Category Archives: Uncategorized

Readings, tastings, and classes

Posted on July 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

After laying low for awhile, I have a whole bunch of upcoming events. Check ’em out!
(ACS attendees, check out the Milwaukee reading the day after the conference!)

(photo by Myleen Hollero She took that amazing cover photo too!)

Milwaukee, WI — Sunday, Aug 4, Noon — $35 (follow link for tickets)
Reading and tasting at one of Milwaukee’s best spots for food. Book included in price! (Perfect event to help deal with the ACS-conference-is-over letdown.)
Gloriosos Market 1011 E Brady Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Sunnyvale, CA — Monday, Aug 12, 7 PM — Free
Reading, signing, and a little cheese tasting at the library. I love libraries!
Sunnyvale Public Library, 665 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale CA 94086

Butte, MN — August 16, 6 PM — Free
Like I said, I love libraries! I will only be at this one via Skype, but skyping is the new in-person. If you are in the area you should attend this and see if you can hear my schnauzer barking in the background. A local store will even be sampling cheese!
Butte-Silver Bow Public Library, 226 W. Broadway, Butte, Montana 59701

Oakland, CA — Benefit for PODER — Aug 18

San Francisco, CA — September 24, 6 PM — “American Cheese Society 2013 Winners: Cheese Judge Tells All”, $69 —
For 20 years the American Cheese Society has hosted an annual competition to recognize the best in American cheesemaking. Two decades ago the judges tasted and rated 20 cheeses over a weekend, at ACS 2013 that number is expected to climb to over 1,700. The competition is fierce, the cheeses are fantastic, and you’ll not find any coverage of the cheese-off on ESPN nor the Food Channel. Who won? Who lost? Why? Let ACS judge and Rainbow Grocery Cooperative cheese buyer Gordon Edgar regale you with the stories while you taste the fruits of his labors: 2013’s first place winners. You’ll learn how a judge tastes and scores cheese and then try your hand at being the judge yourself.
Cheese School of San Francisco, 2155 Powell St., $69

(Also, I am trying to communicate things like events more directly with interested people, so if you haven’t already, please sign up for my newsletter.)

American Cheese Society Conference 2013

Posted on July 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

I was thinking about what I should write about this year’s American Cheese Society conference since I am leaving for Wisconsin in 6 days. But then I realized I wrote everything out last year!

I had almost forgotten about “Gordonzola’s humble suggestions for getting the most out of the cheese conference” but I just re-read it and it’s pretty good advice, all things considered. I mean, considering it’s coming from me. If you haven’t gone to the conference before, check it out!

Also, If you are around Milwaukee 8/4 at noon, I will be doing a cheese talk at Gloriosos Italian Market. Follow the link for info. It’s Milwaukee’s “cheese event of the season” they say.

Wisconsin vs. California

Posted on June 25, 2013 | 13 comments

So, I did a class at the Cheese School that was a battle between Wisconsin and California. I figured it would be a fun class, because, hey, why not stoke the rivalry? I almost got a Wisconsin food blogger kicked out of his home state because (his idea!) we bet on the Niners/Packers playoff result. When my Niners won, he had to go put up “California Cheese is better than Wisconsin Cheese” on his facebook page. I felt so bad for him… he got hundreds of comments, many very nasty, and people were unfriending him in droves.

The Cheese School folks suggested a Super Bowl Cheese class but we had to cancel it when Baltimore got in from the AFC. There are some good Maryland cheeses, but none are available out here and it just didn’t excite people the way that a battle people the top milk and cheese producing states would.

No, Wisconsin vs. California is the real battle. Since they will never get to battle in the Super Bowl (Sorry Raiders fans), I decided that it would be fun just to have a battle at the Cheese School.

I didn’t hype the class at all because it sold out really fast. So, I was surprised when people started lobbying me about what cheeses should compete. I am known as a Californian, so it did NOT surprise me that the lobbying came from Wisconsin. Was I going to set up a California victory? Would I battle some cold pack cheese spread against Humboldt Fog? An Aaron Rodgers-shaped mild, waxed Cheddar against Fiscalini bandage-wrapped aged for 18 months?

