The Cheese Blog
Making a Mother's Day Cheese Plate? Turn it up to 11.
If your mom is anything like my mine, she'd appreciate a Mother's Day cheese plate that rocks the dairy boat.
She'd like a Mother's Day cheese plate that was so unusual she'd have to ask twice if the cookies really were supposed to go with the cheese (yessss, Mom). One that featured fermented vegetables and preserved fruit. One that let her enjoy the many layers of her favorite cheeses in ways she never had before.
For Mother's Day, turn your mother's cheese plate up to 11.
Of course you can build a simple plate packed with cheese, and maybe a little honey or dried fruit. But a more contemporary option is pairing cheeses that you know your mother (or the mother-figure in your life) adores to exciting sides and condiments that she'd never cozy up to her favorite wedges on her own. Do the daring leg work for her.
My mom (isn’t she cute?)
Should you be afraid to go bold in your pairings? If you reach out of bounds, will flavors get too extreme or clash?
No, and maybe. In case you're wondering, I can now speak from with confidence that dried mango with chili powder does not play nicely with cheese. Play around after Mother's Day- here are some pairings that are good-to-go now
Tried and tested, these are my picks!
My Mother's Day cheese plate features the lovely Comté: Stepladder Creamery's Cabrillo, Tomales Farmstead Teleeka, preserved lemon, Oreo's or Newman's O's, and Cultured's gingery sauerkraut.
Full disclosure, the Comté Association sponsored my post and asked me to pick 2 more cheeses to feature on the plate. More disclosure, Comté was already one of my top 10 cheeses (so, yay!).
Comté with Cultured's "Super Sauerkraut Salad:" I've recently discovered the joy of pairing krauts and fermented cabbage with this Alpine-style cheese. This one is one of my favorite duos. The kraut's gingery and tangy flavor slices through Comté's richness like a bright acidity wine does a triple-creme, while allowing the cheese's brown buttery and hazelnut nuances shine through. Pair a gingery and bright beet-hued kraut with golden Comté, or go a little bolder and pair with Kimchee (really- it's not to spicy-start with a tiny piece and go as bold as you like it). Even more pairing, you ask? Throw an off-dry Riesling in the mix. But the next way I'm trying this combo is in a grilled Comté and kraut grilled cheese sandwich with buttered country bread.
You can read more about Comté's culture and history here.
Steppladder Creamery's Cabrillo: A goat and cow's milk hybrid, Cabrillo already shows light notes of lemon from its goat's milk so matching it to a preserved, salty lemon felt natural. It made it even more sunny and bright. I also tried it with goji berries, and... well, let's pretend I didn't. Together the preserved lemon and the Cabrillo offer a liveliness fit for a cheese plate, or light appetizers. Another cheese option? Garrotxa, Panteleo, or Pennyroyal Boot Corner.
Tomales Farmstead Teleeka & Chocolate Cream Sandwich Cookies: Goat, sheep, and cow's milk- are you sensing a California theme here? Yup, when goat and sheep's milk cheesemakers don't have enough milk from the tiny producers (goat and sheep provide less milk during certain seasons), they often buy cow's milk from dairy farmer neighbors. This cheese is like a robiola, and the grassy hints of the goat's milk shine through while the sheep and cow's milk provide a thick, creamy texture. I've always loved fresh chevre with chocolate so I decided to test these cookies out here. Delicious. Bright and sweet and earthy. At one point I scraped out the cream filling from the cookie sandwich, replaced it with Teleeka, and liked the cookie even better. Another cheese option? La Tur, Tomales Farmstead Kenne, or Vermont Creamy's Crémont.
Enjoy your Mother's Day with an amazing woman in your life.
French Cheese & Wine Tour: Provence!
A tour here, a class there, a little bubbly sipping everywhere, planning events for SF Beer Week- how's one to keep in all in straight? I have no idea. With battling visions of spring in Provence and winter cheese classes in my head, I'm a little in need of an organizer. Or a calendar. Or someone to put things in my organizer and calendar (l pay in cheese?).
Either way, I'm loving what the busyness is bringing. December and wine buying season hit like a glittery, icy, hammer at the wine shop I work at, we're shipping wine all over the place, and things are in motion all around me. I'm a little tired, but feeling very blessed.
I'll be featuring different cheeses on my blog throughout December and will have a lot of news to share in the upcoming weeks, so please keep posted!
Today, there's something I want to share with you dear readers that I'm very excited about. My first tour! I'm heading to Provence with the UC Alumni Association! Yup, you're invited, too.
Flavors of Provence: A 9-Day Infusion of Wine, Food and Culture:
I'm honored to announce that I'm the guest lecturer on an upcoming UC Berkeley Alumni trip to Provence this May. Did I mention I love to travel? I'll be joining the Cal Travel team as one of their hosts to provide further enrichment and education on the tour by talking about... you guessed it! Cheese, culture and wine. Though it sounds like its just for alumni, anyone can actually join the group after joining the association (which is open to the general public). I'm pretty ecstatic. We'll be staying for seven nights in a farmhouse chateau, watching cooking demonstrations from Michelin starred chef Edouard Loubet, visiting markets, and... more. At the moment, spots are still open. Let me know if you have any questions- if I can't answer them, I'll direct you to someone who can.
I'm very excited and hope some of you can make, but if you can't, rest assured they'll be more opportunities go eat cheese with me, many of them at future classes, or, just with me in general. I eat a lot of it.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
(I'm working on the comments issue on the blog at the moment. I can read them and appreciate the love, but I know that you can't. I hope to have it back to normal soon! Thanks for holding tight, your support, and reading!)