember the cheap, delicious stuff we called “Dutch Aged Cheese.” Sweet, nutty, a little cheddary? And then they said they were re-tooling the plant and it would be back in three months, no, six months, no, now it’s a year, now maybe next year, well, maybe the year after that? And everyone missed it like crazy and asked for it year after year after year, way beyond the time when they stopped telling us it would be back?

Well, our new Wisconsin cheese Bellavitano tastes an awful lot like it. Yay!

I know that I often can’t resist writing about old favorites. I also tell the same jokes and stories over and over again. I like wonderful, old, familiar things. But today is a new day and Dancing Cow Menuet is a new cheese for me. Menuet is made from raw cow’s milk, un-cooled, from only a single milking, and it’s aged at least five months in the Cellars at Jasper Hill. Menuet reminds me a bit of an English cheddar; it’s got that hearty earthy quality, but it’s not as crumbly or sharp.

Look what their website says:

Our family farm is a pasture-based dairy with seasonal milk production and cows outside. We use no pesticides, herbicides or petroleum based fertilizers on our fields. We make hay from our own fields, milk our own cows and spread their manure as rich, dark compost. The cows graze on sweet clover, dandelion, trefoil and a variety of grasses from May thru December. During the grazing season the cows spend their days and nights outside, on pasture, and occasionally take a break on hot and humid summers days in the cool shade of the barn.

I bet all their cows are named after favorite children’s books. Personally, if I had a cow, hell yeah I’d name it The Great Glass Elevator.

…Maybe this is why no matter how many times I demand a cow for my birthday, nobody gives me one….

There are some amazing deals out on the shelves right now.

First off, how about P’tit Pyrenees at $9.99/lb? Same producer as P’tit Basque but made with a mix of Sheep and cow milk.  Usually $16.99/lb!
 

Then there’s English Blue Shropshire, also at $9.99/lb. Shropshire is like an orange Blue Stilton, a little mellower and sweeter than the one we carry.  Also regularly $16.99/lb.
 

And we also bought a bunch of cheese that can be classified as shipping mistakes, badly labeled, and not-full-cases.  What is there will change almost every day, but look for the sign that says “Good Deal Grotto”.  This stuff is super cheap!

Some of the best new cheese we’ve had in a long time:

 From the foothills of the Sierras, comes the El Dorado and the Roussette from La Clarine Farm.  Both are raw goat milk cheeses.  The Rousette is my favorite:  stinky, earthy, pungent and huge flavor.  The El Dorado is also washed rind, but firmer and a little more delicate.    Both cheeses show that Californians can make some of the best cheese in the country.  La Clarine Farm also makes the Sierra Mountain Tomme that we have been selling for the last year or so.

More info on the farm is here.