The Cheese Blog
Fresh Cheese Season is here!
It's fresh cheese season! If you want to taste what the animals are eating in those gorgeous fields, now, say hello to one of my favorite style of freshies . Say hello to the the ash-ripened goat cheese.
What’s your top ashy cheese?
See that thin layer of black-grey under a light powdery, white mold on the bottom cheese? That’s ash. It’s super common in Loire Valley-inspired goat cheesess & their American inspirations.
Here are 3 things to know about ash:
1. What is it? Cheese ash comes from burnt vegetables, pretty much. It’s the same thing as the activated charcoal that wellness folks rave about (actually, in the UK it’s even called charcoal, not ash). A lot these days ash is from burnt husk!
2. Why use it? Ash changes a cheese’s pH and gives the ripening process a little nudge. It helps cheese be ready to eat quicker. In the older days like in the case of Morbier, it was often used to differentiate between curds that were made from morning milk and curds that were made from the nighttime milking, then layered on top of the morning curds and left to age.
3. Where did it come from and why did they start using it? I learned while taking a class from Ivan Larcher at @sterlingcollegevt that ash first started dusting cheeses when families used to age them in the huge fireplaces of their old farmhouses in the Loire Valley! It just naturally settled on the cheeses and they decided to keep it around. I love this story.
Some of my favorite cheeses with ash on them are, well, any from the Loire Valley, those from: @boxcarrhandmadecheese @cyrpessgroves, River’s Edge Chevre, @vermontcreamery and @ruggleshill , to start. You?
Trader Joe's Haul
The time has come! I am sharing my top cheese picks from Trader Joe's on the blog, and later this week on my Instagram, I will be sharing my full wine picks from TJ!
I know that often we go to Trader Joe's for one thing, and it seems like we always end leaving with way more than what we went in for but trust me… adding these picks to your cart will always be a great idea! Here are my top picks:
Society Roquefort. No, if you're a blue hater, you won't like it. But if you're a blue lover, you'll love it! It's bold, and it loves to be smothered in honey.
Coastal Cheddar. It's sweet. It's a little tangy. It's sexy how it crumbles.
In the bottom left-hand corner is Gruyere. It delivered on a cheese plate, and melted like a dream when I cooked with it (sorry Gruyere, you didn’t deserve to cut off in the photo, kisses).
Burrata. It's squishy. Cover it with olive oil and salt have it for dinner.
Marin French Breakfast Cheese. It's like a triple-creme that hasn't been aged yet.
Do you have a favorite?
See you on the cheese aisle!
Top Three Cheeses (or cheese styles) To Always Keep in Your Fridge
f I could, I would have a fridge just full of cheese - but even though I’m not there yet (one day!) there are always 3 kinds of cheese that I keep in my fridge. They come in handy for a snack, for melting into a sandwich, for a late-night treat, or anything in between. You might not always find these specific cheeses in my fridge but I always have cheese in these styles! Here are my top three!
Parmigiano-Reggiano: A cheese that is a full-service grater, looks beautiful when shaved, and is damn good chunked and sliced solo, too.
Feta: An amazing cheese for cooking and finishing dishes. If not feta, something like chèvre, queso fresco, or fromage blanc.
A snacking cheese (or 3): Whatever I feel like slicing into for lunch, melting, or standing in front of my fridge with the door open eating.
With these always in stock, I can bring in some extra special guest cheeses and take my snacking up a notch! Head over to my Instagram and chime in with what three cheeses you always have in your fridge!
Whole Milk Ricotta
Cheesemaking might seem intimidating but I truly believe that ricotta is a great place to start! It’s low barrier of entry and delicious results will surely get you hooked on making cheese at home! This week, we start with the ricotta recipe and then later this week, I will share two recipes on what to make with ricotta - there will be something sweet and something savory, everyone’s happy!
If you make this today - it will keep for the week! Will it last that long? Can’t promise that!
Whole Milk Ricotta
Ingredients
1 gallon whole milk. not ultra or flash pasteurized
1 cup cream
6-10 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
Process
1. Pour milk, cream, and salt into a non-reactive pot. While gently stirring over low-medium heat, bring milk to 195 degrees F. Turn off heat.
