Savor Culture

Wonderful Husband Charles and I have moved to my old stomping ground in Middle Tennessee. Among the personal and professional reasons was my desire to help in opening the new Nashville location of Trader Joe’s, where I am a crew member. In honor of our opening day this Friday, I would like to share some of my favorite products and tips to enhance your shopping at Trader Joe’s!

We’ll start in the cheese section, where you’ll find a variety of imported and domestic wedges at competitive prices.  The cheese that I purchase most often, and which makes tasters’ eyes roll back, is Emmi Cave Aged Gruyere from Switzerland.  TJ’s Cave Aged Blue, a domestic cow’s milk blue, compares favorably to Maytag Blue (particularly in price).  Traditional French Brie, though pasteurized, is aromatic and full-flavored.  Goudas are available in double-cream cow’s milk, 100% sheep’s milk, and 100% goat’s milk varieties. There are also plenty of fun cheeses for snacking or partying: try English Cheddar with Caramelized Onions, Seriously Seeded English Cheese, or White Stilton with Apricots and Dates.  You also can’t go wrong with three-year-old Vermont Cheddar, which is available in limited quantity.  

To accompany your cheese, I recommend a fresh, artisan-baked loaf of Peasant Bread. TJ’s Water Crackers with flax seeds are great with semi-firm cheeses, and Dare Vinta crackers are WH Charles’s choice for snacking. TJ’s French Toasts, though dry on their own, perfectly complement soft and blue cheeses.

The Dairy section has several products that turn my head, particularly the six-packs of creamy yogurts, available in strawberry/banana and vanilla/blueberry combinations.  Normally, I’m a yogurt purist, but those little cups are divine… better than a milkshake, for my money!  My favorite breakfast yogurt is Whole Milk European Style Yogurt, made with only organic milk and cultures.  I also indulge in Fage Greek Yogurt with Honey, which I’ve enjoyed guilt-free since realizing that it’s made in New York, not shipped from Greece.  Whew!

What goes with plain yogurt?  How about Trek Mix Granola?  Purple box or blue– both are delicious!  I also love trek mix sans granola– So Fruity, So Nutty and Oh My! Omega are my favorites (bonus points for fun punctuation).  Among the nuts, the 50% Less Salt varieties get my vote, especially the cashews and the new Dry Roasted Mixed Nuts.  I also like my nuts in spreadable form: TJ’s Raw Crunchy Almond Butter is indispensable.

In the world of munchies, it doesn’t get much better than TJ’s Organic Unsalted Tortilla Chips with Salsa Autentica.  Unless, of course, you picked up a Guacamole Kit from the produce section and added Hatch Valley Green Chiles from New Mexico.  

Of course, sometimes we cook actual meals, for which we keep such staples as California Estate EVOO, Jasmine and Basmati Rice, Sesame Oil, Gold Label Balsamic Vinegar, cans of Organic Garbanzo Beans, and cartons of Vegetable Broth.  Withdrawal symptoms are setting in for the fresh-cut Southern Greens Blend, which I like to stew with canned Cannellini Beans.  TJ’s Harvest Grains Blend makes a versatile side dish, especially with fall vegetables.  TJ’s Cuban Black Beans are ready to pair with fajitas or fill Handmade Whole Wheat Tortillas with other burrito goodies.  And we always have a jar of Rustico pasta sauce, just waiting for the night when we can’t be bothered to cook anything else.  

My sweet tooth loves this time of year, when the crew get to taste the new holiday items! Look for the drool-worthy Dark Chocolate Caramels with Sea Salt– and buy five boxes, as they’ll disappear by January. Make friends at work by bringing in a box of Peppermint Joe Joe’s. But be careful giving limited-time gifts like Dark Chocolate Almond Bark, lest the recipient crave it ten months a year when it isn’t available (right, Mom?).

I could go on, but I’d miss the Friday morning ribbon-cutting for the new store.  I’ll be waiting in line at some point tomorrow, with a cart full of the goodies listed above and more!  Come on down for a visit if you’re in the Nashville area.

Trader Joe’s #664
3909 Hillsboro Pike
Nashville, TN 37215
615.297.6560

Tags: artisan cheese, Brews, buffalo's milk, butter, Cheddar, Cow's Milk Cheese, Food culture, French cheese, Italian cheese, mozzarella, raw milk cheese, sheep's milk cheese, Trader Joe's, yogurt

Formaggio Kitchen piles it high.

