This post is sponsored by Cracker Barrel Cheese. My passion for cheese. The “official” story behind the blog is that a small cheese shop opened in my old neighborhood, and Jill and I set out to sample every cheese in the case. We attended classes as often as they were offered and our love affair with fermented milk grew along with the shop — which, like us, has now spread to two locations. Jill moved away to Minnesota, and our sharing of cheese became virtual.

In truth, though, it was a childhood memory that inspired my passion for gathering together over cheese. My grandparents used to visit us in Oregon for a month or so in the summers, driving their Airstream across country to temporarily take up residence in our gravel driveway. My grandmother had been an only child, so the annual re-immersion into the noisy life of a family with three lively children took its toll. She would retire to the Airstream each afternoon for a siesta. (Avid travelers in their retirement, this was a habit she was happy to acquire after spending time in Mexico.) At 5 o’clock, they would emerge for their next daily ritual: wine and cheese before dinner. I was eager to join them and hear tales of the exotic places they’d been in the past year, and perhaps nibble on a few crackers as well. The cheese was nothing fancy, but it was the ritual of gathering over the cheese board for a few moments of calm that stuck with me.

While I’m always happy to pour a glass of wine or crack open a new beer with my cheese board, cheese itself is a family-friendly alternative to happy hour. Sharing new cheeses with my own family has become our Sunday tradition, a few moments of relatively quiet gathering over something we all love. The cheeses we share don’t always have to be fancy, either. A little creativity goes a long way in dressing up whatever you have on hand. It’s nice to know there are brands like Cracker Barrel that are crafted with the same passion and tradition and can be found in the supermarket.

As I’ve immersed myself in the dairy world, it’s the stories behind the cheese that keep me inspired. There’s nothing better than sharing a new cheese with friends and family, and telling them of the time I stood in the cave with the cheesemaker seeing how it’s aged. To that end, I’m off to Wisconsin to sample a bit more of the dairy state’s cheese culture in advance of this summer’s cheese con. Stay tuned for highlights.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Cracker Barrel Cheese. I am being compensated as part of their Influencer program, but all words and opinions are entirely my own. Read our full disclosure policy here.

Registration is now open for the 30th Anniversary American Cheese Society (ACS) Conference & Competition! This year’s event will be in Madison, Wisconsin, July 31-August 3, 2013.

I got my first taste of ACS last year as a volunteer (a rather big taste, at that). This year I’m thrilled to be attending the full conference — and even moderating a panel on crowdfunding via social media with a Virginia cheesemaker, Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont Farm, and DC’s newest cheese shop proprietor, Carolyn Stromberg of Righteous Cheese.

Jill never passes up an excuse to visit her old college stomping grounds, either, so we’ll be road-tripping together from Minneapolis. If the full conference register is a bit steep for your budget, volunteering is a great way to participate, and you’ll earn a ticket to the Saturday night Festival of Cheese.

Early bird registration ends May 22 — register today and meet us in Madison!

You know how Colleen and I always say that it pays to know your cheesemonger? Well, that rule goes for cheesemakers, too. If I hadn’t established a friendship with Alemar Cheese Company founder Keith Adams two years ago, when I discovered his amazing Bent River, I wouldn’t have had one of the first tastes of Keith’s new beer-washed cheese, Good Thunder. And I might not have had the opportunity to have those early samples if the Green Bay Packers hadn’t blown their playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers.

What does one have to do with the other? Well, Keith saw me throw a fit on Twitter during the game and offered to cheer me up with a shipment of the super-secret cheese he was developing. I never turn down cheese, so a few days later I happily accepted a package with two cheeses-in-progress, marked “B” and “5.” I nibbled my way through both samples and sent my feedback to Keith, but I had to wait a few months until the cheese was ready to market to write about it. Luckily, Keith sent me a couple packages of the finished product before deliveries began to cheese shops and gave me the lowdown on the cheese – including its name – for a Heavy Table story I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

You can read the article to get the full scoop, but here are the basics: It’s an orange-rinded, slightly stinky specimen (thanks to the B. linens cultures) that is washed in Surly Bender, a Minnesota-brewed beer and aged for several weeks at Keith’s Mankato facility before heading to market. Availability will be hit or miss for the next few months as Keith evaluates demand, but look for it at his booth at the Minneapolis Farmers Market, local cheese shops and, hopefully later this summer, shops around the United States. If you find Good Thunder near you, don’t hesitate to grab it; fans of dense, fudgy cheese – and beer lovers, of course – will savor its unique flavor.

