Past Newsletters

May 2007

European Tour of Cheese

This month we expand our horizons and journey to three separate nations to obtain our featured goodies. First, we bring you Chimay, a Belgian cow's milk cheese known for its sophisticated and complex flavor profile. Next, we bring you Fontina, an Italian cow's milk cheese that is splendid for cooking and is a pristine table or dessert cheese. And finally, Drunken Goat, a little known cheese from the Mediterranean coast of southern Spain. Taken together, these represent a world class ensemble of traditionally made, hand crafted gourmet cheeses. As we enjoy the full swing of Spring, these cheeses will provide a wonderful evening treat to enjoy with wine, bread, fruits and vegetables. Enjoy!

Chimay—The Divine Curd

Despite its small size, Belgium has a remarkably varied landscape and an extraordinary rich culinary culture. Although better known for its beers and chocolates, it is home to many wonderful cheeses, but they're a bit of a secret. Belgian cuisine reveals a variety of influences from other countries. Their cheeses are most directly influenced by the French, largely because many Trappist Monks fled to Belgium from France in the 19th Century.

Historically, Christian religious orders were the source of many original European cheeses and wines. The monasteries and nunneries prided themselves on their hospitality and the high quality of food and wine that they served their visitors. The cheeses made by these religious orders, most of which were founded in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, share a basic recipe and milk type. They are semi-soft, cow's milk cheeses made from uncooked curd with washed rinds and each has a pronounced flavor and considerable aroma.

Just north of the French border lies the town of Chimay, perhaps best known for the Trappist brewing monasteries there. Not far from the town of Chimay, near the hamlet of Forges, the Abbey of Notre Dame stands on a small hill called Scourmont. The Abbey was built in 1850 in the Romanesque style, and in 1862 the monks added a dairy and a brewery to generate funds for their livelihood.

It was a natural transition for them to make cheese produced from their dairy's milk, and it became immensely popular at local marketplaces. As with beer, the role of the monasteries in the development and production of Belgian cheese has been vital. During the Middle Ages, there were 50 abbeys in the territory now called Belgium. In vying for political and economic influence, they also vied for superiority in the cheeses they produced. Now, we would like to introduce you to a cheese that has been perfected over these last 150 years!

Tasting Notes

While its aroma is quite strong, the taste of the cheese itself is somewhat mild, but certainly not bland. This is a semi-soft cheese which has a nutty, well-finished flavor. This is a good cheese to take your time tasting—carefully noting the variety of flavors it offers will help you to cultivate your palette. We suggest taking notes as you taste, recording the aroma, then the flavor, and the all important finish. For the purposes of taking tasting notes, regard each of these as separate experiences—which they are—but as you know, they way each of these components meld together seamlessly is not only a mark of great cheese, but a confounding element to generating your notes.

Fontina

The steep-sided pastures of Valle d'Aosta in the northwestern corner of Italy, near the French and Swiss borders, are dominated by the Italian Alps - the highest mountains in Europe. Overlooked by Mont Blanc, and aided by the very dry summers, these high altitude pastures provide a wonderful variety of lush, unique grasses. Genuine Fontina is made only in Vale d'Aosta, and is the ideal expression of this territory's inimitable character, its history, its hard-working people, and their love for the mountains. During the summer, the cheeses are made at the chalets in the alpine pastures, and in the winter months, they are made in creameries lower down in the valley.

Only fresh milk from Valdostana cows is used to make Fontina. It must be raw (unpasturized) and come from a single milking. The cheeses are made twice every day and are matured for at least three months in natural environments. Each cheesemaker has his own favorite location for ripening his cheeses: caves, grottoes, tunnels, and former military bunkers. One co-operative dairy even uses an old copper mine! Fontina is perhaps one of the best Italian flavor experiences around: exotic, earthy, even enchanting. Unfortunately, most Fontina available in this country is a pale imitation, but the cheese you are about to taste is the real thing!

Italian Fontina is made in large, 17 to 22 pound wheels, about 4 inches thick, and 18 inches in diameter. Its flavor is due in part to the incredible richly flavored milk it is made from - a natural result of cows feeding on the wide range of plants in the Italian Alps, and the absence of chemicals. Fontina is 45% fat and has a creamy brown to terracotta rind that is lightly oiled, uneven, and thin. The paste is smooth and buttery, almost spreadable, when young. It has a pale straw color and a few small holes fairly evenly distributed throughout. As the cheese matures it becomes darker and much drier. The young cheese is milky and lightly scented from the alpine meadows. The older cheese develops an earthly but fruity aroma with a mellow flavor of nuts and fruit.

Authentic Fontina Valle d'Aosta has a mark on it that is unmistakable. Stenciled in purple on one side of the cheese will be a large circle with a mountain in the center of it, and the word 'Fontina' printed across the mountain. Each cheese also has the name of the local cooperative stenciled on the rind.

Fontina is a splendid cheese for cooking and is a pristine table or dessert cheese. It melts into a creamy mass that is good for sauces. Fonduta, the Piedmontese version of fondue, is based on Fontina with butter, eggs, and wild mushrooms. Wonderful in Risotto, it can also be substituted for Swiss Raclette cheese. Actually we would describe Fontina as a perfect anytime cheese that marries well with ham, salami or pate. When melted, as it frequently is, the flavor is earthy and adds a depth of flavor to any dish that calls for cheese. Serve this cheese with celery or grapes, or use in toasted sandwiches.

Fontina Impersonators

Fontal, an imitation of Fontina, is a second class cheese. Its production area is poorly defined, falling partly in France and partly in Italy, therefore the flavor is not consistent. It is often used for raclettes. Fontinella, Fontella, and Fontal are all brand names used by the big creameries of the Po Valley for their look-alike Fontina cheeses. They are mildly pleasant, but they are definitely not Italian Fontina!

Danish Fontina is a red-waxed cheese and is very bland and rubbery. Roth Kase Fontina comes from an American creamery in Monroe, Wisconsin, that uses a heat-treatment technique that does not steal all of the flavor from the milk. The cheese is very good.

Tasting Notes

This cheese has enough flavors on its own to summarize the characteristics of the entire region of Italy called Valle d'Aosta. Fontina is dense, smooth and slightly elastic. The straw-colored interior, with its small, round holes, has a delicate nuttiness with a hint of mild honey. This supple cheese's flavor hints of pristine forest floors, then shifts to a lovely yet powerful lingering scent of wild mushrooms.

Drunken Goat—A Culinary Treasure!

This incredible goat cheese is made in the village of Jumilla in the Murcia region of Spain, which is on the southeastern Mediterranean coast. This area has a typical Mediterranean climate and beautiful landscape that is known for its hot summers and mild winters. It has a robust fishing industry from the nearby sea and is also rich in fruits and vegetables, as the climate is ideal for various types of agriculture, including various vineyard acreages. In the high lands of Jumilla, cheesemakers are beginning to make a name for themselves!

Drunken Goat is quite unusual and in fact it is especially challenging to find. But thankfully, our traveling gourmand friends at Zingerman's were able to procure enough to supply our lucky members. So you must be asking yourself, much like we were, what's with the name? 'Drunken Goat' conjures up images of goats weaving about the pasture, teetering, maybe sparring, and perhaps even snoozing on their backs with their hooves pointed to the area's azure blue skies. But just to clear the air, neither wine nor beer, or any other form of spirits are fed to the goats. The name is a figurative one referring to the manner in which this goat cheese soaks up the sumptuous red wine that it is bathed in.

The Murcia region of Spain is especially famous for its Doble Pasta wine, and of course, its excellent goat's milk. The milk used to make this cheese comes exclusively from Murciana goats. It is high in both fat and protein which gives this cheese its amazing creaminess. Drunken Goat is aged for a short period of time before being immersed in the Doble Pasta wine for about 72 hours. The effect is not only to add flavor to the pate, it also imparts an incredibly stunning violet color to the rind. Usually rinds are various shades of brown or cream, sometimes with moldy patches of blue. It is exceptionally unique for a cheese to have such a brilliantly colored, violet rind. Some have likened the hue to the fiery sunsets seen in the region where it is made. After the cheese has had its luxurious bathing, Drunken Goat is then aged for an additional 75 days to allow full maturation and intermingling of the cheese and wine flavors.

Tasting Notes

The Doble Pasta wine which once bathed your Drunken Goat is a young wine and consequently, its flavors pronounced. It gives this cheese its vinaceous color and its flavor also permeates it. You can expect to smell the aroma and taste the wine in the finish. The flavor begins mild and oh so creamy, but finishes with a wonderful tangy sweetness and a fruity, luscious grapey aroma. Serve it with desserts or as an appetizer.

Don't Forget About Dad!

Dear ol' Dad—always there for you, ready to lend a helping hand. Now is your chance to give back a little of that generosity and caring with a gift membership to one or more of our monthly clubs. They make great gifts that last well beyond the day you give them - as long as you wish, in fact. From our Microbrewed Beer of the Month Clubs and Premium Cigar of the Month Clubs to our Boutique Wine of the Month Clubs and Gourmet Cheese of the Month Club (not to mention our Fresh Cut Flower of the Month Club and Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club), we offer flexible club combinations that let you mix and match different clubs for the special Dad(s) in your life. You can customize the ideal combination of club memberships as you see fit. You're limited only by your own imagination! Visit us at www.monthlyclubs.com to check out our clubs, or, if you still like interacting with real live human beings, give us a call at 800-625-8238 and a member of our friendly customer service team will help you sort through the many options we offer!

Culture Corner
Cheese	Pronunciation	Recommended Wine/Beer
Chimay	she-MAY	Try Chimay's Grande Reserve, the blue-labeled, 750ml bottled beer
Fontina	fawn-TEE-nah	Big Italian reds Barolo, Bardaresco, Nebbiolo
Drunken Goat		Spanish reds, light fruity reds or whites