Ask a Cheesemonger: Does cheese go bad?

The answer, of course, is yes… and no. And probably not in the way that you think. Let us explain.

First, a bit of friendly mongerly advice. The best way to enjoy delicious cheese is to buy only as much cheese as you can consume in a week, no longer. Cheese will never taste better than when it’s freshly cut off the wheel. If you’re reading this, hopefully you patronize one of our cut-to-order cheese shops; our mongers would be delighted to cut you an appropriate amount of cheese, no matter how big or small. That said, we know life happens and sometimes things kick around in the fridge longer than we’d like. Let us help you triage some hypothetical cheese-mergencies.  

We’re going to talk about the ‘m’ word. We’re talking, naturally, about mold. If you’ve ever found a long-forgotten piece of cheddar in the back of your crisper, only to unwrap it and discover a thick pashmina of blue growth, this one’s for you.

We’re guessing that you quickly jettisoned that piece of cheese straight into the bin. We’ve all done it. But that little piece of cheese might not be beyond saving. Surface mold like the kind that grows on cheese or bread is unpalatable, but not harmful. Take a knife and cut a few millimeters off of each moldy surface. Now give the cheese a taste. You may be surprised by what you find. If that didn’t do the trick, the problem probably lies deeper, literally.

Firm cheese (think cheddar, Alpines, goudas) absorbs off-flavors in the fridge (which, incidentally, represents a far greater threat to cheese health than mold), flavors that work their way in from the surface down. At any decent cheese shop, mongers practice regular maintenance by scraping away the aged surface of open wedges. Sometimes this includes mold, which grows naturally from ambient spores and truly can’t be prevented. Your cheese represents a plush king size bed to those spores, which will happily make their home there given time. It’s unsightly, but it doesn’t have to be scary because—and allow us to let you in on a little secret—cheese is mold. That rind on your brie? Mold. The flavor in your favorite blue? Mold. The white patina on the rind of an aged Alpine? Ok, that one’s a yeast but you get the point! Mold: it’s what’s for dinner.

A wedge of any firm cheese you may purchase will never go bad, but it will lose its flavor with time, or worse, end up tasting like the smoked salmon you have next to it in the fridge. Our softer cheese friends, however, have the potential to get a little funkier. Soft cheeses ripen from the outside in; you may notice that their center remains firm and fudgy while the outer layer becomes gooey. This creates some wonderful textures, but it also means that the rind of such cheeses is the first part to age.

As the proteins in cheese break down, the nitrogen within is released in the form of ammonia. (Walking through a cheese-aging facility is an eye-watering experience.) You may unwrap a Camembert to be hit with a wave of chemical aroma—this is likely an indiction that your cheese is past prime. Again, it won’t be harmful to you, but eating it would be a supremely unpleasant experience with a bitter aftertaste. In milder cases, you may choose to cut off the top rind and eat the paste within, which tends to retain flavor better. Orange spotting, fluffy growths, or blue spots on these cheese rinds are strains of mold or yeast and can be consumed, or scraped away with the tip of a knife. Funkier barnyard aromas tend to be desirable in washed rind cheeses (Epoisses, Langres, Oma) and aren’t of concern.

Hopefully you’ll walk away from this post feeling a little more comfortable eating and caring for cheese. Wedges of firm cheese will last quite a while well-cared for in your fridge, but their flavor will naturally degrade with time. Softer cheeses, especially those in breathable packaging, are designed to age over a matter of weeks; depending on when in the cheeses’s life-cycle you pick it up, you may be able to keep it for up to a month. In either case, checking in on your cheese periodically is a good idea. Your nose is your best friend when it comes to cheese. If your nose tells you “nuh uh, no,” trust it!

Next week we’ll be covering the best ways to store cheese in your fridge at home because ultimately, happy cheese is the best cheese.

Cook Like A Cheesemonger: Pronto Pups

 In Minnesota, Pronto Pups and corn dogs have been pitted against each other for at least fifty years— and their supporters are resolute in the distinction between the two. Pups are made with pancake batter and corn dogs use cornbread batter. 

