Your Serve
To anyone trying to navigate the basics of cheese beyond cheddar, Charles de Gaulle’s much-repeated (and mangled) quote, “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” resonates mightily. Herewith, Portfolio.com's guide to speaking cheese.
Does Age Matter?
With cheeses, older is not better. Some must be eaten young; others need time to develop. Fresh cheeses—mozzarella, ricotta—are mild and have a short shelf life. Brie and Camembert age for a month, develop moldy rinds, and fall along the flavor spectrum from mild to pungent. Parmesans spend years in storerooms or caves, watched by specialists called affineurs.
Mind the Rind
Eating the rind is a matter of taste. Rinds vary from pale and thin to tough and waxy. The white kinds, as on Brie, are just mold. Hard rinds, as on Gruyère, are edible. Waxy rinds, as on fontina, here, preserve moisture and taste bad. Sometimes, the rind is the best part—if the cheese gets a wine coating (Epoisses are “washed” in brandy), or is rubbed with rosemary.
The Raw Row
Cheese made with unpasteurized milk is thought to be tastier and more complex; it’s common in Europe. But the FDA says milk that goes into cheese should be pasteurized to eliminate bacteria. The compromise: Raw-milk cheeses must be 60 days old before being sold in the U.S. Some specialty cheese shops sell raw cheeses they’ve “accidentally” imported.
Domestic or Imported?
“Imported cheese used to be better—not anymore,” says Mitchell Davis of the James Beard Foundation in New York. Small American farms are now producing consistently flavorful, unusual artisanal cheeses. Because production is small-scale, the final product is expensive—over $30 a pound for cheeses from some farms.
Your Serve
For a winning cheese plate, go one of two ways: Choose different types—a soft Brie, a salty Stilton, and a tangy cheddar—and compare. Or, select similar kinds with different origins: three sheep’s milk cheeses, from different countries in Europe. For best flavor, eat cheese at room temperature.
