Cheese is either really good (handmade and expensive) or really bad. So don't skimp, says maÃfÂ®tre fromager Max McCalman of Artisanal Premium Cheese in New York.
Cheese making likely began by accident when a herdsman poured milk into a carrying pouch made from animal innards, which contain rennet (a natural coagulant), and noticed that his spoiled milk was mustier and tastier than usual.
After years of ridicule, some American artisanal cheeses can compete with the best of Europe.Two of our recommendations: Vermont Shepherd, an award-winning, golden sheep's-milk cheddar (www.vermontshepherd.com), and Juniper Grove Farms Redmondo, a hard, rich goat's-milk cheese with a salty kick (artisanalcheese.com).
When tasting cheese, note the "attack" and the "finish." Use terms like fissured, acidic, and nutty.
Raw milk (that is, unpasteurized) is essential to artisanal-cheese making, because the bacterias killed in pasteurization are what give a cheese its complex depth and taste.
Citing speculative health concerns, the FDA has banned the sale of raw-milk cheese aged less than 60 days. Artisanal-cheese aficionados counter that the majority of food-borne illnesses linked to cheese have come not from the raw-milk variety but from mishandled pasteurized cheese.
Cheese should never be wrapped in plastic; it needs to breathe. Use paper.
Artisanal-cheese making is dependent upon two factors: age-old techniques and consistent ingredients. When one of these factors is interrupted, cheese can become endangered and even extinct. Two on the verge: Carranzana, a sheep's-milk cheese made in the Basque region of Spain. The sheep used to make it are endangered, as is its elderly traditional producer. Call 011-34-943-428-806. Dunlop, a 300-year-old semihard cheese made from Ayrshire cows' milk on the coast of Scotland. Dunlop became extinct for a time after World War II, until Dunlop native Ann Dorward took it upon herself to revive the tradition in 1990. Call 011-44-01560-482494.
Caseophile: a pretentious word used to describe a cheese aficionado.