I have never heard of Maine’s Seal Cove Farm before last summer, when I found its Pearl at Eataly in New York. Coincidentally, Colleen posted about Seal Cove’s Olga later that week, and now we can’t seem to escape the goat dairy’s cheeses, even here in Minnesota. I found the aged Chevrotin at France 44 a few weeks ago and have been sampling sweet nibbles ever since.

Washed with brine and aged anywhere from three weeks to several months, Chevrotin has the typical barnyard aroma of many goat cheeses, but thanks to that brine and Seal Cove’s proximity to the sea, you also get a whiff of saltwater when you sniff a wedge. Like many aged goat cheeses, Chevrotin possesses a light, salty bite and crumbly texture, but there are delicate, floral undertones to balance the salt. It would be a fine substitute for Parmigiano or Pecorino if you prefer a little goaty goodness on your pasta or roasted vegetables rather than cow’s- or sheep’s-milk cheeses.

A crisp white wine and some dark morsels of chocolate are all you need to pair with Chevrotin for a sophisticated snack or light dessert course. Maybe even some bubbles if you’re feeling fancy. Remember, the Seal Cove Farm goats want you to savor every bite.

{This post is sponsored by Cracker Barrel.} You know what they say, April showers bring May strawberries … at least here in Virginia, strawberry season is *just* around the corner. Spring also brings Mother’s Day, baby and bridal showers, Cinco de Mayo, and many other excuses to celebrate. And no celebration is complete without cheese. Jams and preserves are frequently featured on cheese boards, as the sweet flavors complement the savory nature of sharp cheddars, pungent blues and many other cheeses. For a few months of the year, though, we get to play with fresh berries to achieve the same effect.

I used two natural Cracker Barrel cheddars to create these pairings, the Vermont Sharp White and the Aged Reserve. You can actually see the difference in these two cheddars. The Vermont is a little sharper, drier (see those little holes?), and more tangy. (And yes, it is made from Vermont milk. You know I asked.) The Aged Reserve is a little creamier, sweeter, and still full-flavored but a little more mellow, despite its age. The Vermont is in the foreground, below.

Strawberry typically brings to mind sweet applications — I certainly wouldn’t say no to a strawberry tart or my all-time favorite dessert, strawberry shortcake. But strawberries can be used in savory applications, too. Take this strawberry salsa. I’ve spiced it up with radishes, another spring find at the market, and a little green onion. Blended with a hint of honey and sherry vinegar, the combination is refreshing on its own.

Pairing the salsa with a rich, full-flavored cheddar, like the Aged Reserve, creates a zesty mouthful, perfect to wake up the taste buds as an appetizer for your next party. Pro tip: a tiny dot of hummus helps keep the salsa in place when you’re assembling the portions.

For my sweet pairing, I drizzled the Vermont cheddar and strawberry with pomegranate molasses. At our tasting with Cracker Barrel, they prepared a classic strawberry, balsamic and white chocolate pairing. This is similar, but keeps the berry flavor front and center. If you don’t have pomegranate molasses, you can reduce balsamic vinegar to a thick syrup. A pinch of black pepper on top keeps it from being too sweet.

And of course, a strawberry beverage is required to wash it all down. I made a crisp, white sangria that is bright and refreshing.

White Strawberry Sangria
Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/4 white rum
• 1 bottle pinot grigio
• club soda
• lime wedges

Instructions:

1. Place strawberries, sugar, pomegranate juice and rum in a glass pitcher. Stir gently until sugar is dissolved. Add wine and stir gently. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, preferably 4-6 hours.

2. When ready to serve, fill wine glasses half way with wine and berry mixture. Top with club soda and garnish with a twist of lime.

Tell us, what’s on your spring cheese board?

Disclosure: I am being compensated as part of Cracker Barrel’s Influencer program. All opinions are my own. Read our full disclosure policy here.

Meat and dairy animals — and cows in particular — get a bad rap on the environmental front. In contrast to conventional agriculture, we tend to think that artisanal and farmstead cheesemakers are pretty good stewards of their land. (Much of the flavor of the cheese is determined by the quality of the pasture, after all.) And while cheesemaking may be an ancient tradition, cheesemakers are constantly advancing innovative practices that promote sustainability for the farmers, the industry, and the earth. In honor of Earth Day, here are just three examples of “green” innovations in the cheese industry.

1. Bleu Mont Dairy, Wisconsin (Try: Bandaged Cheddar)

Building cheese caves underground isn’t just for nostalgia — they provide a temperature- and humidity-controlled climate that cheese requires with less energy than would be needed to maintain those conditions above ground. Cheesemaker and affineur Willi Lehner built a cave in the limestone of Wisconsin’s southwestern Driftless region, then powered it with wind and solar energy for true energy independence. (Pictures above and below taken when we visited Bleu Mont in November ’11.)