From others I got dismayed reactions about having the cheeses fight against each other. Can’t we all just get along? My answer to that is that in a cheese case (or a buyers desk) these cheeses are in competition every day. This doesn’t mean we can’t cooperate and work together, but a customer, unless doing a horizontal tasting, does not want two traditional Cheddars, Two aged sheep cheeses, two blues etc and they are going to have to choose one. It’s my job, behind the counter, to help them figure out which one to choose, presenting them with tastes, stories and contexts. So really, this is a more real-life situation than my average cheese class.

I’m not the most prompt blogger, but I promised results to folks. I tried to pick categories that would be a fair fight. I conceded block Cheddar to Wisconsin. I claim ripened goat cheese for the Californians. Here’s what happened with the match-ups I chose.

Round 1:
Fiscalini Bandage-Wrapped 18 Month Cheddar vs. Bleu Mont Dairy Cheddar

I did my samples anonymously and switched the California/Wisconsin order around so people couldn’t stack the deck. I thought that there would be a lot of Wisconsin people there because the class sold out so quickly, but it was mostly because a law office was having a night out together. I was a little disappointed because I had planned a bunch of Wisconsin-baiting but there were only 3 Badger-Staters in attendance.

People loved both these cheeses. We were definitely starting out strong with two giants of the cheese world. The Fiscalini was the first non-English cheese to take home the award for Best Extra Mature Traditional Cheddar at the World Cheese Awards. Bleu Mont is an amazing traditional Cheddar from organic pastured cows aged in a cave made by cheese genius Willi Lehner. CheddarSharp or sweet.? Moist or shard-y? Who will win?

Me and Mariano from Fiscalini. At least Mariano looks good.

I was shocked when I counted the hands. It was an absolute tie. It didn’t seem fair to go all Speaker-of-the-House and be the tie-breaker, so I let it stand.

California: 0, Wisconsin: 0, Ties: 1

Round 2
Bleating Heart Fat Bottom Girl vs. Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Co-op Dante

I love both of these cheeses, but let me start with the unexpected: This was the best piece of Dante I have ever tasted and we have carried this, on and off, since soon after they started making it. It was an incredible balance of sweet caramel, sharpness, and earthiness.

Here are some of the co-op members

I love the Fat Bottom Girl a million different ways and think that it is one of the best versions of Basque-style cheese in the USA but its more subtle nuance, and grassiness could note compete with the hammer smash of this particular wheel of Dante. I don’t know how it would come out next time, but this time the winner was Dante.

California: 0, Wisconsin: 1, Ties: 1

Round 3
Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk vs. Crave Brothers Petit Freres

A washed-rind stink off. Who would win? Our local hero and past ACS Best of Show winner? Or the little, underrated washed rind from the family dairy with one of the biggest methane digesters in the US cheese business?

I like the Freres a lot, but Red Hawk may be unbeatable in this category. Red Hawk, I should note, just keeps getting better and better. It’s another cheese I have eaten pretty much since it was invented and every time I try it, it seems better than the last. I should note, that this was the only cheese of the evening that people could recognize.

California: 1, Wisconsin: 1, Ties: 1

Round 4
Pt Reyes Farmstead Bay Blue vs. Roelli Dunbarton Blue

To decide it all two cheese that have little but blue in common. Bay Blue is the new Blue from Pt Reyes Farmstead which has been a huge hit since we started carrying it. Natural rind, richer than Original Blue and with more depth of flavor despite being pasteurized. The Dunbarton is basically a traditional Cheddar with Blue veining. Pretty original as cheeses go, and made by one of my favorite cheesemakers. This was the only category where some folks said that they might actually buy both for a cheese plate (eve if we cheesemongers know that only about .01% of customers would actually buy two blues at one time) 😉

This one was close, and I thought we might have another tie on our hands, but when everyone was counted Dunarton Blue was victorius, bringing home the overall win for Wisconsin.

California: 1, Wisconsin: 2, Ties: 1

It was a close one. I hope to schedule a rematch soon with different cheeses. After all, I am a Californian.

*I do have an upcoming class at the Cheese School, if you are interested.

