Past Newsletters - Jan 2009

Here's to a New Year Filled with Love, Laughter—and Cheese!

Welcome to 2009. We can't guarantee love and laughter, but we can guarantee a treasure trove of international artisan cheeses over the course of the year, beginning with three of our favorites this month: Stilton, Emmentaler, and Montchevre. Whether you're a continuing member of The Gourmet Cheese of the Month Club or a first time subscriber, we're very happy to have you with us!

Stilton: A Village in the Right Place at the Right Time

Stilton, first made in the Midlands of England, takes its name from the village of Stilton. Ironically, no Stilton has ever been made there. The blue cheese was actually made in a nearby town, Melton Mowbray, and sold in the shops of Stilton. Stilton is approximately 80 miles north of London along what was called the Great North Road. Coaches traveling between London and Scotland and other cities to the north of London made Stilton their first stop (usually overnight) on the trek north—a place to freshen their horses and themselves. The village was a center marketplace for cheeses of the region. Travelers of the day were so smitten with the blue cheese found there that word of its remarkable flavor spread far and wide. So it was that Melton Mowbray's famed blue cheese acquired the name "Stilton."

Today Stilton is made much the same way as it was in the 1700's. So esteemed is Stilton's unique flavor and texture, it is the only British cheese graced with its own certification trademark. In 1936, The Stilton Cheese Makers Association was formed to maintain the quality standards and protect the trademark of Stilton. Long known as "The King of Cheeses," blue Stilton is one of a handful of British cheeses granted the status of a "protected designation origin" (PDO) by the European Commission. This means only authorized creameries can make true Stilton. They operate in just three counties of England: Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire.

How is Stilton Made?

Each morning fresh pasteurized milk is fed into an open vat to which acid-forming bacteria (starter cultures), a milk clotting agent (such as rennet) and "penicillium roqueforti" (blue mold spores) are added. Once the curds have formed, the liquid whey remaining is removed and the curds are allowed to drain overnight. The following morning, the curds are then combined into blocks to allow further drainage before being milled and salted. Each cheese requires about twenty-four pounds of salted curd, which is fed into cylindrical molds. The molds are then placed on boards and turned daily to allow natural drainage for five or six days. This ensures an even distribution of moisture throughout the cheese so that it creates the flaky, open texture required for the important bluing stage. The cheese is then transferred to the storeroom, where temperature and humidity are carefully controlled. Each cheese is turned regularly during this ripening period.

So how does this cheese get blue? As described, the basic recipe for blue cheese starts like any other cheese. The difference is the addition of the blue mold spores to the milk. Since mold needs air to grow, the cheeses are pierced with stainless steel needles when they are about six weeks old and have formed the traditional Stilton crust. The piercing allows air to enter the body of the cheese, permitting the growth of its famed blue veins. At about nine weeks of age—at which time each cheese weighs about seventeen pounds—the cheese is ready to be sold. Before being sold, though, every cheese must be graded. This is done via a cheese iron, an instrument that bores into the cheese and extracts a plug of it. By visually inspecting and smelling the plug, an experienced cheese grader can determine whether the cheese meets the standards required to allow it to be sold as Stilton. Cheese that doesn't meet the Stilton criteria will be labeled and sold simply as "blue cheese."

Tasting Notes: Milder than Roquefort or Gorgonzola, Stilton has a rich and mellow flavor with a pungent aftertaste. The finest Stilton is creamy with a subtle, yeasty sweetness and a salty, nutty finish. In fact, the way to judge the quality of your Stilton is by how creamy it is, not by how blue it is. Stilton is excellent for crumbling over salads or as a dessert cheese, served with a Port Wine. Be sure to let your Stilton come to room temperature before enjoying!

Antique Emmentaler

Cheese has long been a staple of the Swiss diet—a fact that is hardly surprising in a nation where, until recent times, dairy cows outnumbered people. Our second selection this month hails from the central cantons of Switzerland. The etymology of the word Emmentaler provides a clue to its origin: Emme is the name of a river in Switzerland and Tal means valley. The Emmentaler valley is probably the best-known valley in Switzerland, and its residents are considered to be hard working, thoughtful, and independent.

Sources trace Emmentaler back to the early 1500s, when making Emmentaler was a way to preserve the milk produced by of the significant herds of cows. The technique spread, and ultimately almost all the Alpine nations developed a regional Emmentaler. Given that it takes one-and-a-half tons of milk to make one 220-pound wheel of Emmentaler, one wonders how long it has been since making Emmentaler was primarily a way of saving milk. Certainly times have changed, and today Emmentaler is widely produced because it's widely traded.

The cheese provides a window into the ingenuity and willpower of the Swiss. Faced with a huge demand for their cheese, they could have easily consolidated operations, built huge factories, and churned out the giant wheels at a quick clip. They didn't. Instead, Swiss cheese is made in over 1,500 small dairies lining the Emme valley. Each dairy makes a wheel or two of strictly controlled, raw milk cheese under the watchful eye of the all-important Swiss Cheese Association.