I haven’t personally met a corn dog I didn’t like, nonetheless I prefer a “pronto pup.” The light and fluffy batter surround the perfectly cooked hot dog with a slight sweetness and a subtle crisp.  No one can resist this amazing flavor combination! 

If you can’t make it to the fair this year, don’t worry. You can achieve all the savory satisfaction at home! I’m using my current favorite pancake mix from Hayden Mills for my batter.  This pancake mix features stone milled White Sonora, a sweet buttery grain that is the oldest wheat variety in North America. Don’t be intimidated by deep frying. It’s always worth it, am I right?! 

Ingredients:

Hayden Mills White Sonora pancake mix (one box)

1.5 cups of melted butter 

1 pk. France44 house-made hot dogs

Wooden grilling/kebab skewers

Canola Oil for frying
Large heavy bottomed pan

Candy Thermometer

Condiments of your choice! (Mustard is non-negotiable here, folks)

Directions: 
1. Make the WHOLE box of pancake mix in a large bowl or in your blender, according to the package instructions (you only have to add water!)

2. Skewer each hot dog with your wooden sticks and place them neatly on a cutting board. 

3.  Now, turning to your pan. I think a dutch oven works great, but you can use a deep skillet. You will want to make sure that it is deep enough to add a few inches of oil.  Pour enough oil into the pan so that it will adequately cover an entire hot dog.  Heat that oil up to 365°F. I will put a candy thermometer right into the oil and leave it there so I can monitor the oil temperature.  You really want to regulate it and keep it as close to 365°F as possible. If the oil gets too hot, your dogs will burn on the outside but not be cooked through on the inside. And, be sure to check the temperature of the oil after each hot dog or two has been fried; the oil tends to cool down a bit after each batch.

4. Dip each dog fully into the batter, multiple times or until you have a very thick coating. Once your oil is hot, carefully lay each dog away from you, into the hot oil. Fry one at a time, until golden, turning if needed. 

Carefully use a tongs to remove each dog, and place on a sheet tray lined with paper towels to absorb any extra oil. 

Slather those puppies in whatever suits your fancy! Mustard! Ketchup! MAYO! 

Or all three. Live your best life! 

L'amuse Signature Gouda

by Austin Coe Butler

No doubt you’ve seen the stack of dark orange wheels on our counter, simply standing at room temperature, likely with the cross-section of a half wheel or wedge spangled with crystals. Customers seem to gravitate towards it, mesmerized. This enchanting tower of cheese is built from wheels of L’amuse Signature 2-Year Gouda, and there is no gouda crunchier, or more crystally that L’amuse Signature in our case. Its rich, butterscotch, burnt sugar sweetness and creamy paste studded with crystals have us refer to it lovingly as “cheese candy.”

But what are those craveable, crunchy crystals? In cheese, crystals are typically either calcium lactate or tyrosine.

Calcium lactate is formed as cheese ages and lactic acid comes into contact with the latent calcium in cheese. It’s most often found in aged cheddars, where it is seen on the surface, and doesn’t concern us at the present moment. Tyrosine is an amino acid found in many well-aged cheeses like Alpines, goudas, cheddars, and Grana style cheeses. It is the tell-tale sign of the bacteria Lactobacillus helveticus hard at work. L. helveticus is highly proteolytic, meaning it likes to break down proteins into amino acids like tyrosine. Proteolysis is central to cheese making, as it happens primarily when rennet is added to liquid milk causing casein proteins to break and unravel, and thus coagulating milk into curd, the foundation of cheese. Proteolysis can also happen secondarily, though, through the microbial metabolism of bacteria, yeast, and mold endemic or introduced to the milk, and as the microbes continue to break down proteins, deposits of tyrosine begin to form. (We could also call this by another name: fermentation, as cheese is a living, breathing food.) Calcium lactate and tyrosine are often erroneously called “flavor crystals” or “salt crystals,” but neither calcium lactate nor tyrosine have any flavor, and instead they are great indicators of flavors.

Why call them that then? Simply, marketing. But their presence almost always means you’re about to crunch on a piece of cheese that has had time to concentrate big, complex flavors.