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Tagged bleating heart cheese, bleu mont, california cheese, cheese, cheese school, cowgirl creamery, crave brothers, fiscalini, point reyes cheese, roelli cheese, wisconsin cheese, wisconsin sheep dairy co-op

End of an Era

Posted on June 18, 2013 | 7 comments

Jenny Glazer is moving on from the Rainbow Cheese Department and it marks the end of an era. Not only is she one of my favorite people and a friend from before she started working at Rainbow, but she helped make our department what it is today.

I think we were dressed up for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving here. That used to be our annual tradition:

First off, I should mention two other folks. We had such a solid core of people involved in transforming our cheese section from an afterthought to a destination that it seemed like nothing would ever disrupt it. Six of us worked for more than a decade together making all the decisions, doing most of the cutting, wrapping, and talking, generally figuring out from scratch what to do next. I do not want to make this a you-kids-get-off-my-lawn essay but things are easier to figure out now. The adversity of just trying to find accurate information on cheese bonded us together.

I still remember when the Cheese Primer came out. I hear it mocked now by newer cheese folks but it is impossible to overestimate how important that book was to so many cheese people at the time. Sure, it’s out of date and the American section, with the hindsight of all these years, is embarrassing in its brevity, but it was the only relevant cheese book published in the US in decades. It was pre-internet and we were starving for the information in there. I think we all bought copies the first week it was out. It encouraged us in our love of cheese and the feeling that we were accomplishing something.

Kelly Parrott was the first to leave. It was expected because she had been talking about moving back to Oregon for years. I should have written a tribute to her when she left because without her attention to detail, her task-masterness and her cheese experience from Natures (A Portland grocery bought by New Seasons) I am not sure we could have progressed so fast. Kelly, if you are reading this, know that we still talk about you and when wrapping especially pretty things often ask, “How would Kelly wrap this cheese?”

Kelly and Andreas at the Cheeseworks Warehouse. No more Mimolettes to bowl…

Anna Costa left us once when she decided to live in the North Bay and make cheese at Redwood Hill. She eventually came back though, and worked a few more years behind the counter before the wrapping got to her and she moved upstairs to HR and our Board of Directors (I still blame all those years of working at the burrito place, not the cheese 😉 ). I never wrote a tribute to her because she is still at Rainbow, still making it a better place every day. As for the cheese department, she brought her early FFA education and cheesemaking skills in addition to being pretty much the nicest person I have ever met in my life.

Anna and I showing off the mold on a (non-Vella) Dry Jack and our new cheese cooler jacket:

Jenny, moving to Pittsburgh, PA after 16 years at the store brought so much to the cheese that it is difficult to encapsulate it all in one blog entry. She had no previous cheese experience but she had more enthusiasm than anyone I can think of. She summed up the act of selling cheese in a up-from-hippie natural food store in the way I still think about it today. We are the permission department. Much of the rest of the store is about avoiding bad things and we are the ones who say, “Have something with tons of butterfat. Have something that tastes great just for the sake of eating something that tastes great!”

Pete and Jenny in the early years:

We often had the same brain about things. When one of us would propose something like keeping a cheese registry, the other would often say, “I was thinking of something like that too!” She was as committed to cooperative ideals as much as me and, even having worked at the store a long time was able to, be a bridge between new and older workers. She is a person who can always find common ground and, quite honestly, that ability is rare and will be next to impossible to replace.

Jenny’s love of sheep cheese is also something that will not be forgotten. Back in the day, around the time when Prince de Claverolle changed its name to Istara Ossau-Iraty, Jenny would sample out that cheese so much than when any customer came in saying that they tasted a sheep cheese and couldn’t remember the name we all knew exactly what it was. Jenny befriended customers and had a legion of regulars. They will be bereft without her.

Her descriptions were also unmatched. Long-time readers should know that she is the “Anarqueso” mentioned in my book who described peeling the paper off of Taleggio as “skinning the zombie.” Zombies weren’t even cool back then!

I will also miss her so much personally that I feel like I am still in denial. We’ve known each other close to 20 years and we’ve been able to share so many things in our lives. We can fight and get over it. We have seen each other at our worst. We have seen each other at our best and I think we were always, in the end, there for each other when we needed to be.