 
Our recent trip to Boston included a visit to a revered institution in Cambridge, populated with model specimens from home and abroad.  I speak, of course, of Formaggio Kitchen, one of America’s pioneering purveyors of gourmet foodstuffs.  Now in its thirtieth year, FK offers a bounty of fresh produce, breads and pastries, beverages and wines, tea and coffee, chocolates, jams, pastas, oils and vinegars, sauces… and of course, cheese.

There’s no need to stoop as you peruse the impressive collection of domestic and imported cheeses: the aged wheels are arranged neatly at eye level, atop the refrigerated cases that house the more perishable soft cheeses and hams, terrines, and sausages.  Everything is beautifully trimmed and faced, the freshness of the cheeses a testament to the store’s high turnover.  Because the cheeses are kept at room temperature, their fragrances and flavors are readily apparent; reach out, pick up one of the hundreds, and take a deep sniff.  If it appeals to you, ask for a taste!  

Each item is labelled with a descriptive tag, filled with handwritten phrases such as, “palate-coating texture,” and “a hint of oystery brine.”  However, you won’t need your reading glasses, as several knowledgeable, friendly cheesemongers are likely to be close at hand.  We appreciated the personal attention that we received, as one cheesemonger provided samples of our requested cheeses, recommended her favorite gouda, and made sure we had everything we needed before helping her next customer.  

While representing several New England artisan producers, the cheese assortment at Formaggio Kitchen is notable for its imported varieties, including many small-production and seldom-exported cheeses from Europe.  Examples include Comté of four ages from Marcel Petite; Stichelton, a blue similar to Stilton, but made with raw milk; Taupinière, a unique goat’s milk cheese from the Loire Valley, which is recommended by Loulou; cheeses from Austria and Germany that you won’t find anywhere else in the US.  In their mail order catalog, owners Ihsan and Valerie Gurdal also highlight producers who utilize sustainable, organic, or biodynamic practices in the creation of their foodstuffs.

Here are the cheeses that we selected during our visit to Formaggio Kitchen:

Reypenaer VSOP, a cow’s milk gouda aged eighteen months from the Netherlands.  Deep and robust, with flavors of browned pie crust, butter toffee, and roasted root vegetables.

Tomme Fedou, a cellar-aged, sheep’s milk wheel from Languedoc-Rousillon, France.  Semi-firm, with sharpness of pine sap and a full, nutty flavor. 

Charmoix, a washed-rind, raw cow’s milk from a Belgian cooperative (read more here!).

I’d love to return to Formaggio Kitchen regularly, as a good number of their 300 varieties of cheese are unfamiliar to me.  However, our visit to Boston was a last hurrah before leaving New England.  We’ve moved to middle Tennessee, where I plan to make my own regional cheese discoveries, and to progress in cheesemaking at home.  I do have, however, a copy of Formaggio Kitchen’s current mail order catalog, which I heartily recommend as excellent bedtime reading.  You can also order from their online store, of course– but a catalog can be placed conspicuously on the table, where your loved ones are sure to see it (Wonderful Husband Charles, are you paying attention?).

Formaggio Kitchen
244 Huron Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
617.354.4750
http://www.formaggiokitchen.com

Satellite locations in Boston and New York City.

Tags: artisan cheese, Cow's Milk Cheese, Food culture, Massachusetts, raw milk cheese, sheep's milk cheese

I was in a continental mood as we perused the impressive cheese selection at Formaggio Kitchen last week. Wonderful Husband Charles and I were in the Boston area for a quick getaway, and he’d been informed that the not-to-be-missed spot on my agenda was the venerable cheese purveyor in Cambridge, MA. Formaggio Kitchen is the topic of a future post; for now, we are obliged to talk about a particular cheese, Charmoix, my October offering for La Fête du Fromage.*

Charmoix is a washed-rind, pressed cheese produced by Cooperative Fermière de Mean in Belgium.  It’s made with raw cow’s milk and is cave-aged for four to six weeks (closer to six for the wheels that are exported to the US).  Charmoix has a delicate, straw-colored rind and a dry paste accented with tiny holes.

