Just had a great conference call about the panel I am doing at ACS this year and now I’m excited. While the panel could have a more exciting name — “HANDLING CHEESE IN A RETAIL ENVIRONMENT” is not a must-attend sound bite and it sounds like I’ll be in the middle of the retail floor massaging a Gouda or something — I think that it will be fun for us and the attendees. Plus, I get to display some of my Bad Cheese photo gallery during the presentation and that’s always fun.
Only five weeks away!
I’ve always thought this cheese was underrated and super cute. It’s in that Alpine cheese category that I love so much, but it’s less well known than many others from that region, at least here in the U.S. Though it varies by producer, affineur, etc. it can be about the spiciest of the French Alp cheeses with that aged sweet onion taste I associate more with cheeses from the Swiss side of the border.
Look at these beauties: 
Supposedly the history of this dates back to the 14th Century when Monks made this style of cheese. But you don’t need to study up on this cheese to enjoy it. I’m sure this is not true 100% of the time,* but, generally, darker the wash on the outside, the stronger the cheese. This actually holds true with the Vermont versions of this cheese – Tarentaise by Thistle Hill and Spring Brook – and there is a scientific basis for this so I’ll stay with it until proven otherwise.
Right now we have about the strongest Abondance that we’ve ever had but I like it in all its permutations. The blonder rinded ones are incredibly nutty and grassy, the dark pink sticky ones are big, intense, and powerful. And cute.
Did I mention cute? Look at these indented rinds with the little lips:
As Mojo Nixon would say, That’s “not no fool Billy Idol lip either”**
*We’ve never regularly sold this cheese so I do not consider myself an expert on it. In 19 years of mongering we’ve probably sold less than 2000 lbs.
**
Gordon ("Zola") Edgar 