Goodbye Jenny. Mariah and Pete and I and all the “new” awesome folks will carry on what you helped start. I hope Pittsburgh is awesome!

7 Comments

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Tagged cheese, rainbow cheese department, retail studies

A visit to Tumalo Farms

Posted on June 17, 2013 | 1 comment

I can’t go on vacation without stopping at least one cheese place. However, I didn’t realize that on this trip it would be so easy. We decided to vacation in Bend, Oregon for the hiking and for Beer Week, but it is also only ten minutes from Tumalo Farms. We are currently selling a ton of their Classico Reserve which is one of the best American Aged Gouda-style goat cheeses around.

I actually think all of the Tumalo cheeses are underrated. Great clean flavor. Good tang. Good sweetness. Great balance of added ingredients to cheese on their flavored cheese… they do not make a mediocre cheese. Partially because Cypress Grove launched their (Dutch) goat gouda (Midnight Moon) years before Tumalo hit the Bay Area, I have always thought that the Tumalo cheeses were really under appreciated down here.

And my timing for visiting was good because I even got to see a few little baby goats

The farm itself is beautiful. It’s in the high desert of Oregon, surrounded by mountains. If I were a goat, I would love to live there. It was overcast the day I visited, but it is hard to imagine a more picturesque setting.

Oh, what the heck, here is a picture of more cheese:

here is a picture of me and Flavio DeCastillos, the owner of Tumalo Farms. Can someone remind me to get a haircut before I go on vacation next time?

p.s. Little Jewels aging. I am putting this here so I remember to order some.

1 Comment

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Tagged goat cheese, oregon cheese, tumalo classico, tumalo farms

Cheese songs

Posted on June 4, 2013 | Leave a comment

Thanks everyone for the Eurythmics cheese song.

We make up cheese songs all the time at work. I think every cheese person does.

Our department favorite have historically been: “I ain’t no Challerhocker!” to the tune of “Holla back girl”, “Little French Raclette” to the tune of “Little Red Corvette”, “Vegan Slice” to the tune of “Cold as Ice”. (“You’re a vegan slice! Willing to sacrifice flav-orrrr”).

Cheese people, what are your favorite cheese songs?

The SF cheesemonger anthem is “Don’t gimmie no bammer Brie” but most of you won’t know the original song.

Don’t gimmie no bammer Brie. We don’t eat that S— in the SFC. (NSFW!)

Secret Handshake

Posted on June 1, 2013 | 1 comment

I have an idea for the secret cheesemonger handshake people have been requesting but I need to make a short video of it. hopefully I can do it next week.

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Tagged cheese, cheesemongers, secret handshake

Mongers meeting mongers

Posted on May 29, 2013 | 17 comments

One of the things that I always struggle with when traveling is meeting other cheesemongers. This sounds funny, but it’s true. Cheesemakers are no problem. I call ahead, schedule an appointment, take no for an answer if it’s a bad time and we’re good. But mongers are harder to crack.

I’m sure people feel the same way about me too. I am only on a regular floor shift two days a week these days, spending the rest of my time in the cooler, upstairs doing invoices and reports, or around the store doing other co-opy things. People have sent me emails that they visited the store and didn’t see me to which I usually respond, “Did you ask the other cheese workers if I was in?” Usually the answer is no. I think there’s a mutual respect of not wanting to get in another monger’s way or take up too much of their time but I am almost always happy to meet other cheese folks.

One problem is that when I am traveling, I am not usually buying anything. I usually do not have access to refrigeration so if I am not buying a cheese plate for a friend I just want to say hi and talk cheese. Is a cheese social call how mongers want to spend their day? It’s unclear. How do you know if the person behind the counter, if there even is a counter, shares that passion?

With cheesemakers I can call ahead but mongers do not usually get to know each other if we are not in the same region. Often I will be wandering the aisles of a grocery store sneaking peeks at the cheese people, feeling anxious about saying hello. It is always awkward at first when I do reach out. I think I am just not doing it right.

