The Netherlands are a leading exporter in....tulips? Wooden clogs? No, cheese! Frank Wickerath, a Dutchman living in the Czech Republic, and Lucie Struik, a Czech woman living in the Netherlands, recently went into export business together after being bombarded with requests for Dutch cheese from friends and neighbors.

The cheese is delicious: 12 different varieties, including a shocking red one colored with pesto and tomatoes, a goat's cheese and a variety with walnuts. Of course, there is also the famous Gouda, which shares with Champagne, among other regional products, the honor of being licensed by the European Union. Only the real thing now gets to call itself Gouda, after a ruling in January 2011.

Read the full article here.

Max McCalman of Artisanal Cheese unveils the science behind stinky cheese with a mild flavor. Our tongues can detect only five flavors while our noses pick up a wider variety of aromas.

Some people avoid tasting some cheeses because they assume that an intensely aromatic cheese will make for an intensely flavored cheese, one that is over-the-top. For those that risk a nibble of a “stinky” cheese, they are often surprised at how mild-flavored the cheese actually is. The imprints on our cognitive receptors (our noses and tongues) can fool us. They pick up different aspects.

Read the full blog post here.

In 1974 ingenuous inventor Charles Thibeau of Groton, Mass., invented a non-toxic milk paint that re-created the look of colonial and Shaker furniture. He found inspiration from primitive cave paintings.

Carefully measuring the amount of clay, cow's milk and chemical compounds like iron oxide, Charles Thibeau would mix them over and over to see which recipe would make the best "milk paint," the primitive pigment that humans have used since the caveman era.

Read the full story of his life and more about the milk paint invention here.

Photo by Sentinel & Enterprise

Eugene Durante of Highbrow magazine has a new pizza place guide for the best place to get pizza - New York City of course! Whether you're a New Yorker or just planning a trip, this guide could come in handy when looking for some hidden gems off the beaten path.

Yes, we have all read the star-rated reviews of New York’s best pizzerias: Of course, there is Motorino, Pulino’s, and other venerable pie havens peppered throughout the city. But Highbrow Magazine writer Eugene Durante, a born-and-bred New Yorker, wanted to offer his take of the best slices in and around his hometown. (Apologies to Motorino, Pulino’s and others for not making the list, be we figured they have received enough accolades already.)

Read the full guide here.

Jane Lindholm of Vermont Public Radio interviews author and University of Vermont professor Paul Kindstedt about his book Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and Its Place in Western Civilization.

"Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and its Place in Western Civilization" explores how environmental factors, early trade practices and changes in climate shaped shaped the practice and science of making cheese over 9,000 years, and how understanding cheese may illuminate gaps in our knowledge of human history. Paul Kindstedt joins us to explore the role of cheese in ancient to modern society, and why the current U.S. renaissance in artisan cheese is part of a historical continuum of cheese in western culture.

Listen to the interview here.

David Gavrich, president of the San Francisco Bay Railroad, got tired of spraying tracks with toxic herbicides to keep weeds and grasses in check, so he put an ad on Craigslist: "Seeking goat herder who can also do some welding." He got over 200 responses on the first day! The railroad now has a herd of goats that have replaced the herbicides and gas guzzling lawn mowers.

But that’s not all they’re good for: In addition to their work for the city, the goats sometimes venture out to residential neighborhoods to eat away blackberry bushes and poison oak. Gavrich calls the service “Rent-a-Goat.”

Watch the full video here.

Wisconsin's cheese production is higher than that of previous years, with notable spikes in Cheddar, Italian and Mozzarella.

Nationally, 858 million pounds of cheese was produced--up 6.2 percent from the same month in 2011, but 5.8 percent below the previous month's production totals.

Wisconsin's production of American cheese increased as the state produced 64.7 million pounds, about 4.2 percent more than last year, but 6.1 percent below last month's production.

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Photo by infowidget

Listeria monocytogenes may have contaminated Moonstruck Organic Cheese's Tomme d'Or in British Columbia. A recall was issued on the cheese by the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control after routine sampling detected Listeria.

Listeria, if present, will grow to high numbers even if the cheese has been stored in the refrigerator. Food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes may not look or smell spoiled.

Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease.

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Photo by Salim Virji

No longer does the grilled cheese evoke images of squished white bread or plasticky orange "cheese product." Artesian grilled cheese shops have sprung up across New York, stuffing their sandwiches with shortrib, truffles and raw cheeses. The breads are thick, and crunchy from better-than-butter spreads: cultured butter, made from fermented cream, and duckfat.

Sure, you could make this at home, provided you could find the proper ingredients, had access to a panini press (a kettle or flatiron won’t do) and tuned the heat precisely, so the cheese didn’t go past gooey into glop.

Why not just pay $5.75 for the version executed with military precision, if not always speed, by MILK TRUCK, various locations, (917) 520-7415, milktruckgrilledcheese.com? It was the best I tried in a recent tour of artisanal grilled-cheese shops, a culinary subgenre that has boomed in the last year.

Feta is paired with Kashkaval, a somewhat firm sheep's milk cheese, in this snackable appetizer.

Turkish borek can be made into beautiful shapes, turning pastry into delicate roses. Here we take a shortcut to a less involved but still somewhat floral-inspired approach, using puff pastry to create beautiful crisp cheese borek. These make addictive party snacks. Feel free to make up more than you need and freeze, unbaked, for your next party. They can be transferred directly from the freezer to the oven and will bake with just a few minutes' extra oven time.

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Photography by Deena Prichep for NPR