Gorgonzola (Italy)

I have tasted Gorgonzola a  long time ago and I was so disappointing experience that whenever I noticed it the store I omitted it.  Last week I decided to give it another chance. It taste like pudding to me. I mean a home made pudding made with yolks, milk, sugar and starch. I haven't notice any piquancy or distinctive flavor. I can only assume that the piece I bought was young (Gorgonzola dolce), aged for 2-3 months.

Saint Agur ( Monts du Velay)

I was so happy to notice St. Agur during my last shopping trip. I love blue cheeses so any new product is very welcome. Saint Agur has a quite short history, as it was created in 1988 in the volcanic region of Mont de Valey by Beauzac's master cheese makers. Their goal was to combine  a creamy texture with the subtle taste of a fruity blue.

St. Agur is matured for at least 80 days and final product in octagonal shape weights between 4-5 lb. Then the cheese is packaged in aluminum paper and it continues maturing  until we can enjoy it.

I like St. Agur. It has all of the characteristics which make the cheese tasty to me: it has strong, distinctive flavor coming from blue veins, it is salty, buttery and spreadable - perfect to enjoy on a slice of rye bread.

But still I enjoy more Blue Stilton or Roquefort.

Recipe: Crab Loaf with Saint Agur

Époisses de Bourgogne (Burgundy)

I bought Époisses de Bourgogne only once. The cheese was very expensive and was available for a short period of time.
It is said that Napoleon Bonaparte loved it. It's hard to write a review of the cheese if you haven't tasted it a few times. Sometimes my sense of taste cant't appreciate such a complex cheese. I hope I will be given a second chance to recognize how really good is Époisses de Bourgogne.


There are a few factors which tells me that I should love the cheese. It is artisanal made in France from a pungent unpasteurized cow's milk. The cheese mature in cellar for at least six weeks. During the process,  is rinsed up to 3-5 times per week in a mixture of water and marc de Bourgogne (local pomace brandy). Each cheese is also brushed by hand to spread the bacteria evenly over the surface.The intensive orange-red exterior is the result of yeast fermentation. The stinky rind covers meaty,salty, pudding-like interior.

Époisses - I'm waiting for you!

Goat's milk cheese -chèvre

In my humble opinion, goat cheese made in USA is as good as  French original. I have a problem with American cheeses. I believe there are plenty great domestic cheeses, but are not available. It's much easier to buy famous European cheese than domestic high quality product.

 Chèvre flavor is not sophisticated, which makes it a perfect pair with other food. Rarely I eat chèvre with bread, but I use it very often to improve the taste of meats, salads, casseroles or desserts.

Recipe: Turkey Tenderloins with Wattle Seed Chevre.

Trader's Joe offers goat cheese logs flavored with fruit like cranberries or blueberries.



I have noticed  TJ's brand fresh goat cheeses with added honey or olives, but I have never bought them. I like neither honey nor olives.

Blueberry Vanilla Chevre

Chocolate Stout Cake with Blueberry Vanilla Chevre recipe (photo below):

My recipes with goat cheese.

Ile de France Bûchette, known for its mild, fresh curd, is made high in the Rhône Alps. I won this cheese in the Chef’s Weekly Basket Sweepstakes a year ago. Very tasty. They offer original and  flavored goat cheeses in two sizes: 10.5 oz and 4 oz. (Petite Bûche). 

La Bûchette with garlic and fresh herbs

I have also tried chèvre cheese medallions. The one with paprika powder didn't bring me to my knees.


 But pistachios and garlic chevre is my favorite combination.


I left the best chèvre cheese at the end. Montchevre’s fresh goat cheese Crottin is absolutely the most delicious fresh goat's cheese I have ever eaten. I wish I could try their other products (http://www.montchevre.com/). It is also  domestic made cheese, even if it looks like French product and the  founder and president of Montchevre has French roots (Arnaud Soland).

Montchevre Crottin Leeks recipe:

TINTERN -Welsh Cheddar with Chives and Shallots

Another creation of in Somerdale’s cheese makers and for me it was a love at a first sight / bite. It is a full-bodied cheese with perfectly assorted flavors: fresh chives and shallots from the gardens of Tintern Abbey. Smooth and creamy, taste even more delicious when melted. It seems like the shallots were fried and chives release all its aromas.

