Savor Culture

Trader Joe’s Comes to Nashville!

Danielle — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:47:33 +0000

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

Cheesemonger Spotlight: Formaggio Kitchen

Danielle — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:00:03 +0000

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.

La Fête du Fromage: Charmoix

Danielle — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:27:40 +0000

Charmoix comes from those masters of fermentation, the Belgians.

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!

La Fête du Fromage: Bourrée

Danielle — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:01:09 +0000

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.

Join in La Fète du Fromage!

Danielle — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:22:51 +0000

: Artisan cheese is the weekly focus of La Fète du Fromage on Chez Loulou.
Photo courtesy of Chez Loulou.

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.

Wrap Your Cheese With Love

Danielle — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 01:53:11 +0000

Double-layered paper from Formaticum allows cheese to breathe.

The gouda in the previous post was wearing one of this fall’s hottest cheese accessories: cheese paper from a company called Formaticum, based in Portland, OR. The two-layer maintains the moisture of a cheese, especially a cut surface, while allowing excess moisture to escape. Unlike a non-porous wrap, such as cellophane, the cheese paper promotes the exchange of air and moisture to keep the cheese fresh.

The graphic design of the paper is also fresh: artisan cheese producers are identified on a map of the US. I liked the illustration so much that I wanted to integrate it into the template for Savor Culture. Mark Goldman sent me a sample pack in response to my request; while the blog format didn’t do it justice, I can report that the product works extremely well for its intended purpose.

Better cheesemongers may wrap your purchase in this type of paper to ensure that your cheese tastes as good at home as it did at their counter. I’ve enjoyed having my own stash of Formaticum cheese paper so that I can rewrap the precut, plastic-wrapped wedges that I buy at Trader Joe’s (my employer). Any cheese with a natural, bloomy, or washed rind will particularly benefit from this storage method.

Formaticum cheese paper, along with an assortment of other cheese accessories, is sold on the company’s website, which also offers smart storage and serving tips. Packages of cheese paper and coordinating stickers are also available at retailers across the country for less than $10.

Formaticum Cheese Paper
http://www.formaticum.com

Taylor Farm Gouda

Danielle — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:03:55 +0000

Who’s ready for a crowd pleaser?

Taylor Farm of Londonderry, VT, offers a focused portfolio of cheese: look to this producer when you’re in the mood for gouda. Full-flavored, farmstead, raw milk gouda, that is. The farm is owned by Kate and Jon Wright, who in 1999 began producing cheese from the milk of their Jersey and Holstein cows. Their waxed Vermont Farmstead Gouda is an ACS award winner, as is their Maple Smoked Gouda. Taylor Farm also offers flavored varieties spiked with goodies like cumin, caraway, chipotle, and garlic.

Vermont Natural Rind Gouda was suggested by John the Cheesemonger on a recent trip to the Brattleboro Co-op. It packs a wallop in the mouth, unleashing the deep flavors of smoky, salty bacon, burnt sugar, and fried apples. It’s completely satisfying… although tasting the cheese did make me crave a brown ale.

Wonderful Husband Charles adds his appreciation for this gouda, which he praises for its full but clean flavor. He commented that the cheese isn’t funky at all, which may be due to the curd-washing step of the gouda-making process. We plan to try other cheeses from Taylor Farm, particularly their year-old Vermont Aged Gouda. If you’re a fan of the Dutch stuff, try one of these Vermont artisan cheeses for an Old World-style experience.

Uncultured Ricotta Rant

Danielle — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:52:20 +0000

Homemade ricotta is fluffy... but is it tasty?

Having tried my hand at making ricotta from whey and from acidified whole milk, I couldn’t resist attempting the recipe offered by the September 2008 issue of Saveur magazine. Promising “the sweet, earthy flavor of old-world ricotta,” their version requires only whole milk, cream, and rennet.

Just looking at the ingredient list raises red flags: cream? rennet? Though producers of traditional ricotta might employ tricks to enrich the whey that goes into their ricotta, adding cream seems like gilding the lily. True, Home Cheese Making does give the option of adding a small amount of cream to ricotta curds; I choose to omit it altogether.

The cream I can write off as a matter of preference; the presence of rennet, however, really made me feel conflicted about the recipe. In one ear, a little cheese angel whispered, “Don’t even think about it. Real ricotta is coagulated only by acid! Pick up some citric acid and leave the rennet in your refrigerator.” But the little cheese devil’s case won me over: “You need to use that rennet anyway; its shelf life is only six months! Besides, Saveur says it’s delicious, and no one will know it isn’t real ricotta.” In totally (ahem) uncharacteristic fashion, the cheese devil triumphed.

For the record, Home Cheese Making contains no recipes in which rennet is used to coagulate uncultured milk. Ripening milk with starter culture lowers the pH as lactose is converted to lactic acid, resulting in a predictable microbial population, enhanced flavor, more efficacious curd coagulation, and longer preservation of the cheese. (While raw milk contains microbial populations that can act as culture, using such a method can produce inconsistent and even dangerous results.) Because this recipe precludes ripening the milk, the finished cheese lacks acidity to preserve it.

Coagulation of the milk was quick and fool-proof when a teaspoon of rennet was added to a gallon of heated milk. However, the resulting curd was loose and required an hour’s draining in cheesecloth before it resembled ricotta; forget dropping it straight in a basket. It was like fromage blanc… but not as flavorful.

My highest praise for rennet-set ricotta is that it produces a high yield, over four cups of cheese from a gallon of milk. We ate some with figs and honey, and the rest found its way into friends’ salads and lasagnas. It wasn’t that I wanted to divest myself of the ricotta, but that I was racing the clock to use it: for reasons listed above, the cheese is meant to be consumed within three days.

