Articles written by Susan Axelrod
Susan Sherrill Axelrod is a former editor of Culture. Her love affair with cheese began at age 12, when she bicycled to a gourmet shop to taste an exotic newcomer—French brie. She lives with her partner in midcoast Maine, where she enjoys a well-made cocktail, hiking with their dog, Lucy, and spending as much time as possible on the water.
Cheese Plate: In Good Company
A winter cheese plate curated by Jen Mason of Curds and Co. Pairings and experimenting with confidence are at the heart of Mason’s business. “We want cheese to be accessible and some cheeses need a partner to be accessible,” she says.
Culture Goes to ‘Cheese Camp’
Education, networking, all-you-can-eat cheese, and more: it’s a curd nerd’s paradise at the ACS Conference.
5 Unexpected Cheese Pairings from Cheesemongers
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” is sometimes used to describe the goal of cheese pairings. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the phrase Aristotle penned. What the great philosopher wrote in his Metaphysics, nearly 2,400 years ago, was “the whole is something besides the parts.” But since we’re concerned […]
Centerfold: Rockweed
Photographed by Mallory Scyphers No one was more stunned than Allison Lakin when her cheese, Rockweed, won Best of Class at the 2022 World Championship Cheese Contest (WCCC) in March. Lakin operates a one-woman creamery, Lakin’s Gorges Cheese, on the saltwater farm she owns with her husband in Waldoboro, Maine. She introduced Rockweed in 2019, […]
Wackym’s Cookies are the Perfect Base for a Sweet-Savory Pairing
I’m an avid baker, and never met a packaged cookie that wowed me until I bit into a Wackym’s Kitchen Lemon Shortbread at Good Food Mercantile in San Francisco last February. “Ohhhh …” I sighed as I scanned the other flavors lined up on the table and asked the man in the feathered fedora standing […]
4 New Books for Fall 2022
1. Snacks for Dinner: Small Plates, Full Bites, Can’t Lose Especially in these unusual times, who hasn’t had snacks for dinner? (We’ve been there, scarfing hunks of cheese with crackers out of the box in front of the TV.) In his new book, Snacks for Dinner (Harper Wave, May 3, 2022) Lukas Volger shows us […]
Tulip Tree Creamery’s Milkweed
A recipe reboot births a star Indiana’s Tulip Tree Creamery is known by turophiles everywhere for Trillium, a bloomy-rind cow’s milk square pillow that has won multiple awards—most recently Gold at the 2021–2022 World Cheese Awards in Spain. One of Tulip Tree’s newest cheeses—Milkweed—has also arrived on the national scene; it won a 2021 Good […]
Shop Talk: Autumn 2022 E-Commerce Edition
Etailers say they are just as committed to championing artisan products and providing exceptional customer service as brick-and-mortar shops.
In Queso You Missed It: June 5, 2022
It’s Pride Month, and the celebration is ON! From Disney World, where you can snack on all manner of rainbow-hued sweet treats, to D.C. (snag a Mucho, Mucho Amor cocktail at El Tamarindo), to Wisconsin there are parades, parties, and of course, lots of tasty food and drink. One way turophiles can show up for […]