L’amuse Signature 2-Year Gouda has all of these big, complex flavors like aged soy sauce, roasted hazelnuts, or brown butter as the result of a daring, unorthodox process that pays off big. Fromagerie L’amuse is Amsterdam’s premier cheese shop run by Betty and Martin Koster and they provide many of our favorite goudas like Wilde Weide and the goat’s milk Brabander. Betty and Martin buy young wheels of gouda from the Cono Cheesemakers, best known for Beemster, and then their team of opeleggers, the Dutch word for an affineur, or cheese ager, “finish” or mature the cheeses at their own facility by aging them in ideal conditions, and here that big risk, high reward comes in.

What distinguishes L’amuse Signature 2-year gouda is the temperature at which the wheels are aged. Most goudas are aged at a fairly cool temperature, between 45–50ºF, and the Koster’s age most of their goudas at this temperature. But for L’amuse Signature they age the wheels at a warmer temperature, much closer to Parmigiano Reggiano’s maturing temperature than to other goudas, around 55–60ºF. Higher temperature means more microbial activity, more fermentation, more proteolysis, more tyrosine crystals, and more of those big, sweet flavors. The risk is that if there’s anything amiss with the cheese, or if there are any “off” flavors to begin with, they will be accelerated and exacerbated, and the investment of two-years into that wheel of cheese while taking up space and not paying rent was all for naught.

Signature 2-year is phenomenal for all occasions, but it is especially at home for dessert. Served alongside chocolate and espresso at the end of a meal, the bitterness rounds and complements the sweetness. There’s a complex flavor like deeply browned, tantalizingly burnt meat at play in L’amuse Signature that is right at home with a strong, dark Dutch beer or snifter of peaty whiskey that make for an unforgettable experience after dinner pairing. Absolutely inundated with tomatoes during late summer? Try this recipe for “Snow with L’amuse Signature,” a tart made with tomatoes seasoned in balsamic vinegar and black pepper on crisp phyllo dough topped with dusting of L’amuse Signature and enjoy alongside a glass of crystal clear beef-stock. Or just eat it on its own. When was the last time you paired a Butterfinger?

Cheese Profile: Shepherd's Way Farm

by Austin Coe Butler

Steven and Jodi Ohlsen Read knew they would buy the farm in Nerstrand after a series of coincidences so conspicuous and convincing that we often attribute them to fate. They mistakenly received a response to their advertisement searching for a farm by a man who had meant to call the advertisement above theirs. The real estate agent’s last name was Hope, and when the three of them took a tour of the property, upon exiting the barn, a rainbow stretched across the fields and a sudden gust of wind blew the FOR SALE sign down. A moment of silence passed as Jodi and Steven understood that they had arrived at the new home of Shepherd’s Way.

Jodi and Steven were kind enough to open their farm to us as we picked up our cheese order this past Tuesday. Upon arriving at Shepherd’s Way we were greeted by Beep, an old barn cat who happily received our scratches as we waited for Jodi to change out of her work clothes. Starlings alighted on wires and ducks huddled in the shade. Steven and Jodi took us on a tour of the barn, which houses the whole operation, including the milking parlor, make room, and several aging rooms. Steven started making cheese back in 1994, but now handles the herd, milking, and pasteurizing.

Jodi was drawn to cheese making through an innate curiosity. In a previous life, she had been a professional journalist and editor, writing articles for publications that ranged from food and children to science and medicine. She would help Steven make the cheese and pester him with questions about the process to which he would respond with tight, technical responses replete with scientific terms. Jodi would unwind these into a way she could understand them just for the pleasure of knowing. Twenty years later, Jodi has made every single pound of cheese that has left Shepherd’s Way. The writer’s inquisitiveness is still there, though. She compares the tangible satisfaction of holding and tasting wheels cheese to seeing a magazine come together for print.

