FEBRUARY 2024 CHEESE CLUB

 
 

 WINE CLUB | CHEESE CLUB

ALL CLUB MEMBERS GET TO ENJOY THESE 3 CHEESES:

Queso Majorero (Maxorata) | Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain

Pasteurized goat’s milk
This is the first cheese from this region to establish DOP status, and with good reason. These goats — the Majorera breed — graze on craggy islandic terroir that’s rife with marjoram. Due to their browsing fodder and the soil, the result is an herbal, milky, elastically-textured fromage with a silken mouthfeel and a saline note in the finish.
From this month’s wine club lineup, this cheese pairs well with: 2022 Landmass Wines ‘All Eyes’ Sparkling Rosé

Abbaye St. Mere | Normandy, France

Pasteurized cow’s milk
This Trappist cheese is a simple washed rind cheese that has a subtly pungent aroma and a meaty, fruity flavor profile that sachets about the palate with a velveteen paté. Traditionally, this cheese is served with cider, but wine will always do.
Try it with: 2020 Domaine du Pesquier

Brie du Pommier | Ile-de-France, France

Pasteurized cow’s milk
This soft-ripened goodie is from Brie’s spiritual home. Aromatic and flavor volatility-wise, it’s the closest we in the US can get to a raw milk brie. The FDA rule is that a cheese must be aged for at least 60 days for it to be made unpasteurized, but brie just doesn’t have that kind of a lengthy maturation or lifespan. Brie du Pommier boasts big cruciferous notes, broth, alliums, and the typical mushroomy rind.
Try it with: 2022 Got Grapes Red

6-CHEESE MEMBERS ALSO GET TO ENJOY THESE 3:

Stilfser | Alto-Adige, Italy

Raw cow’s milk
This washed-rind, mountain cheese hails from the alpine region in northern Italy. A simply made and aged table cheese, this one’s got a little funky waft to it. It’s savoury and fruity with a velveteen texture that melts on the tongue. This is a rare-to-find cheese that is personality-plus, so enjoy!
Try it with: 2020 L'Archetipo

KM 39 | Galicia, Spain

Raw cow’s milk
This beast of a cheese is wekl-aged in cool, humid caves. It’s reminiscent of an alpine-style cheese and a mature gouda, but from Spain — yeah, it’s kind of a head-tilter. With a dry, crumbly texture, layers of flavor and aromatic complexity, and a lingering finish, this cheese is pure quality.
Try it with: 2020 Domaine Girard Malepère Le Pic des 3 Seigneurs Bordeaux Blend

Challerhocker | Appenzel, Switzerland

Raw cow’s milk
Last up is this alpine-style that the producer used to sell as Appenzeller when the legal place / name regulations in the region of Appenzel were less stringent. As the laws changed, however, this one rascal producer kept his own little recipe that didn’t exactly adhere to Appenzeller standards, but still sold it with the same label he always had. When he finally got busted, the fromage’s name was revamped to what translates as “Cellar Dweller”. The label possesses a creepy, attic-gnome looking fella who apparently overlooks the cheese cellar and makes sure all the microbial critters are doing what they need to do to make this sensational creation the nutty, baked potatoey, brothy, pralined goody that is always has been.
Try it with: 2020 Famille Arbeau On L'Appelle Braucol

 
 

AND SOME TIPS TO KEEP YOUR CHEESE HAPPY AT HOME

  • Protect your cheese from drying out by keeping it in your fridge in a lidded container (like tupperware), a plastic baggie, or the crisper drawer.

  • After opening, always use fresh plastic wrap for any cheese you’re not planning to eat within a day, unless it’s being kept in a container (which we recommend).

  • In general, we suggest eating your cheese within a week or so of purchasing. Some cheeses will last longer, but, you know, why wait!

  • Keep bloomy rinds and blues separated when possible. The molds are quite zealous and will grow on any cheese they can latch onto, so just keep them in separate containers and you’ll be fine.

  • A word about mold: If it’s growing on your semi-firm or firm cheeses, just cut it off and eat it! This white and blue mold is just fine — these cheeses lack the water to host the nasty molds. But if mold is growing on your fresh mozzarella, feta, cream cheese, or fresh chèvre, throw it out.  The amount of water in these cheeses provides a great environment for the nasty stuff. If you start to see mold, you can be sure that the filaments are already running throughout the cheese :(

  • For the best flavors, take your cheese out of the fridge for an hour or so before serving. When cheeses are too cold, all their delicious flavors, aromas, and textures get shy. Serve at room temperature to enjoy to the fullest.

This month’s cheese was carefully curated by Seattle’s Resident Cheese Lady, Rachael Lucas, ACS CCP, CCSE. Rachael is a cheese buyer for the Ballinger Thriftway in Shoreline, a fromage writer for tastewashingtontravel.com, and she’s on the Board of Directors for WASCA (Washington State Cheesemaker’s Association).