I am a USican, currently in New Mexico, but I am from Wisconsin originally. Wisconsin is know somewhat jokingly through the US as a place where the cheese (and beer) comes from.
Well, the cheese is no joke. It is some of the finest I’ve had. I spent 3 years as a cheese purchaser for a grocery store here in New Mexico. I love it! I noticed that a few of you are from places renowned for cheese -
So tell me 2 things
-What are the local/regional cheeses where you live?
(there are some good producers of chevre here in New Mexico)
What are your favorites?
(too many for me to list. Alsacian Muenster is high on my list, as well as Zamorano from, well, Zamora)
These aren’t exactly of russian origin though, but it’s probably the closest. Russia isn’t known for cheese, in fact I’m not even sure if there was a developed cheese industry before USSR or not.
Not a fan. But if I had to pick one I think it would be Gouda.
Jaknet - Overall, my tastes run towards British cheese and beer. Red Leicester is one of my all-time favorites. In fact, Wisconsin Cheddar is more like RL than it is any kind of Brit Cheddar
Medea -
Appenzaller and Gruyere are wonderful. Gruyere, Comte, and Emmentaler are quite popular in the US these days. Challerhocker (from Canton of St Gallen) is probably my favorite cheese from Switzerland. Although generally Alpine cheese is just really damn good - the Fontina Valle d’Aosta is probably top 20 for me.
Stupid Dragon -
Pre-USSR there was indeed much more cheese variety in not just Russia, but in the rest of the Soviet bloc countries as well. My understanding is that regional cheese was considered too ethnic and so many of the traditions were disrupted. They are coming back now though. I can’t speak to Russian cheese, but I’ve had some lovely cheeses from Latvia and Lithuania.
I’ve actually had something like the Checil - there is a producer in New York who makes something called ‘Armenian String Cheese’, and it is good, if a bit bland (by Alpine standards, LOL).
Yes, Emmenthal is another nice Swiss cheese - actually has those holes Swiss cheese seems to be famous for. I often have some with my lunchtime sandwiches.
We get a fair amount of French cheeses as well and Cheddar is seen more and more in the supermarkets too. And we have our own British Cheese Centre in Zurich.
He sells lots of different British products as well like chutneys and jams.
Fol Epi is a nice French cheese I eat too and sometimes when we hop over the border to France I treat myself to some Montsegur cheese.
Which part of France are you in? What cheese is specific to where you are exactly? I mean, “French Cheese” is an oversimplification, there are many different regions of France that all make their own styles of cheeses! Normandy cheese is nothing like the Pyrenees!
Rocamadour is a new one on me, sounds great. I’ll see if I can find some.
We can import unpasteurized cheeses as long as they have been aged for 60 days. When I was buying cheese by the truckload, I bought as much raw milk cheese as I could - I can’t even list them all, really.
There are unpasteurized cheeses made by US producers as well, and more and more of them showing up every year. In the North-Eastern US, The Pacific Northwest, and Wisconsin and Minnesota (The Northern Midwest). There were a few good ones coming out of the Sonoma Valley area of California as well, but the fires of the past year has put a dent in milk production, so we will see.
The image they chose for Wikipedia is not so good. Check out the references #2 to #4. It is not your “typical” semi-hard cheese and it is super delicious.
Well, all organics are technically flammable, but in case of cheese - it’s rich with fat, some forms of which was even used in oil lamps before alternatives like kerosine were invented, so yeah :rolleyes:
