For the Love of Cheese

Welcome to the initial post of As the cheese turns! As you can probably guess, the contributors to this blog got together from a shared love of gourmet food, and especially cheeses. This is something that’s important to all of us (and we assume you too, if you’ve read past the first two sentences), for reasons of family traditions, heritage, and the simple way food enriches our lives.

Probably one of the most amazing aspects of gourmet food is the unique way it becomes part of your life. An often used line in advertising copy is “this (coffee/chocolate/blue cheese) is so good, you’ll never be able to go back to your regular brand!” While this line has probably been tacked onto more products than it should have been, there’s still some fundamental truth in it. Exceptional food has a way of sticking with us and haunting our memories with its delicious ghosts. In light of these gems, regular food seems to pale, lacking that extra oomph! that really opens the palate with its flavor.

Cheeses especially seem to fall in this category. You could look at it from a scientific perspective, explaining how the higher fat content allows cheeses to carry bigger flavors, but that doesn’t seem to be the entire story. The extra care invested into what’s basically a bucket of raw milk, making it into cheese, and the attention and precision given during aging seem to be reflected in the cheese’s character as well. But, as we spoke among ourselves, we wanted to put these thoughts out there, to share our passion with others who were similarly affected by exceptional food.