Under the shade of a great Burr Oak that recalled why French trappers called this part of Minnesota the “Grand Bois” or Big Woods, Jodi and Steven sat with us while we enjoyed a selection of their sheep’s milk, skyr (an Icelandic yogurt), and cheese. We spoke of the farm’s founding, the creation of a Cheese CSA that began in response to a devastating fire that destroyed 500 sheep and all the animal housing, and their long tenure at many of the Twin Cities farmers markets. We spoke, too, of the common misconceptions around sheep’s milk. Sheep’s milk is uncommon in the United States for a variety of reasons, and as such it is misunderstood. One misconception people have about sheep’s milk and sheep’s milk cheeses is that they are “gamey” or “animally” like goat’s milk and goat’s milk cheeses with their capric tang and billy-goat funk. We’ve had customers who respond to the offer to sample a sheep’s milk cheese, “No, thank you, I don’t like goat’s milk.” Steven, amused, mentioned the surprise verging on disappointment of market goers who try their fresh sheep’s milk expecting something feral and sour remark, “It tastes like milk…”

Sheep’s milk cheeses can have a tang to them, if the cheesemaker chooses to draw those qualities out, but even then it has a more lactic, lemony tang as opposed to the more bracing, gamey bite some people find off-putting about some goat’s milk cheese. Most sheep’s milk cheese have a rich, butteriness that is nutty and sweet, owing to the larger percentage of fat and solids in the milk than goat’s or cow’s milk. Think of the richness of Manchego, Ossau-Iraty, or Verano, not to mention the celestial creaminess of soft sheep’s milk cheeses like Brebirousse, Fiorita, or Shepherd’s Way’s Hidden Falls.

We currently carry two of Jodi and Steven’s cheeses, the soft, bloomy-rinded Hidden Falls, which is delicate, buttery, and the perfect introduction to sheep’s milk cheese, and Sogn Tomme, a firmer sheep’s milk cheese that just won a gold medal from the American Cheese Society. Sogn is bright, the perfect cheese to enjoy on a late-summer picnic.

What’s happening at Shepherd’s Way is what we love about American farmstead cheese. Great cheese made by great people from great milk.

Cook Like a Cheesemonger: Manchego Polenta with Shrimp + Chorizo

by Erin Gilleland

Serves 4 — 

Ingredients *indicates product available at France 44 Cheese Shop

1 cup Marano Polenta* (or white grits)

1 cup milk 

2 cups chicken stock*

Half pint cherry tomatoes 

1/2 cup Contadini Sundried Cherry tomatoes in EVOO*

1 lb. Raw frozen Shrimp, peeled and deveined*

1/3 lb. Pasamontes Manchego *

3.5 oz Palacios Chorizo,* cut into coins

4 garlic cloves, minced 

4 tbsp butter*

EVOO*

Salt and Pepper to taste 

Fresh basil (if you want!) 

Directions: 

1. Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Add chorizo, cook for 1 minute over medium-high heat. 

2. Add shrimp. Cook for 2 minutes, tossing often. Add garlic, cook until fragrant. Add cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, olives, and butter. Sauté for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Time to make our polenta! In a saucepan, bring stock and milk to a boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta, stirring continuously, 2-3 minutes, over low heat. Stir in butter, Manchego cheese, salt and black pepper to taste. Turn off the heat, cover and let stand.

4. Add polenta to bowls, cover with chorizo and shrimp mixture! Enjoy! 

Ask a Cheesemonger: What's the difference between mozzarella and burrata?

by Maura Rice

If you read our newsletters religiously (and truly, bless you), you may be tired of hearing us harp on about our fresh mozzarella. We get it—we really do. We just can’t help ourselves when it comes to mozzarella season because the stuff is so dang special. And this summer, Austin (our resident pasta filata specialist—more on this term later), has expanded his repertoire to include fresh burrata too. You may even have accidentally picked up a ball of the delicate cheese by mistake, only to be surprised (and delighted, hopefully?) by the creamy filling. This brings me to our central question this week: just what is the difference between mozzarella and burrata?