This system allows for more careful, hands-on cheesemaking with higher overall quality. With the high prices of fuel, the Swiss Cheese Association thought it made more sense to move the milk short distances to make the cheese, then truck the wheels (which makes a lot of sense when you consider the volume of milk required to produce each wheel). The fact that the Swiss built an organization around these two principles—artisan-quality cheesemaking and finely honed economics—is anecdotal evidence that you actually can have it all!

How do the holes get into the cheese?

The characteristic holes of Emmentaler cheese are formed during the maturing process in the fermentation cellar. The heat in the fermentation cellar causes propionic acid to ferment, leading to a production of a carbon dioxide gas byproduct that forms within the body of the cheese. As the cheese rind becomes harder and harder with age, it forms a natural barrier, preventing the gas from escaping outwards. As a result, the gas accumulates in various places in the body of the cheese, displacing an equal volume of the body of the cheese and leaving the famed holes in Swiss cheese.

You may have noted that the holes in Swiss cheese vary in number, size, and their distribution patterns. If they are particularly regular and round in shape, they are called "eyes." While there are some kinds of cheese with a body that should be as "closed" as possible (e.g., have a few small holes) there are others in which these holes are essential. The latter is definitely the case with Emmentaler cheese, in which the formation of the holes speaks to the type and quality. Emmentaler is characterized by nearly walnut-sized holes. It is considered to be one of the most difficult cheeses to produce because of the complicated hole-forming fermentation process.

Tasting Notes: Authentic Swiss cheese is never harsh or bitter, but should present a degree of acidity on the finish. As you will notice with each piece of Antique Emmentaler, the smoothness is quite pronounced. Its normal intense, sweet nuttiness has mellowed, leaving an increasing and long feeling of warmth in your mouth. Your Emmentaler is over a year old, while most Emmentaler on the American market has been aged less than six months. Enjoy!

Montchevre Goat Cheese Log: French-style Goat Cheese from the Heartland of America

The goat cheese log you will enjoy this month comes from the Montchevre cheese company in Belmont, Wisconsin. Though it is American-made, the company's recipes, methods, and makers come from a long line of French cheesemakers.

Arnaud Solandt and Jean Rossard are partners in the Montchevre Cheese Company. Both men are descendants of generations of cheesemakers from Poitou in central France, which is still the heart of France's goat cheesemaking region. When they immigrated to the States in the mid-1980's and saw the burgeoning popularity of goat cheese in this country, they decided to put their heritage—and years of experience—into a new adventure. After much searching for the perfect situation, they found a small Wisconsin cheese factory with a goat farm right across the street. In 1988, Montchevre began making goat cheese using 5,000 pounds of milk each week. That may sound like a lot, but 5,000 pounds produced a very small amount of cheese. Fortunately, the quality was impressive, and they have won dozens of state, national, and international awards ever since. Most recently, their product won "Best in Class" in the 2008 World Championship Cheese Contest.

Today Montchevre has over 100 employees that process three million pounds of milk each year. Though the company has grown and has modernized some equipment, it is still relatively small, and the emphasis is still on quality. Cheese is still made the same way—by hand—in the tradition of their French ancestors, with the focus on quality.

Montchevre uses only fresh, 100% natural goat's milk; no hormones or preservatives are added. They use milk produced by Amish farmers who are local to the Wisconsin and Iowa region. For most lactose-intolerant adults and children, goat cheese is a delicious alternative to cheese made from cows' milk. Goat cheese has twice as much calcium as cream cheese and half the saturated fat and fat calories. It's truly a nutritious AND healthy indulgence!

Arnaud and Jean have a strong partnership, each participating fully in company decision making. They share a commitment to the highest standards of quality cheesemaking. As Arnaud says, "I couldn't do it without Jean. And he couldn't do it without me. In eighteen years of working together, we've never had a fight. If we disagree, we always find a compromise position."

Award-Winning Cheeses

Even though the Montchevre is a relatively new company, its cheeses have won many state, nationa,l and international awards, among them:

• 2008 World Championship Cheese Contest, Best in Class
• 2007 American Cheesemakers Award
• 2006 3rd Place World Championship Cheese Contest
• 2003 Wisconsin State Fair: silver and bronze medals
• 2002 World Cheese Competition: gold medal
• 2002 Wisconsin State Fair: gold and silver medals
• 1999 National Cheese Contest: Best of Class for Blue Cheese and 2nd Place in Goat Cheese class
• 1997 World Cheese Contest: Best in Class

Tasting Notes: Goat's milk cheeses are especially rich and delicious, since they are made from fresh milk. These cheeses are versatile and can be used at any time of the day you wish to serve them. They can be served warmed, with salad, and at room temperature after dinner as a dessert, often served with fruit.

Culture Corner
Cheese	Pronunciation	Recommended Wine/Beer
Stilton	STILL-tun	A great dessert cheese, Stilton is excellent when paired with port.
Emmentaler	EM-awn-tahl-er	With its sweet aroma and notes of fresh-cut hay, along with its fruity flavor, this cheese tastes delicious with a glass of dry bubbly.
Montchevre	Moan-SHERV	Young, dry whites or lighter reds such as red zinfandel pair well with this award-winning cheese.