CurdNerds

Apologies for the noticeable dearth of posts lately. Things in my life have been busy and I haven't been able to give this blog proper attention. However, I continue to post a weekly cheese column called Serious Cheese over at SeriousEats.com. Be sure to check there every Tuesday if you're jonesing for cheese-related blog posts (this week my cheese post is hitting today). Thanks, and I look forward to getting back on track here soon!

In the meantime, take a look at this interesting history of cheese someone posted in the forums. (No sources are given, but anyway it makes for entertaining reading and is a somewhat plausible theory. They also link to an interesting-looking site that has videos of cheese-making and other wine & food related things.)

-Jamie

Artisanal announced today that they have begun a same day delivery service in Manhattan. Cheeses are delivered via rickshaw, and, for now, the service is only available in midtown from 34th Street to 63rd Street. Orders must be received by noon for a 5pm same day delivery.

This is a really cool service and I hope it does well so they can add more neighborhoods. Only certain items can be ordered online, but you can place a custom order by calling the toll free order line (1-877-797-1200).

I'm not located in the delivery area, but if anyone is and has tried out the service, please leave feedback in the comments below!

(Caution: contains some adult language.)

From the BBC's That Mitchell and Webb Look, via Steve

I received the following email the other day from Deborah over at the Jersey Cheese Festival:

I am the event co-ordinator for the first World Jersey Cheese Awards, a cheese competition purely for cheese made using Jersey Milk. The competition is due to be held in the island of Jersey on May 23rd. I am looking to contact cheesemakers using only Jersey Milk, would any of your readers be able to help? We do have a website for the awards on www.jerseycheese.com.

Cheese made from the milk of Jersey cows is especially tasty, owing to an unusually high cream content. Of course, you wouldn't want to make a Parmigiano-Reggiano from Jersey milk, but most cheeses really benefit from the extra fat. In fact some cheesemakers, like the folks behind Vermont Shepherd and Nettle Meadow Kunik, add Jersey cream to their sheep and goat cheeses to give them some heft and richness.

The Jersey cow originated in Jersey islands of England, but can now be found all over the world. This is the first I've seen of a cheese contest specific to one dairy breed, and it'll be interesting to see the results.

If you have any leads on Jersey cheesemakers for Deborah, leave a comment here or contact her directly.

This is perhaps the best use I've seen for commodity block cheddar, since of course you wouldn't ever want to eat the stuff. Sure it's a waste of food, and I am utterly opposed to wasting food, but here's an example of a food that just should never have been made in the first place. So you might as well turn it into art, I suppose.

In February, Showtime Networks hired ace cheese carver Troy Landwehr to convert 1200 pounds of cheddar into a likeness of the Statue of Liberty. The process took four days and is condensed into two minutes in the video above. Watch and be amazed...

Via Crooked Timber, a great tip for remembering what cheeses you've bought: Take a picture of the label, and then bring the picture with you the next time you go buy more cheese. Simple! Brilliant!

This week Madison, Wisconsin hosts the 27th Biennial World Championship Cheese Contest where cheesemakers from around the globe show their wares in pursuit of awards in 79 classes of cheeses and butters. Most interestingly, this year's finale will be broadcast live on the internet, tomorrow, March 13th, from 8:30am CST. Be sure to tune in for some exciting, cheesy action!

UPDATE: Results from Cheese Underground:

Cheesemaker Michael Spycher, of Kaserei Fritzenhaus in Wasen, Switzerland, took top honors out of 1,941 entries from 19 countries for his Le Gruyere Switzerland. First runner-up was a Gorgonzola made by CERPL Cheesemakers in Italy, while second runner-up went to an Emmentaler made by Bernhard Naf, of Guntershausen, Switzerland.

This question came in recently via the Forum:

I do have a question as well. Trying to make ricotta today, I used 2% instead of whole milk. Added some citric acid and salt, heated to 195, and couldn't get the curds to separate, save a few lonely stark white ones floating on the top. After a while (since I assumed all was lost, although I wasn't sure why) I added some rennet to experiment. It separated, those curds sinking to the bottom, wispy off-white. I let them sit and then drained into butter muslin, which is now hanging to drain. Not sure what the finished product will be, or where I went wrong. Should I just not have used 2%?

Thanks,
Heather

I don't think a low-fat milk would entirely prevent the proteins from coagulating, it would just likely lead to a drier, less creamy texture. Perhaps the milk was ultra-pasteurized? If you have any further advice for Heather, leave a comment!  read more »

In case you missed it, I was on WNYC--New York City's NPR affiliate --a couple week's back talking to Brian Lehrer about Stinky Cheese. If you follow that link you can listen an mp3 of my segment (also copied below). You can also see the comments that people left, some of which are pretty hilarious.

Here are some general suggestions about how to properly store cheese at home. The challenge is that cheese needs an environment that fulfills seemingly contradictory needs; it needs to be somewhere where air can flow in and out, but where moisture loss is kept at a minimum.

• The first rule is to buy only as much as you need; cheese is best shortly after it is cut from the wheel.
• If you are keeping cheese for more than a day or so, enjoy it quickly because every day that cheese hangs around in the fridge means a noticeable decrease in quality.
• The softer the cheese, the harder it will be to keep fresh for a long time.
• People generally recommend keeping the cheese in the warmest part of the fridge, but I find that this doesn't really matter as long as you give the cheese enough time to come to room temperature when you're ready to eat it again.
• One method I really like is to wrap the cheese first in breathable paper such as parchment paper, and then cover the whole thing in plastic wrap. Plastic wrap keeps in moisture nicely, but can impart off flavors if left touching the surface of the cheese. And if you use parchment only, you'll lose too much moisture. The combination of the two usually does the trick.
• Another method is to place some rolled up paper towels in a tupperware container, and then place the cheese on top of the paper. Closing the lid tightly creates a sealed environment that helps moisture stay in, while the paper towels help keep it from getting too wet in there. Be sure to open the container once a day to let some fresh air in.

If you have any other suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!