We’re guessing you’re probably familiar with mozzarella at this point in your cheese-consuming career—it is, after all, the most popular cheese in America. And you’re willingly reading a cheese blog, so odds are you’ve probably encountered burrata in the wild too. Still, the nuances of these Italian softies can be tough to distinguish when you’re elbow deep in salad or pizza. Burrata? Fior di latte? Stracciatella? The Italians notoriously have a complicated term for every aspect of cheesemaking, not to mention the hundreds of formaggi in their bullpen. Case and point…

Pasta filata refers to a class of cheese encompassing mozzarella and burrata. It translates approximately to “spun thread” or “stretched curd” which is an apt description of the unique cheesemaking process used to create both. While most cheese is made by aging curd pressed into forms, pasta filata cheeses are formed by softening curd in near-boiling salty water until it becomes smooth and luscious. Our mozz-maker, Austin, does this by using a large wooden paddle to gently stretch the curd in the air until it reaches the proper temperature and texture. The process is exceedingly delicate (not to mention painful), which is why fresh-pulled mozzarella is such a rarified treat. Overwork the curd for just a few seconds and you may end up with a tough, toothsome product. Other cheeses made in this popular style include provolone, caciocavallo, and scamorza, which all share the stretchy, pull-apart structure created by the pasta filata process.

Mozzarella in true Italian tradition is made with water buffalo milk, which, being richer in fat than cow’s milk, makes for an exceptionally luxurious cheese. Sadly, water buffalo farming is quite rare in the States, so most mozzarella found here is made with cow’s milk, and is technically what the Italians call fior di latte. We use lovely cow’s milk curd from our friends at Liuzzi Angeloni in Connecticut. The curd itself is remarkably flavorless and bland, not at all like the cheese curds we Midwesterners know and love. It tastes purely of fresh, whole milk, which, of course, it is. Mozzarella is the most basic pasta filata cheese being formed by simply pinching off spheres of the stretched cheese. These alabaster globes are either wrapped immediately to preserve their shape or stored in brine for extended life. In any case, to witness the transformation of rubbery curds into rich, silken mozzarella in a matter of moments is to understand the true magic of cheesemaking.

On the surface, burrata appears identical to mozzarella (hence, the confusion). But the amount of work that goes into a ball of burrata is tenfold that of mozzarella. In the most basic sense, burrata is a thin layer of mozzarella housing a stracciatella filling. Stracciatella, in turn, is a combination of fresh cream and mozzarella shreds, likely a way for cheesemakers to utilize the scraps of the mozzarella-making process. Austin has adopted the Italian tradition of adding fresh seasonal fruit to the cream. As you might imagine, crafting these delicate spheres is incredibly challenging. First, the cheesemaker must form the hot curd into a flat sheet—the ‘skin’ of the burrata. With one hand, he must form a pouch from this sheet while using the other to pour in his stracciatella mixture. Finally, he must painstakingly seal the ball without spilling the liquid contents or puncturing the skin. The final product is much like a delicate water balloon or an extremely overripe tomato­, and, as in either case, it’s best to just embrace the mess.

You may wonder, how could this laborious process possibly be worth it?! It does seem likely that the creator of pasta filata cheeses was probably a masochist. But to enjoy freshly-made mozzarella and burrata is to understand the mania. Stop in some weekend to pick up a still-warm ball of lactic magic, and see for yourself.

Cheese Profile: Chiriboga Blue

by Austin Coe Butler

Chiriboga Blue has it all: an international love story, historical roots tied to two storied cheeses, a cult following, and the most unorthodox blue cheesemaking process you’ve ever heard of that all comes together to create a cheese with an irresistible flavor that, even more remarkably, will bring blue lovers and blue haters together.

Arturo Chiriboga was born in Quito, Ecuador, where his father had two small fincas. His father made fresh cheeses for the family’s consumption, and early on in Arturo’s childhood he became interested in cheesemaking. He wanted to study cheesemaking, but there was no place to do so in Ecuador, so he packed his bags and moved to Switzerland to study. At a Cantonal School in western Switzerland he met the love of his life, a Bavarian dairymaid, and three years later, once they finished their studies the two moved back to Ecuador to open their own creamery. Ecuador was plagued with political, economic, and social woes at the time though, and the two soon move to his wife’s home town of Heidelberg, a small town in Bavaria, Germany. Arturo answered a job listing for a cheesemaker at Obere Mühle, a celebrated restaurant and dairy in Bad Hindelang and soon became the head cheesemaker, making over 20 different cheeses. In 2006 he began making Bayerischer Blauschimmelkäse (Bavarian blue cheese), or what we now know as Chiriboga blue. All was well in Arturo’s life until….