2. Pholia Farm, Oregon (Try: Elk Mountain)

Gianaclis Caldwell’s small, farmstead goat dairy in southern Oregon is entirely off-grid, solar and hydro-powered. Caldwell also leads an intensive farmstead cheesemaker course on the farm to educate a new crop of cheesemakers. Read more about Pholia here.

3. Jasper Hill Farm, Vermont (Try: Winnimere)

The Kehler brothers of Jasper Hill Farm/Cellars at Jasper Hill are innovators in many ways. (Check back later this week to read about their newest cheese creation.) Last August, their “Green Machine” was put into service to “integrate waste treatment, nutrient management, and energy recovery strategies into a single ‘closed loop’ system.” In less scientific terms, the farm’s liquid and solid waste (manure, whey, wash water) is converted to compost, heating energy and water for irrigation. See how it works on their website.

And a bonus 4th: Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, also of Wisconsin, has gotten a fair bit of press coverage as a carbon-negative farm with an anaerobic digestion system that generates enough electricity to power the farm, cheese plant and 300 neighboring homes. Read more here. (And look for their Petit Frère with earthy truffles.)

Though preferences vary among the two C+C families, we know there’s one kind of cheese that will please everyone, from curd-averse husbands and picky kids to not-so-picky moms. Yes, gouda is always a safe bet, whether it’s smoked or flavored, young or aged, made with cow’s milk or goat’s. We’ve been lucky to enjoy two such fine specimens recently, including a recent award winner from Wisconsin.

I sauntered into Surdyk’s a few weeks ago and couldn’t help but notice the hefty wheel of Marieke Gouda Mature resting on the counter. “Oh yeah,” the cheesemonger said nonchalantly, “this is from the same batch that just won the top prize at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest.” That was enough to get me to buy a wedge, and it wasn’t long before it was gone. This particular wheel had been aged for about 6-9 months, which gave it the nutty, caramelly flavors of an older gouda combined with the smooth texture and firm (but not too firm) bite of a younger cheese. It’s spectacular with crunchy apples or pears for a snack, but its rich creaminess could boost the appeal of any cheese-based dish. A mac and cheese made with Marieke Gouda Mature would be fine indeed.

When my cheese drawer sadly became gouda-less, I found a more-than-worthy wedge to fill it at the Cheese Shop at France 44. Benjamin handed me a taste of Nylander Gouda, a Dutch raw-milk variety, and told me I would be blow away by the flavor. As usual, he was right – the cheese practically comes alive on the tongue. Made from pure Jersey milk from a farm in northern Holland, which Benjamin got to visit on his last trip there (lucky duck), Nylander is bursting with bright grassy notes and sweet, buttery undertones. Though the texture is semi-firm, it has the addictive, candy-like quality of much older, crystal-filled goudas. If there were a high school comprised of goudas, Nylander would be the head cheerleader, full of cheesy spirit and ready to explode with enthusiasm. It’s too special to blend into a dish – enjoy on its own and savor every bite.

Which goudas appear in your cheese drawer the most these days?

{This post is sponsored by Cracker Barrel.} There are an awful lot of food “holidays” that we roll our eyes at, but one we take very seriously here at Cheese and Champagne: National Grilled Cheese Day. In fact, April is considered Grilled Cheese Month, so if for some reason you let today get by you without enjoying a grilled cheese, you still have 18 days to get your fix.

I often make grilled cheese with various bits and pieces of cheese left over from past reviews, but with two kids, we go through a fair number of basic cheddar melts as well. Cracker Barrel’s award-winning cheddars melt well and deliver the rich, full flavor you expect in a grilled cheese. I created the recipe below with samples they provided.

Everyone has their own method for making grilled cheese, but there are only two rules you need to remember:

1. Skip the processed cheese slice. You can get good meltability by grating the cheese you’re going to use. I often use a mix of two cheeses, making sure one is a nice sharp cheddar.

2. Butter. Look, grilled cheese is about comfort. You can eat a kale salad later for penance, but please don’t skimp on the butter and milkfats when making grilled cheese. Bacon is optional, but butter is not.

When Cracker Barrel challenged me to make my best grilled cheese, I wanted to stick to something familiar but kick it up a little. I love, love, LOVE a good pimento grilled cheese, so it seemed a good time to use Cracker Barrel’s jalapeño cheddar to get a similar spicy kick. So the pepper wouldn’t overwhelm, I mixed it with the straight sharp cheddar, but you can adjust the proportion to make it as spicy as you prefer.

