The Magazine of Tasteful Living!
Find out what sets Le Gruyère AOP apart. If Michael Spycher, cheesemaker at Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus in Bern, Switzerland, said he felt on top of the world last March, he wouldn’t have been exaggerating. He was. It was March 3, to be specific, in Madison, WI, at the 34th annual
The ins and outs of coagulating the curd. According to Paul Kindstedt, author of “Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and its Place in Western Civilization”, around 7000 BC, members of herding communities in southwest Asia would have observed that if they left milk out, it coagulated. The human
Cheese atop salads is the perfect addition. A crumble of feta or blue mingles with garden vegetables. A shave of Parm or Manchego sits atop mixed greens. A sprinkle of cheddar or Swiss jazzes up spinach. Cheese is an essential ingredient in a classic salad—something North American chef innovators such
Learn about this crown jewel of Spanish cuisine. Jamón is at the heart of Iberian history, culture and cuisine. Spanish for cured ham, the delicacy is beloved from the markets of Barcelona to the tapas bars of Madrid to weddings in Bilbao and everywhere in between. Most Spanish households have
Gouda, pride of the Dutch, is popular for a reason. Did you know that Gouda is not pronounced Gooda in the Netherlands? The Dutch say Chowda, the ‘ch’ articulated as the final sound in the Scottish word loch, or the German ich. No matter how you say it, traditional Gouda
A breakdown of the bacteria that makes cheeses unique. Any serious cheese lover knows that cheese is created by adding a culture to milk. But what exactly is a culture? What does one look like and what does it actually do? “At its core, a cheese culture is a specific
Kaffeost (Juustoleipä) has become one of Wisconsin’s most popular novelties after a successful pilgrimage west. Lapland’s magical Christmas connotations make it seem like the stuff of fairy tales. It’s easy to imagine Santa’s workshop and brisk sleigh rides; the Northern Lights dancing over crisp snow and herds of reindeer. In
A pillar in traditional Italian cuisine. Lidia Bastianich’s earliest memories of eating Grana Padano cheese were right after World War II ended. Bastianich, now a best-selling Italian cookbook author and award-winning TV chef, was six years old at the time. She was living in her native Pola, now part of
Decadent and delicious, soups made of cheese warm up the soul. On a blustery winter’s day, few things are more satisfying than a steaming bowl of soup—and cheese can play a minor or starring role in whatever you happen to put on the table. Besides adding flavor, cheese can
Cheese pairing with orange wine is a worthy adventure to undertake. Natural wines have taken the wine world by storm in recent years. Although there is no formal definition of the term in the United States, natural or low-intervention wines are generally thought to be ones made with no or
Cheeses from Greece have a storiedhistory and widespread appeal. Say “Greek cheese” and most people think feta. But the cheese heritage of Greece is ancient, rich, and far more varied. Greeks had been producing and trading many fresh and aged cheese types well before the 8th Century B.C. We know
A how-to on incorporating cheese into Oktoberfest celebrations. Oktoberfest celebrations—those cheerful, colorful odes to German beer and culture—kick off all over the world in September. Attendees at one of these events, whether they go to an official celebration in Munich or a smaller gathering in their community, can expect to