Chiriboga Blue began infecting the other cheeses made at Obere Mühle! A solution was easily found though: Arturo moved production to Hofkäserei Kraus, where Albert Kraus makes Alex, Lisa, Red Casanova, and Alp Blossom–cheeses you’ve no doubt seen in our shop. At Hofkäserei Kraus Arturo was able to have his own space to make and age Chiriboga Blue.

Chiriboga Blue has its origins in two iconic cheeses that it bears no resemblance to at all. Arturo first wanted to make a blue cheese because he loved Gorgonzola, but found it very strong and wanted something milder and creamier. The recipe Arturo started with for Bayerischer Blauschimmelkäse was created by Basil Weixler at the start of the 20th century to create a German cheese to rival Roquefort. But Chiriboga is not like either of these storied blues (or any other blue cheese really) for an unheard of, and completely unorthodox, reason that has big implications for flavor.

It’s important to note that “blue cheese” is not a style of cheese but a technique of cheesemaking. Cheesemakers add blue mold (typically Penicillium roqueforti or P. glaucum) to to the milk at the start of the cheesemaking process, which allows the mold to disperse throughout the cheese and mature. The cheese is pierced to allow oxygen into the paste and inspire, or bloom, the nascent mold. The mold is inside the cheese and not being injected or introduced externally to the cheese by the piercing. But Chiriboga Blue is the exception to this rule. Arturo makes his cheese and then dips needles into a solution of blue mold and then pierces the cheese, thus introducing the mold.

In addition to this unorthodox introduction of blue mold via piercing, Arturo also does several other things that distinguish Chiriboga from other blues. Most blue cheeses are crumbly, salty, and spicy, all of which Chiriboga isn’t. Most blue cheeses aren’t “pressed” when they are in their forms, leaving their texture open, craggily, and crumbly, like Roquefort or Stilton. Chiriboga however is pressed and made with whole fat brown Swiss cow’s milk, which creates a dense, buttery paste that limits oxygen and contains mold to the piercings, creating a delicate blue flavor that isn’t spicy. Chiriboga is low in salinity, being brined in a salamoia, or brine, that is only 18% salt compared to the typical 24%. The cheese is also aged for a mere six to eight weeks before being ready to consume, whereas most blue are aged for three to five months, which limits the strength of the blue flavor.

The result is a blue cheese that is subtle, nuanced, and complex in its flavor that has something for everyone. It has the richness of clotted cream with a delicate yeasty tang and the faintest tingle of blue spice with a texture like warm butter or fudge. As an added bonus, Chiriboga is visually stunning, its dense ivory paste and subdued blue marbling give it the appearance of an ancient mill stone. There are many ways to enjoy Chiriboga. It pairs well with sweet wines like Riesling, Spätbegrunder, Trollinger, or Eiswein (ice wine). Simply spread on an Effie’s Oat Cake or fresh bread or used to frost meatloaf (allegedly), but my favorite recommendation comes from a German website, “läßt sich wie Eiskrem mit dem Löffel essen,” “it can be eaten like ice cream with a spoon,” as I am gleefully at the time of writing.

Cook Like A Cheesemonger: Sesame Noodles

Chilled sesame noodles are one of our favorite summer dishes, because it’s incredibly low-key, requires ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, and comes together in 15 minutes or less. It’s deeply satisfying, and it’s been a go-to for us after a long day at work, playing tennis, or when it’s too hot to turn on the stove! The sauce is luscious and evenly coats the noodles, the peanuts and cucumber balance out the texture, and fresh herbs and citrus brighten up all the flavors.

