Joe Satran at HuffPo Food, has the story on Murray's new Valentine's Day cheese, Love at Mast. What makes this cheese so special? It's got chocolate in it, for one:

The words "chocolate" and "cheese" are two of the best uses ever for the letters "ch." And as girls' best friends go, they're much more affordable than diamonds. They've had brief encounters with one another in the past, in chocolate cheese fudge from Wisconsin and chocolate cheesecakes from bakers around the world. But this Valentine's Day, for the first time, the two are getting married in tiny wheels of chocolate-infused cheese.

Cheese shop mystery series writer Avery Aames loves cheese, and recently has discovered just how many other people share her love. Now she's fully immersed, and her latest novel Clobbered by Camembert is just hitting the shelves. Oh and another thing: she reads culture!

A few months ago, I wrote “Life is great; cheese makes it better” in one of my newsletters. Lo and behold, suddenly people are tweeting the saying and posting it on websites. Why did I write it? For a variety of reasons.

I love cheese. I adore the flavors, the aromas, the texture, and the variety of choices. Over the past year, I have tasted at least two hundred cheeses. There are thousands more, worldwide, with enticing names like Honeybee Goat Gouda, Bayley Hazen Blue, Tuscan Tartuffo, and Devil’s Gulch. Don’t those names make you curious? Do they make your mouth water?

Before writing A Cheese Shop Mystery series, I didn’t know how much I loved cheese.

Max McCalman has some important things to say in response to the implication that cheese is responsible for our nation's obesity problem, and he is making sure everyone knows:

The causes of obesity are not linked to the effects of consumption of dairy products. Some of the larger culprits in this weight gain are not the types that most people suspect: whole milk and full-fat cheeses. Instead, a significant part of the blame rests with the low-fat and skim-milk dairy products, and their depleted weight-reducing qualities.

The Albany area Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has launched a graphic billboard campaign depicting grossly oversized abdomens and thighs, warning that cheese contributes to high obesity rates and poses health risks. The group has gone so far as to write the Albany school board asking the city to cut down on dairy products served in schools to help students reduce the risk of childhood obesity.

Lactalis American is beginning work on a new plant in Nampa, Idaho, this spring. Locals are looking forward to more jobs:

The 61,300-square-foot fresh mozzarella production plant, slated to be operating by the spring of 2013, will be built this year behind the existing Lactalis plant east of Nampa at the intersection of Franklin and Star roads.

Production of fresh mozzarella at the Canyon County plant will increase from 7 million pounds per year to 40 million pounds per year, said Pierre Lorieau, vice president and general counsel for Lactalis.

About 70 Treasure Valley residents will be hired to round out a staff of about 110, Bass said, adding that the new plant will be fully staffed by the spring of 2013.

Read more here

Some sobering news for the everyone who knew and loved Mandy Reed, as well as for her business, the Swaledale Cheese Company, in England. Best wishes to her family and friends:

Mandy Reed, 47, was the director of The Swaledale Cheese Company, based in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and lived in nearby Scorton with her daughter, Louise.

Mrs Reed was discovered in the garden of the property next to her own in Grammar School Court at 5pm on Sunday after police were alerted to her disappearance at 4.35pm.

The cause of her death was still unknown last night.

She was last seen by her son, Sam Reed, when she got into a red Skoda Octavia taxi after a night out on Saturday night and would have arrived home between 10.30pm and 11pm.

Read the full article here

Good news for the Idaho economy: cheese giant Lactalis is expanding mozzarella manufacturing in their Nampa, Idaho plant. Via the Idaho Press-Tribune:

Lactalis American Group today announced plans to increase fresh mozzarella production at the Nampa facility, a move that will add about 70 jobs and increase the company's purchase of local and regional dairy.

Construction on the expanded fresh mozzarella plant will begin in March and is expected to last about 10 months.

Read the full story here.

Seafood and cheese, is a good thing after all, or so say we. Try this recipe from Cooking Melangery, and judge for yourself:

This is a very old recipe but none the less a very tasty one. The choice of cheese you use is entirely up to you, although I would stay away from really strong cheeses or you will lose the flavor of the scallops.

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
¾ cup dry white wine
1 bay leaf
4 peppercorns
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tblsp butter
1 ½ tblsp all-purpose flour
¾ cup milk
salty and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup finely diced fontina cheese
1 tsp Dijon mustard
12 scallops on the ½ shell
2 tblsp dry breadcrumbs
½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Via the New York Times: Juliet Pries had a brainstorm: why not open an ice-cream parlor in San Francisco that combined the soda fountain techniques of the past, like phosphates, lactarts and egg-thickened milkshakes, with haute modern ingredients like bitter orange, candy-cap mushroom and rosewood extract? It's the sort of idea that might just take off in food-forward SF, but there was a hitch:

“Many times it almost didn’t happen,” said Juliet Pries, the owner, with a cheerful laugh.

Aidan Gardiner at the New York Times, has the story on New York Governor Cuomo's dairy-centric bet on the super bowl turnout. In turn, Massachusetts Governor Patrick made his own edible bet:

On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo added another element to the table of iconic New York foodstuffs: Greek yogurt.

The governor took this action in the course of announcing the requisite bet between heads of state over the Super Bowl. S̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ When the Giants beat the Patriots, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will be sending to a New York food bank several Centerville pies, some clam chowder and 46 cases of Food Should Taste Good chips.

Garrett McCord has done his research, and polled a few notable cheesemongers to find out what their favorite "unsung hero" cheeses are. In other words, the cheeses that nobody is buying, or the ones that people just don't know about, but should. He's assembled his results here:

Doralice Handal, owner of The Cheese Shop in Healdsburg, California, had only too much to say about a few certain cheeses. Handal took over the shop seven years ago when the previous owner sold it. Through entrepreneurial panache and a keen eye for expanding cheese into a variety of new markets such as wholesaling to wineries and hotels, getting a wine license, and engaging locals and tourists through events and tastings The Cheese Shop has cultured itself as the cheese center of California wine country.