2. Add half the lemon juice to pot, gently stir, then wait 10 seconds. Slowly add one more tablespoon, then stir the pot twice. Examine the pot. Do you see curds? Is there a clear separation between the curds and whey, or does the pot still look milky? If three is a clear separation, stop stirring. If there isn’t, continue adding acid one tablespoon at a time, stirring the pot slowly, and pausing between each addition. Once you see curds form and the milk turn into a yellowish liquid, stop stirring, you have ricotta! You may only use 3/4 of your acid. This is fine.
3. Let the pot sit untouched for 15-20 minutes as soft curds form throughout the whey.
4. After 15-20 minutes, gently ladle the ricotta curds from the pot to a colander lined with butter muslin cloth or small mesh pasta sieve. Once you ladle most of the ricotta from the pot, slowly pour the remaining curds into the colander. Let drain from 20 minutes to 1 1/2 hours until desired consistency.
5. Will keep refrigerated for from 3-5 days
* substituting equal amounts of white vinegar for lemon juice will also provide delicious results
It's gotta be gouda!
Sometimes in the middle of a busy week when you're working from home and the lines blur between when you're working or when you're not - you just have to mute the slack notifications, close the laptop and treat yourself!
There’s a treat that I am always circling back to and it’s my apple gouda puff pastry dessert. (click for recipe!)
It goes from gathering the ingredients to ready to be eaten in 45 minutes! It’s the perfect treat for the end of a long day!
It's sweet, it's savory, it's crispy and flaky! You gouda love it! 😬
It's (always) khachapuri time!
Over this past weekend, I shared on my Instagram stories that I was making khachapuri and so many of you were super interested in learning more and something this good needs to be shared.
Whether you've been following me on Instagram, this very blog, or my newsletter you know that my love for khachapuri has been real for quite some time!
If you make some khachapuri this weekend - make sure to tag me in your pictures!
What's not to fall in love with? It's cheesy, melty, carby aaand it has a soft yolk on top of it?! Simply Irresistible!
A few years back I paired with my friend Anna Voloshyna, a Slavic chef based in San Francisco, who kindly shared her recipe for khachapuri with me and it's the one I've been using since.
You can click here to learn all about khachapuri and get the recipe for yourself! The weekend is fast approaching, why not make some at home? Join me and fall in love with this cheesy bread (dream!) boat!
A Very Cheesy Valentine!
Whether you're spending your Valentine's Day with your love, with your pod or with your friends over zoom - I am here to help you pick one, two or why not all three, ways to share your love of cheese with your loved ones!
Here are two great kinds of cheese and three ways to enjoy them!
A fun or rare pick like Sappy Ewe
Nettle Meadow takes sheep and cow's milk cheese curds (the curds of milk that's been firmed to a thick-custard texture) and drizzles them with maple syrup from Adirondack mountains. Then they fill the curds into crottin-style molds to age. The cheese has a brie-like, bloomy rind that before shipping out, they dust with ash from local black pine trees. It's a New York cheese all the way.
The result is a rich, small sliceable cheese that tastes like brown butter, fresh hazelnuts, and maple ham that knocks the idea out of the water that cheese is always better left alone. Though the list of ingredients might give the impression of sweetness, Sappy Ewe is mellow, subtle, and fit for a cheese plate before or after dinner.
Wine: Before dinner, pair with a yeasty Champagne or rich Viognier. After, pair with something tawny, spicy, and sweet like a sweet sherry or vin santo
After dinner? Amazing with chocolate. Tazo's stone ground vanilla-bean chocolate offered a crunchy bite to the silky cheese.
Triple Creme, two ways
A triple creme is a cheese whose butterfat content is from 60-75%. Never fear, this is the percentage of fat in dry matter, meaning that because triples are so young and full of whey, which the FDA doesn't measure, the butterfat is actually lower than it sounds. One of my favorite triple creme below. Here's how you can spin it, sweet or spicy! 😈
Brillant Savarin with Chocolate
People rave about how much they love wine & chocolate together. Me? I prefer my chocolate with butterfat. Think chocolate cheesecake, but better. The only rules are 1. play around with contrasts (mix flavors and textures) and 2. that you must talk about what happens in cheese and chocolate club.
Mt. Tam with Spicy Tomato Jam
If you want to take your creamy experience to another level, contrast in texture, or flavor. Pairing your triple with something sour or spicy highlights the cheese’s sweet, creamy notes, and the high butterfat in the triple easily stands up to tart and piquant flavors, making for a very fun pairing. I paired mine here with Friends in Cheese’s Tart & Spicy Tomato Jelly.
Have a healthy and safe Valentine's Day!
XO,
Kirstin