I will continue to make ricotta at home, but I’ll save my rennet for other cheeses. Until I develop the knack for making whey ricotta, whole milk ripened with any number of acids (lemon juice, buttermilk, citric acid) will do the job. I’ll even give the recipes in Saveur another try… their Spuma di Ricotta al Caffe looks delicious.

Chang Farm Produce at AmChi

Danielle — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 03:00:33 +0000

Produce from Chang Farm is served at Amherst Chinese Food.

Last night, I dined with Wonderful Husband Charles at Amherst Chinese Food. Don’t be deceived by its unassuming name: Amchi, as it’s fondly known, was chosen by Gourmet magazine as one of the country’s best “Farm-to-Table” restaurants in 2007.

The restaurant is owned by Dr. Tso-cheng Chang, who earned a PhD in Plant Science from UMass. Dr. Chang also owns a farm in Whately, MA, where a variety of organic produce is grown to supply Amchi and to sell at Amherst Farmer’s Market. I identified mustard greens, Chi Gang Choi, Chinese leeks, and pea greens on my plate; other menu items included Chinese spinach, eggplant, bittermelon, bean sprouts, and shiitake mushrooms. Our appetizer, not pictured, were dumplings filled with the scrumptious combination of Chinese leeks and ground pork. Yum.

A unique crop grown on Chang Farm is the Schizandra berry, a medicinal herb introduced to the US by Dr. Chang in the 1980’s. Called we wei zi, meaning “five tastes berry” in Chinese, the fruit is reported to help the body adapt to stress. Schizandra berry juice is served by the glass at Amherst Chinese Food, and is being marketed under the name Chiberry. I’ve tried the rosy-colored juice, and found the light, tart beverage refreshing; I’d buy a bottle if I spotted it in a grocery store.

I can’t pass up the opportunity to recommend another superb Chinese restaurant in the area: The Great Wall in Florence, MA. While they don’t operate their own farm, The Great Wall serves produce from Jiang Farm in Montague, MA, and Goosefoot and Garlic Farm in Florence, MA. My favorite dish at The Great Wall is Chinese greens with mushrooms, while WH Charles can’t resist the crisp, roasted chicken.

Amherst Chinese Food
62 Main St
Amherst, MA 01002
413.253.7835

The Great Wall
176 Pine St
Florence, MA 01062
413.582.0399

Local Produce at Trader Joe’s in Hadley, MA

Danielle — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:00:48 +0000

I work for Trader Joe’s, the coolest grocery store chain in the world and one of the best employers.* That being said, there’s room for improvement in any enterprise, and one quibble with Trader Joe’s is that the produce section mainly offers packaged fruits and vegetables from California or farther. While this approach allows the company to present a wide variety of produce at great prices, Trader Joe’s (like so many national chains) has yet to embrace the local foods movement.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and I’m proud to work at the exception. At Trader Joe’s in Hadley, MA, we carry seasonal produce from Czajkowski Farm, located four miles from our store. Joe Czajkowski, by all accounts a shrewd businessman as well as a capable farmer, had been a supplier of organic butternut squash for the company. A few years ago, he arranged to sell a larger assortment of produce directly to the Hadley location, and the program was an immediate hit with our customers.

Sometime in May, Farmer Joe lets us know that we can start ordering strawberries, raspberries, and English peas. Briefly, tart cherries are available; then the bestselling blueberries come into season, along with organic green beans, carrots, zucchini and summer squash, peaches, and organic sweet corn.

On an overcast afternoon this week, I visited Czajkowski Farm to see where and how the produce is grown. As it had been a rainy morning, berry picking had been delayed until after lunch. Farmer Joe sent me on a tour of the farm’s fields with Solomon, the gentleman pictured above.

We first visit a field planted with fall-variety strawberries and feed corn, where Solomon spotted a moose on a recent morning. The strawberry patch is irrigated with buried, rubber tubing, though there hasn’t been much need for it during this wet summer. The strawberries we pick are a little firmer than the softer varieties of May and June, but are much more luscious and flavorful than the waxy berries from Florida and California.

Our next stop is a low-lying field where summer squash and tomatoes are grown, but I’m more interested in seeing Solomon’s own garden, which he tends after his long hours at Joe’s farm. His tomato and bell pepper plants are tall and healthy, with fruit daring to turn bright red at any moment. Solomon makes extra money by selling his produce to Farmer Joe. There’s another tall, dark green plant, as well: callalou, a leafy green used in Jamaican cuisine. Solomon breaks off a handful of thin stalks for me, with instructions chop the callalou and steam it for ten minutes with sautéed onion. (I cooked it for dinner that evening, and Charles and I loved the dish: it tastes similar to spinach, but is more tender and has no grittiness).

We drive down a wide boulevard lined with Cape Cods and farmhouses with attached barns to reach the fruit orchard. The cherry trees are fruitless, their season over for the year, but the peach trees are in their prime. As with the strawberries, there are several varieties of peach trees, raspberry bushes, and blueberry bushes, to adapt to changing growing conditions through the year. The rain has passed, and we see workers picking berries at the other end of the blueberry rows.

I’d like to thank Farmer Joe, Solomon, and the workers at Czajkowski Farm for providing our community with fresh, delicious fruits and vegetables. Though it isn’t set up to sell to the public, Czajkowski Farm supplies a broad range of businesses, from farm stands to institutions like UMass (and of course, retailers like Trader Joe’s!).

I hope that the popularity of local produce at Trader Joe’s in Hadley, MA, will lead the company to develop such programs at other stores (I’ve heard that one other location does this so far, but am not sure where it’s located). Until that day comes, visit your local Trader Joe’s to stock up on produce, especially organic produce, for much lower prices than at Whole Foods.*

*According to me. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment.

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