How to Age Cheese: Inside the World of Affineurs
On a cool fall morning in the Alps, an aromatic bouquet of fresh milk and damp stone drifts across the mountains. Deep inside a vaulted cellar, wheels of cheese—each weighing close to 80 pounds—are stacked like golden tomes on wide wooden planks. A man in a white coat pulls a wheel from the shelf and runs his hand along the rind, gently tapping the surface with a small hammer and listening for the soft thud that signals the right moisture within. Around him, thousands of cheeses rest quietly in low light, slowly transforming into something complex, elegant, and alive.
Is This Cheese Cave the Best in France?
My first visit to Bordeaux, France, was nearly a decade ago, and I remember it very well. It was my first encounter with Baud et Millet, an unassuming little restaurant tucked away on Rue Huguerie. It was almost kitschy in a knowing way. I prefer it like that—a discovery you should make on your own cheese-loving time.
Where to Find Some of the Most Unique Cheese in Appalachia
The winding roads of Appalachia’s Blue Ridge Mountains are characterized by jutting pine trees, sprouting wildflowers, and a hazy blue blanket of mist. The serenity and mystique surrounding these mountains have long drawn artisans, makers, and storytellers to take root in the foothills. That same allure brought cheesemaker and glassblower Victor Chiarizia to Fairview, North Carolina in 2005. A self-starter by nature, Chiarizia fell in love with the traditional methods of crafting cave-aged cheeses. In 2010, he took a backhoe to the side of the mountain on his property and carved his own cheese cave, launching Blue Ridge Mountain Creamery. Little did Chiarizia know, this cave—a testament to his creativity and grit—would soon withstand one of the most devastating natural disasters to ever hit North Carolina.
Savoring Gouda in the Land of Wind and Water
Kinderdijk, Netherlands, is a stunning landscape of dikes, canals, and windmills that create polders, or land reclaimed from the sea, to help manage floods. The iconic Dutch town, which was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, is home to the highest number of windmills in the country. There’s a good chance that if you close your eyes and picture the Netherlands, Kinderdijk is likely what you imagine.
How to Eat Cheese Like Jane Austen
It is a truth universally acknowledged that England’s Somerset County has outstanding cheese. And what better time to visit the cheddar-toned streets of Bath to explore its Regency-era ballrooms, cobbled squares, and generous cheese boards than the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.
Cheesemaking Tradition Meets Innovation in the Azores
In the Azores, find happy cows and volcanic soils Grazing cows in the countryside of Sao Jorge Island in the Azores. Photo: AdobeStock. Nine windswept volcanic islands sit precariously where the Eurasian, African, and American plates meet. As these plates slowly moved apart over time, rifts formed, creating the volcanoes that shaped each of the […]
The Woman Who Made Cheese and Spied on Nazis
How cheese provided the perfect cover for a World War II-era spy It’s difficult to envision James Bond shaping rounds of goat cheese as part of his latest operation. However, that is exactly what Virginia Hall did. While in deep cover during World War II, the “most dangerous of all Allied spies,” according to the […]
The Cowgirl Behind Some of Tuscany’s Best Buffalo Cheeses
A taste of Italy’s wild west To imagine Tuscany is to envision a picture-postcard scene of narrow, medieval streets in Florence or tidy rows of vineyards and olive groves in Chianti. But travel just an hour or two southwest of these well-known destinations and you’ll arrive in the Tuscan subregion of Maremma, a landscape too […]
Discover the Cheesemaker Crafting Farmstead Cheese in Morocco
Photographed by Tyson Bateman “Those are my Moroccan Ferraris,” says Tarik Lechkar, pointing to a pair of donkeys on his farm, Domaine de La Pommeraie. “And these are the goats.” As if on cue, the animals race out of their barn and down the hill toward the farmer. We are in the Middle Atlas Mountains, […]
The Ultimate Guide to the 10 Best Greek Cheese Meals You’ll Ever Eat
Going to Greece? Don’t miss these cheesy dishes. On vacation in Greece last spring, I figured I would consume more than a few Greek salads. I had to feed my Feta addiction, after all. What surprised me was that most of those lovely, crunchy Greek salads I devoured didn’t include Feta at all. On the […]