Pastures of Eden Feta (Israel)

My favorite feta is “Pastures of Eden” is a Balkan style Feta cheese made from 100% sheep’s milk produced by  the Sheep & Goats Breeders Association from Israel. It associates  200 sheep and goat farms located throughout Israel.

From 1998 the association exports its unique line of cheeses – “Pastures of Eden” – to the U.S.

This mildly salty Feta, has unique mellow flavor and texture, and I enjoy it much more than any other Feta cheese. I like it with bread and shrimps, in salads (with spinach and tomatoes) and use it as pastry filling or meat stuffing combined with pine nuts.

Recipes:

Langostino Tails with Spinach and Feta 

Turkey Tenderloins with Spinach and Israeli Feta 

Goat's Milk Creamy Cheese and Brie (TJ's brand)

Delicious, smooth, satiny spreadable cheese from France. I had eaten other similar cheeses : one was also French, and another was produced in Poland, but they were tart and not so delicate like this one.

Another excellent cheese is a small goat's milk brie. Fresh has strong skin, stiff interior with small holes and mild flavor. I usually keep it in my fridge for week or or two until it is matured. When ripened, the interior melts, skin breaks easily, flavor and smell  are very intensive. Perfect!

Burrata (domestic/ Murgie in Puglia)

Burrata (means buttered in Italian) is a mozzarella cheese filed with fresh sweet cream. It was created at the beginning of the previous century to use up curds left over from making mozzarella. Burrata in the photo below is made in USA as many Italian style cheeses ( for example Ricotta, Asagio, Fontina), sausages, hams and prosciutto.

My husband's favorite breakfast,  sliced open Burrata, fresh tomatoes and cilantro.

Domestic cold cuts

Traditional Burrata from Puglia is tied to form a little brioche-like topknot, and moistened with a little whey. It is also wrapped in green leaves of  Asphodelus , which indicate the freshness of cheese. While dried out leaves indicate that the cheese is past its prime. Burrata is highly perishable and should be consumed in a week from being made so most of us won't be so lucky to try an original.. Traditionally, the cheese is served with ripe tomatoes, fresh basil and olive oil.

Normandy Camembert (Basse-Normandie/Département Calavados)

Normandy Camembert is extremely tasty. I’ve eaten it only three times so far but I do remember how delicious it is . I love the lightly waved rind, so delicate and thin -almost transparent. The mass is white or yellow, soft and just a little  runny. The more ripened the softer, smoother and more elastic it is.




According to the General meeting Constitutive of the Trade union of the Manufacturers of Genuine Camembert cheese of Normandy the Camembert de Normandie is :  a soft cheese, with spontaneous draining, neither cooked, neither pressed, nor mixed, with curd not divided, slightly salted, with surface molds, of round form, a weight of 350g, a maximum diameter from 10 to 11 cm, containing at least 40g of fat content for 100g, made with pure milk of Normandy.
Even the cheese is 200 years old it didn't obtained the AOC (controlled designation of origin) until 1983. Due to its popularity it was the most copied soft cheese in the history.

Castello Soft Blue (Denmark/Arla Foods)

 Castello Soft Blue is perfect combination for cheese lovers. It is a triple-cream, blue-veined gourmet cheese with a washed-rind. It has buttery flavor and distinctive aroma. One of the best blue cheeses I have ever tasted. It's rich and fulfilling. Its blue veins have memorable taste of fresh mushrooms.

Blacksticks Blue Cheese (Lancashire)

One of my latest discoveries. It reminds  me one of the Polish cheeses which I do like eating (Lazur Golden). Blacksticks Blue Cheese is a new creation of Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses in  Lancashire.  They have been making cheeses for three generations. The cheese is made from their own cows' milk and is matured for 8 weeks. It has an amber color and tangy, salty flavor. Interior is soft and creamy. Its dark rind and blue veins running through the cheese give it "Gothic" look.

 Take a look at Butlers Blacksticks Blue commercial.

Croquettes with Blacksticks Blue Cheese recipe.

Traditional French Brie

My favorite all the time. It looks very ordinary , but it has very strong smelling ( mushroom-like) and rich creamy flavor. I don't know anything about that brie but that it is made in France and  it is a double cream brie cheese.
I enjoy this brie much more when it’s mature.The rind – flavorful and fragile –  adds the character to soft, almost molten core. I'm sure that people passing me can sense its scents coming from my bag, when I carry it home from the store.


Recipe: Burgers Stuffed with Traditional French Brie