In late summer, I love to include slices of juicy ripe peaches or tomatoes in my grilled cheese. But when they’re not in season, you can get a similar effect with a smear of jam, preserves, or in this case, peach butter.

And of course I added bacon, because it just seemed to go with the jalapeño. Think of this as a jalapeño popper in sandwich form. Ideally I’d serve this with pickled jalapeño slices, but I only had sweet chips on hand. Either way is fine.

Oh, and one more tip: when you’re frying your sandwich, sprinkle a little cheese on the outside of your sandwich when it’s almost done. You’ll get a crispy crust on the outside of your bread. Watch the video to see how I make mine.

bacon jalapeño grilled cheese from Colleen | GlassBottle on Vimeo.

Bacon Jalapeño Grilled Cheese
Makes 1 sandwich; multiply as needed to feed a crowd

Ingredients:

• 1 pat butter
• 2 slices sourdough bread
• 1 ounce jalapeño cheddar, grated
• 1 ounce sharp cheddar, grated
• 1/2 tablespoon peach butter or jam
• 2 slices bacon, cooked

Instructions:

1. Melt a pat of butter in your cast iron skillet or frying pan. Dip both sides of the bread in the butter, then cook bread for a minute or two until slightly toasted.

2. Flip slices over and carefully spread peach butter or jam on one slice. Sprinkle with half the cheese, place bacon slices over, then sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover with the second slice and cook, turning once, until bread is golden brown.

What’s your favorite grilled cheese?

Disclosure: I am being compensated as part of Cracker Barrel’s Influencer program and received samples of the cheeses mentioned in this post. All opinions are my own. Read our full disclosure policy here.

What better to get you over a disappointing cheese than a wedge of really outstanding, zippy cheese? Lucky for me, I picked up a chunk of Ben Nevis, a raw, sheep’s-milk beauty from Vermont’s Bonnieview Farm, and each bite restored my confidence in the art of cheesemaking.

We’ve written about more than 30 Vermont cheeses in the past four years, and only two others (Vermont Shepherd and Bismark) have been made from sheep’s milk. But the high quality of those cheeses makes a strong case for the state to add more sheep dairies and creameries. Bonnieview Farm, located in Craftsbury, is a fourth-generation family farm that pasture-raises almost 200 ewes from May to October, using the rich, raw milk to make three cheeses. The farm also sells lamb meat and goods made from the sheep’s wool – nothing goes to waste!

Square-shaped and rocky-rinded, Ben Nevis evokes taste memories of a young Italian or Spanish sheep’s-milk cheese with its grassy notes and salty bite. You can find the cheese aged anywhere from 3 to 6 months – my wedge tasted as if it were on the younger side, with its creamy paste and and bright flavor. It lacks the oiliness of many sheep’s-milk cheeses, even after hours on the counter, which makes it seem younger and perkier than many of its Spanish counterparts.

Ben Nevis would anchor a great Vermont-themed spring cheese plate: Pair with a creamy goat cheese, like Torus or another Vermont Butter & Cheese favorite, and a delicate cow’s-milk creation, such as Jasper Hill’s Alpha Tolman. Enjoy with a full-bodied white or your first rosé of the season.

Oh, Nettle Peak, how much I wanted to embrace you and declare you my new favorite! You have the right pedigree: You’re made at Nettle Meadow Farm, home of the revered Kunik. You look like Haystack Peak, which we applauded three springs ago for its fresh, spring-like flavor. But sadly, the reality didn’t live up to the promise. After many, many tastes (yes, of course I still finished it – do you think I’d leave any cheese behind?), I can’t sing your praises. Not without a handful of chocolate-covered berries on side, that is.

Nettle Peak is the latest cheesy creation from New York’ Nettle Meadow Farm, where goats graze on nettle and herbs to infuse their milk with the flavors. The bloomy rind is dusted with black ash, so the pyramid closely resembles the famed French Valencay (with which we also had issues back in 2009). Cutting into my flat-top fromage, I expected Nettle Peak to taste clean and milky but have some tang from the ash. However, no tang was to be had – each bite was flat and, truthfully, boring. The flavor was somewhat improved by pairing the cheese with those sweet berries, but an artisan cheese should be able to stand on its own as well.

There’s a chance I got a very, very young sample, so the flavors hadn’t fully developed yet, but I’ve had more luck with days-old chevre than with Nettle Peak. I’m willing to give it another shot, though, because I don’t like to discount the work of cheesemakers we love. We’re pulling for you, Nettle Peak! The champagne is on ice for your second debut.