This is the response I want:

But often the response I get is this:

So, mongers, how do you like to be approached? Do you like out-of-town cheeseheads saying hello? Personally, if someone says they sell cheese, I ply them with samples of local goodies they cannot get back home. Maybe that’s just me. 😉

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Tagged cheese, cheesemongers, mongers

Sad week for the cheese community

Posted on May 13, 2013 | 4 comments

There was very sad news in the cheese world this week with the passing of two important cheese people.

I did not know Dr. Pat Elliott very well so I will leave memorializing her to others. I do remember meeting her at my very first American Cheese Society conference though. I didn’t know anyone at the bar but she invited me to her table of cheese folks and made me feel welcome. Over the years we always said hello at various national cheese events, but reading her obituary makes me wish I had sought her out and made time to really talk to her. She will be missed.

Fred Hull was a different kind of cheese person. He wasn’t a cheese maker or distributor and he didn’t seem to work in cheese stores very often. I did not know what he did with himself when he wasn’t at the American Cheese Society, but I know that when I would arrive, Fred would have already been there for awhile, doing crucial behind the scenes tasks. If you didn’t work in the judging room, you may never have met him, but he was one of the handful of people who made the whole thing work. He was there to bring out the cheese, to replenish supplies, to make sure everyone had what they needed. He loved being around cheese so much that he would do things, unpaid, that others might complain about while getting a paycheck.

Indeed, Fred was someone who – every year – would help me rekindle my love for my job. As much as I love cheesemongering, there are times in any job where things get you down. The customer service nightmares, the invoice hassles, the cleaning of the drains… whatever. Fred’s enthusiasm for cheese couldn’t help but make you forget all those things. Every year I judged I would start saving little nibbles of the best cheeses so that when he walked by I could share them. I loved watching his reactions, hearing his voice when he would talk about the richness or the complexity or whatever he liked about the sample. I noticed that a lot of the other judges did the same thing. I think our moments with Fred were a treat for all of us. I know he was one of a few people who, just being around, helped me go back to my work refreshed and energized.

I am having a hard time believing that when I show up to Madison this year to judge. In his years volunteering at the conference he became an integral part of our community. He was not a fame seeker (unlike those of us with enough narcissism to write cheese books). He just seemed to love every minute of the time he got to spend around cheese. He soaked everything in, exuding back a pure joy of appreciation for the time he got to spend a whole week doing nothing but talking cheese, tasting cheese, and being in that rarefied community of cheese people that gather every year in a different state because, sure it’s our job, but also because we are a little obsessed.

I am not sure yet what should be done to honor Fred this year at the conference. But his love of cheese was something that needs to be remembered. Fred will be missed by all the cheese people who knew him.

Cheese Hunter / Episode Two: American Cheeses from Kevin Davidson on Vimeo.

4 Comments

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Tagged american cheese society, cheese, everona dairy, fred hull, obituaries, pat elliott

Goodbye Mimolette?

Posted on April 13, 2013 | 11 comments

Oh mitey, mitey Mimolette… will we ever see you in the USA again?

As some of you know, the FDA has seized incoming shipments of Mimolette from France. This cheese, identical – as far as we know – to the tons of Mimolette imported and eaten in the USA every year, will likely be destroyed and no one will want to take a chance on importing more of it. Just like that, a cheese made for a couple of centuries disappears…

Cheese mites are integral to the aging process of Mimolette. (See the latest Culture Magazine for a detailed article about this. I do not believe it is currently online). I understand that cheese mites (and all mites) are allergens (as is milk), but I do not know of any recent studies that show an increase of cheese mite-related allergies involving consumption of cheese or a new environmental review of the affect of the importation of mites, and – so far as I know – the FDA is not giving further explanation of their decision.

(I did, however, find that there is a condition known as “Grocer’s Itch” related to mites in food. Hmmmmm.)

Will other foods and cheeses be affected? (and cheese pros, let’s not give them any suggestions in the comment section in case they read this, ok?) What will happen next is unclear. This is, however, potentially a huge issue.

In remembrance, here is a pictorial retrospective of the life of Mimolette, told in chronological order:

Forming