At room temperature, Charmoix exudes a yeasty aroma, a moist, sweet scent of warm cream.  Though it has been described as stinky, I found it nothing of the sort; even its rind displayed no hint of barnyard funkiness.  Rather, it is a meek, quiet cheese, with a mild flavor that expresses lemon zest, salted butter, and chalky stone.  It would be overwhelmed by many accoutrements: I think that even green grapes would be too sweet and acidic a partner for the cheese.  Charmoix seemed quite friendly with my buttery, ripe Bartlett pear, which made its flavor ever-so-slightly more assertive.  It was also complemented by my favorite, mellow peasant bread, the soft chewiness of each combining in a very satisfying bite.

The producers of Charmoix recommend pairing it with a Côtes du Rhone or Arbois red, but I’d prefer a beverage with soft effervescence: lambic beer or a soft-sparkling (crémant) wine with a breath of sweetness.  

*La Fête du Fromage is a monthly blogging event hosted by Chez Loulou. You may participate by writing a post on your blog about a cheese you enjoy, and posting the link on Chez Loulou by the 13th of the month. Loulou will post a round-up of entries on the 15th. Participation is rewarded by introduction to a community of cheese lovers from around the world. It’s a lot of fun!

Tags: artisan cheese, Cow's Milk Cheese, La Fète du Fromage, raw milk cheese

  

Bourrée will make you kick up your heels!

For the inaugural edition of the international blogging event, La Fête du Fromage, I selected an American artisan cheese that pays homage to French cheesemaking tradition.  Bourrée* is one of three varieties of farmstead, raw cow’s milk cheese produced by Dancing Cow Farm in Vermont.  Run by the Getz family, the farm is an organic, closed-loop operation where the hay is grown to feed the animals, and their manure returns nutrients to the soil. The cows calve in the spring and graze in pasture from May through November.  Their milk production is seasonal, ending for the year as they return to the barn for the colder months.  

The cheese-making at Dancing Cow Farm is as old-fashioned as their herd management.  Even as the cows are having their daily milking, milk flows into the cheese vat.  Neither cooled nor cooked, the raw milk is handled gently to preserve its flavor and nutrients, resulting in complex cheeses that express subtle notes of terroir.  The cheeses are aged for at least sixty days in the farm’s cheese cellar, as well as in the subterranean halls of Jasper Hill Farm’s new cheese vault.

Bourrée is has an earthy aroma, which reminded my mother-in-law of the autumn days she spent collecting apples for making cider in New Hampshire.  She recalled the scent of damp leaves and the sweet, slightly fermented apples upon smelling this cheese.  It’s such a beautiful image, and so appropriate as we enjoy a crisp, early fall here in New England.

The supple, semi-soft texture of Bourrée is similar to the Savoyard classic, Reblochon.  Borrowing an expression from Max McCalman, Bourrée is a “bacon and eggs” cheese: its paste offers yolk-like richness with a tantalizing, salty edge.  Its flavor is mellow and nutty, mild and flavorful.  I love it with a coarse, crusty loaf of whole grain bread.  It’s a versatile cheese for pairing with beverages; beer, cider, or medium-bodied red or white wine would accompany it nicely.  

*The origin of the name Bourrée is the French peasant dance and not, as I thought, the French slang for “drunk.”  Turns out the cheese is washed only in brine, not in beer or wine.  

Tags: artisan cheese, Cow's Milk Cheese, Jasper Hill Farm, La Fète du Fromage, Organic Food, raw milk cheese, Small Farms, Vermont

My favorite weekly event in all of blogosphere is La Fète du Fromage on Chez Loulou.  One at a time, Loulou introduces her readers to the mind-boggling array of artisan cheese produced in her adopted home of Languedoc, France.  Each cheese is featured in a beautiful photograph, its provenance described, and its flavor discussed in mouth-watering detail.

Loulou invites her readers to participate in her celebration of cheese as La Fete du Fromage is launched as a monthly blogging event.  Check out the guidelines here, post your entry and submit it to Loulou by September 13.  Loulou will post a round-up on Monday, September 15. Note that though she focuses on French cheese, La Fète is open to artisan cheese of all stripes… including homemade!

Also visit Chez Loulou for daily photographs, accounts of provincial life, expat experiences in France, and the occasional, mouth-watering recipe.  Get a daily dose of la vie en rose… it’s just a click away.

Tags: artisan cheese, French cheese, La Fète du Fromage