Ingredients: 

1 (8oz) packet dried udon or ramen noodles

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, divided

1/4 cup Chinese sesame paste (can use tahini in a pinch, just add an extra teaspoon of toasted sesame oil)

2 tbsp creamy peanut butter (I like Big Spoon Roasters)

1/4 cup Masienda Sesame Pura Macha, plus more for drizzling

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

4 tbsp Matsutake Shoyu 

1 tablespoon black garlic molasses 

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/2 cucumber, sliced into matchsticks,

Crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, and scallion for garnish! Top with summer basil if desired. 

1. Cook the noodles (udon or ramen) according the package directions

2. Drain and rinse under cold water, toss with 1 tsp toasted sesame oil

3. Combine peanut butter, chili oil, toasted sesame oil, sugar, salt, shoyu, black garlic molasses, and lime juice. Mix well.

4. Combine noodles, and sesame peanut sauce until well coated.

5. Garnish with sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, sliced cucumber, and more chili oil!

They can last in the refrigerator up to four days, but they never do really do…because you’ll eat them all. Enjoy! 

Meet Your Monger: Benjamin

How did you end up working at the Cheese Shop? 

My partner and I had just moved here from Brooklyn where I had been managing a farm-to-table restaurant. I knew I wanted to stay in the food industry but I also knew that I wanted to try something different than restaurants—so I answered an ad on Craigslist. Apparently I was the throw away candidate and there was someone else with an inside track. 

What part of the France 44 renovation excites you the most?

The loading dock! Customers are going to love the event space but the employees are going to lose their minds over the loading dock. I estimate we’ve unloaded 700,000 pounds of product off the back of an 18 wheeler over the last 14 years. In rain, -30 windchill, 100 degree heat. It’s not a ton of fun [pun intended].

What’s something that might surprise us about you?

I hardly eat any cheese or meat. I was vegetarian for over 10 years and I still often think like one. Really my ideal meal is fresh fish with lots and lots of vegetables. Though I do eat pasta loaded with Parmigiano Reggiano at least once a week.

How have you seen the Cheese Shop change in the past 15 years?

This past holiday season we did more business in an hour than we used to do in most weeks when we first opened! It used to be just two of us employed by the cheese shop and now there are 60 of us. I love that so many more people can experience our brand of hospitality.

I see your title is Cheesemonger In Chief

Yup, that’s right.

Cook Like A Cheesemonger: Sweet Corn

It’s time to shuck some ears of sweet corn and light up the grill. This bright and fresh salad pairs charred corn with raw and sautéed zucchini (garden explosion, anyone!?) It’s topped off with bacon, caramelized dates, goat cheese, and summer herbs, and tossed with a lemon honey vinaigrette. I love how the chèvre melts ever so slightly when mixed with the warm corn, and the sweetness the dates bring to the table, making it a perfect salad for passing around at a late afternoon grill-out or backyard dinner. Finish your salad with a generous hand of olive oil, herbs, and kick your shoes off on the porch. 

Ingredients: 

3-4 ears of sweet corn

2 large zucchini 

1/2 small red onion

1 serrano pepper 

3-4 pieces of cooked and crumbled bacon 

4 oz chèvre 

2-3 medjool dates

1/4 cup fresh basil 

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp honey 

1/4 cup neutral oil 

Salt and Pepper 

Instructions:

1. Shuck and grill your corn until nicely charred. You can also do this on a sheet tray in the oven, 400 degrees, for 15 minutes, turning halfway through.

2. Remove kernels from the cob with a sharp knife, place into a bowl, set aside.

3. Use a peeler to make zucchini ribbons (long strips) and slice the rest of the zucchini into half moons, planks, or however you’d like! Brush with oil and grill or sauté 1-2 minutes until tender.

4. Remove the pits from your dates, slice in half, and place in a pan on medium heat until lightly caramelized, turning often (they burn fast!)

5. Slice red onion and serrano thinly. Chop or crumble your bacon, and gently tear your basil.

6. Whisk your lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, and salt and pepper, to taste, and slowly add in oil to emulsify.

7. Time to assemble! Add your corn with zucchini, onion and serranos in a large bowl. Add your lemon vinaigrette, and gently toss. Finish with evoo, if desired.

8. Garnish with bacon, dates, goat cheese, fresh basil, or any summer herb you like!