Tags
Butter, cheddar, Cheese, Goat cheese, gouda, gruyère, Plugrá, shopping animus, Stilton cheese
I am a bit gender-deviant in that I hate almost every kind of shopping. I will visit a mall only at gunpoint, and although I appreciate beautiful clothing, my own wardrobe is in a sad state. The only exceptions to my shopping embargo are books (natch), certain items that I collect, and things to eat or drink.
So it was that I gladly joined the Long-Suffering Husband on a recent expedition to an upscale food emporium whose departments are broken down into the following:
- wine
- cheese
- bakery
- chocolate
- produce
- deli
- butcher shop and seafood
Of course, I have nothing to do with the last-named, but all the others are of exceeding interest to me. (The only department missing is Liquor, but given the generous wine selection, I can’t complain.) Feeling virtuous and in need of restorative substances after accompanying the Long-Suffering Husband to donate platelets (the LSH is a fervent blood donor and has earned his ten-barrel pin, which is equivalent to 4200 gallons or 66.6 hogsheads), I decided to load up with loot, focusing on the kinds that are aged in caves.
My haul consisted of the following (clockwise from right):
1. Cyprus Grove Purple Haze chèvre: with the addition of lavender and fennel pollen, this goat cheese is amazing, as are all the Cyprus Hill products.
2. Long Clawson Blue Stilton: this Leicestershire blue is excellent, though I have to admit that I would eat a dirt pie if it had blue cheese on it.
3. Balleycashel mild Irish cheddar: haven’t tasted this yet, but as a major cheddar fan, I am salivating! The label says Tipperary by confusion with Cashel Blue, but I think it’s from the Imokilly plant in Co. Cork.
4. Emmi Le Gruyère: this is my go-to gruyère. The perfect companion to asparagus, and one of the best cheeses for cooking.
5. Unsalted Plugrá butter. I’ve never actually tried this one in spite of its fame among foodies, so I thought it was about time. Maybe I’ll make chocolate-chip cookies! By the way, Plugrá has the most amazing collection of flavored butter recipes I’ve ever seen.
6. Meyenberg Goat’s Milk Butter: this cultured butter from a large California producer is salted, but all my doubts were erased once I tasted it. It’s pure white, and has a heavenly aroma quite unlike cow’s butter. The flavor is almost like coconut, with a slight sweetness and a distinct tangy echo of chèvre. I fried my eggs in it this morning. Mmmmm!
7. Two hunks of BellaVitano from Wisconsin: we don’t buy Parmegiano Reggiano because it uses rennet (from the lining of calf stomachs) to curdle the milk. Though it’s tough to be deprived of PR, I have found lots of pleasing alternatives, and this is one of the best. Like a cross between an aged cheddar and an aged parmesan, but less granular and more creamy.
8. Local Black Swamp Gouda from grass-fed cows at Canal Junction farmstead in Ohio. This cheese surprised me because it’s not like a traditional aged gouda. It’s a relatively young, fresh cheese, but with a hint of sharpness and tang.
9. [Late addition!] How could I have forgotten this one? It’s a Delice de Bourgogne, a triple cream. I found it a bit too salty, but still delicious and milder than I expected.
Also pictured are two chardonnays on which I will report in due course…
According to wikipedia, the US is tenth in the world in per capita cheese consumption, with France, Iceland, Greece and Germany heading the list. I’m doing my bit to bring us up in the standings…
Also, over the past few weeks the 3 B’s have landed in the top tags for my posts: Beautiful Men, Belfast, and Butter. The last has been dropping in the standings, so I had to give Butter a boost!
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- Five tonnes of cheese missing in Sydney (smh.com.au)
I used to live near Stilton… they have an annual cheese rolling competition 🙂
….ooooooh, cheese….!
Wow. I think if I lived near Stilton, I’d be continuously orgasmic.
…and who could have blamed you if you’d been riding the cheese down that hill!
Right, I’m getting my coat and coming over to yours. I had to buy Latvian cheddar today. LATVIAN cheddar – that shouldn’t even be a thing 😉
Don’t they have good cheese in Latvia? I tried to look up cheese consumption per capita but Latvia. In 2009 Latvia was just behind the US in 8th place, but after that it doesn’t even show up! http://www.wmmb.com/assets/media/statistics/cheese_consumption_by_country_2009.gif
It’s like there was a huge cheese shortage or something.
Ha ha, no they’re pretty big into their cheese here! To me cheddar has to be Irish though! Or English I guess 😉
Ah! What is the best Irish cheddar??? My favorite Irish cheese (so far) is Kerrygold Dubliner. I can’t get enough of it! But we mainly get the bigger producers here.
I’d be happy with any red cheddar at the moment! We don’t get any here! Although Heinz beans are back in the supermarket this week! 🙂
Ugh. I’m rolling with hunger as I’m scrolling your post. Cheese is my kryptonite. If allowed to eat as much as I wanted, I’d seriously be a building with feet. Ever tried Roaring 40’s Blue? It’ll scrape the tarar off your teeth, but it’ll be worth it. No need to see the wretched dentist for a good solid year.
YUM
Wow, that’s one I’ve not tried! I’ll have to look for it. I was one of those odd children who loved blue cheese from the first taste (somewhere around age 4). And sharp, sharp cheddar… the kind with little crystals in it.
Mmmm, cheese! That first goat’s cheese sounds delicious.
I’m not allowed to give blood in Germany… in case I have mad cow’s disease!
Interesting. And we’re not allowed to give blood in the US if we’ve been in Europe too long, probably for the same reason.
I couldn’t agree more, the cute gardener has to pull teeth to get me to shop but a wine store with upscale foodie items, I will always make an exception…as a matter of fact this Friday we are going to the once a year warehouse sale at Epicurean Imports and plan to indulge all weekend on the couch with pate an liquor … too bad you and the gracious husband didn’t live in America, I have a feeling we would get along wickedly in this fashion….
Epicurean Imports! That sounds like the Valhalla of foodies. Actually we do live in the states, in Ohio. But I admit to a lifelong desire for a cottage in the Cotswolds, an apartment in Paris, or a villa in Tuscany!!
How did I miss this post?! Making this a permalink in my bookmarks…
Glad you liked it 🙂