Monthly Cheese Roundup

Happy spring, and welcome to the March edition of Monthly Cheese Roundup! I've found myself a bit overwhelmed by cheese lately, since Cheese of the Month Club keeps sending me disgusting blue cheeses that no one wants to eat. (Have considered feeding them all to Buttons, but Johnny quickly shot this idea down.) The refrigerator's cheese drawer (yes, I've dedicated a whole drawer to the cheese) is currently full of Roquefort, Stilton, Lindberg, and all kinds of other nastiness. (I just realized I forgot to post about February's cheese shipment. Sorry. It was smelly and gross.)

Happily, I think this month's cheese shipment will be devoured quickly. I received Red Leicester, Brie, and Saint-Marcellin. The Red Leicester is definitely my favorite- it tastes like a very sharp and delicious Cheddar. I have been eating it with no accompaniment, but my cheese newsletter recommends pairing it with brown ale. I'll take any excuse to buy beer! The Brie is good, too- soft and creamy. I've found a number of recipes for it, but I think I'm going to try Brie and Asparagus in Phyllo from chef Robert Irvine. (That is, if I can find phyllo here in rural Oklahoma.)

At this point I must make a confession: I am writing this post without having eaten the Saint-Marcellin. I'm a little bit afraid of it. It smells kind of weird, and according to the cheese newsletter, is wrapped in some kind of decomposing grape leaves. (Cheese is INSANE, ya'll. INSANE.) Everything I've read online about it describes it as "complex" and "extravagant". So I imagine I'll get around to tasting it soon (maybe even tomorrow), but I am definitely intimidated by it. (Thanks for ruining my appetite for cheese, Lindberg!!!)

And that does it, folks! I highly recommend Red Leicester if you can find it, and I think everyone could use more Brie in their life. Happy cheesing! 

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Monthly Cheese Roundup

I'm a bit lately with January's Monthly Cheese Roundup, but I've been busy lately. Didn't you hear? Blizzard in Oklahoma! I've been snowed in all week with nothing to do but eat taquitos and play video games. Priorities, friends. Priorities.

January's cheese shipment was 66% awesome. I received Stilton, Emmentaler, and more chèvre. 


I was totally unexcited by the Stilton; it's a blue cheese, and after last month's Roquefort debacle I wasn't really in the mood for more of the stuff. (The Roquefort is still in my refrigerator, by the way.) Stilton, which is an English cheese produced in only three counties, is actually fairly mild in taste. For a blue cheese, anyway. It don't taste like something you'd use to treat gangrene. It also doesn't taste like something I would snack on, so I'm reserving it for use in a recipe. Perhaps we'll have Stilton risotto with winter squash, sage, & walnuts soon.


The Emmentaler was my favorite cheese of the shipment. It tastes very similar to regular old Swiss cheese, which makes sense, given that it's produced in Switzerland. It's sharp and hard and is perfect on Triscuits with some deli turkey on top. (Fancy fancy.)


I like chèvre. It's creamy and soft and made from goat's milk. It's tangy and salty. I was very happy to get a log of plain old chèvre with no weird lavender or fennel flavors. I've been eating it with Triscuits and roasted tomatoes. I also popped a bit of it in the toaster oven, and while it doesn't melt, it gets very soft and warm and spreads nicely on bread. Mmm. Chèvre. I have quite a bit of it left and may use it in a pasta dish that's in one of my Martha Stewart cookbooks.


No telling when February's cheese shipment will arrive, since the month is so short. I'll try to get a review up ASAP though!

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Monthly Cheese Roundup

It's the third week of the month, and you know what that means! It's Cheese Roundup time! As you may have heard, Johnny gave me a cheese-of-the-month club subscription for my birthday. I received my first cheese pack in November and totally meant to write about it, but forgot. (To be fair, they were pretty boring cheeses- Parmigiana, Gouda, and Gruyère.) So, from now on, you'll be treated to Cheese Roundup on a monthly basis.

This month's cheese shipment was considerably more exciting than November's. I received Roquefort, Pinconning, and Purple Haze Chèvre. (For those wondering, yes, I did laugh at the last cheese.) I'd never heard of Pinconning and never tasted any of the three.


Pinconning, according to my cheese newsletter, is an aged yellow colby-style, semi-soft whole cow's milk cheese. Developed in 1915 in Pinconning, Michigan, it's typically eaten instead of Cheddar or Colby. This is by far this month's favorite. It tastes very similar to Colby cheese and has a mild flavor. The cheese newsletter recommends using it in macaroni and cheese dishes, but I think I'll probably just eat the whole quarter pound with Triscuits in one sitting. (Where are my elastic waistband pants?)

The Purple Haze Chèvre is the most interesting of this month's cheeses. It smells strongly of fennel, but tastes like a typical goat cheese. (By which I mean tangy and tart.) It's soft and spreadable and is recommended as an accompaniment to kalamata olives, bread, and Zinfandel wine. The Purple Haze derives its name from the lavendar buds added to the cheese.

Roquefort (pronounced "ROKE-fore") is hands down the most disgusting cheese I have ever tasted in my life. Seriously, it's nasty. Made of sheep's milk, aged in a cave, and containing veins of green mold, this cheese tastes like my Sperry Topsider shoes smell. People are apparently in love with these cheese, proclaiming it excellent for consuming on salads, during fine dining, or after smoking. Now, to be fair, I tried it on its own, without any food, wine, or cigarettes, so perhaps a recipe like Steak with Roquefort Sauce will better use its salty flavors. However, I'm not holding out hope for something that can be used to treat gangrene.

That's it for the December Cheese Roundup- I hope you've enjoyed it. I'll keep you posted on uses for these cheeses and let you know if that Roquefort ruins the steak or not.

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