Roaring 40s Blue Cheese An Australian Masterpiece

Roaring 40s Blue is produced in Australia. Unlike typical French blue cheeses (Roquefort) made from sheep’s milk. This is made entirely from cow's milk which gives it a somewhat milder flavor. The King Island dairy herds that produce the milk for this cheese graze on verdant, dense pastures, supplementing their rich diet occasionally with a helping of kelp that is washed up after heavy storms. So legend has it that the name of this cheese comes from the "Roaring 40's" storms that often hit the coast.

This blue cheese is full flavored and has a beige inner paste that produces a buttery smooth, nutty flavor. The waxed inedible rind helps to promote a sweetness and creamy texture in this cheese and prevents the moldy taste that some other blue cheeses present. King Island dariy's Roaring 40's blue cheese is the current Champion Blue cheese AGDA 2010 and Gold Medal winner.

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This blue cheese is full flavored and has a yellow beige inner paste that produces a buttery smooth, nutty flavor and a dark blue wax outer rind. Allow Roaring Forties to fully come to room temperature and enjoy its creamy texture with a fresh baguette, red grapes, figs and walnut


Wine Paring: Australian sweet whites like Sauterne and big Australian reds

Gjetost An Interesting Norwegian Goat Cheese

Gjetost is a sweet brown Norwegian cheese made from pure goat's milk or a mixture of cow and goat milk. In most respects this is not really cheese, so a little background on how it is made will shed a little light on what we mean. Gjetost is made by slow cooking the milk until it is caramelized thus removing most of the water, the resulting "curd" is then pressed into block molds to remove any left over water, at this point it is ready for sale or to eat. It should be noted that this process has essentially created milk sugar and gives the "cheese" it's brown color, fudge-like texture and overt sweetness. Since there is no aging process the flavor of fresh goat's milk is still noticeable. The flavor as noted above is sweet (maybe too sweet for some) and can be considered an acquired taste. It has a mouth feel like fudge, hence the name "fudge cheese", with a caramel flavor but the goat tang still filters through. The aroma has been described as slightly fishy to barnyard to goaty but not offensive or overpowering.

When shopping for this Norwegian novelty look for the Ekte Gjetost if you want the pure goat milk style or the red box (sometimes labeled as Ski Queen ) for the mixed milk variety and can also be found in 9lb blocks which can be cut to order. Gjetost can be ordered online at Amazon.

You can serve this in the morning thinly sliced on bread or toast with coffee or with sweet fruits like grapes or pears as a snack. This is best cut thinly with a cheese plane not a knife.

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Wine Pairing: It would be hard to recommend any particular wine to go with this since it is a bit unique but it does appear to go well with beefy lagers or maybe a good Irish Stout.

Italian Provolone Cheese Sophisticated Simplicity

Italian Provolone bears little resemblance to the pitiful, tasteless factory made version we often see here in the United States. It is the most popular cheese in Italy and it is found in almost every home there. Provolone has DOP certification but is made in all the regions of Italy and comes in all shapes and sizes. Provolone is a firm cow's milk cheese that been rubbed with brine and allowed to air dry in controlled temperatures and humidity. The fresh cheese, aged about one month, has almost no flavor or aroma. However this cheese is transformed once it is allowed to age further. The Dolce version is aged about three months and has a mildly sharp flavor for this reason it is popular as an addition to deli sandwiches here in the United States. The ten to twelve month aged cheese Picante has a sharp and aggressive flavor and the sixteen to eighteen month version has a very sharp and also hot taste that can overpower many accompaniments. There is a rare three year old Provolone that appears in some specialty cheese shops. This aged version is hard and flinty and can be grated. It has a very hot flavor and really spices up pasta dishes.  Also, as it ages Provolone will get firmer and a bit oily. The outer rind is formed by the constant rubbing of the fresh cheese with oil and brine this procedure creates a natural edible rind that has a medium yellow hue and a light yellow interior paste that will become darker as the cheese ages.

Provolone is usually pretty hard to abuse but when buying it look for dryness, cracking or a rancid odor as these are all signs of a bad investment. Also ask your cheese seller how long the piece you are buying has been aged because this will give you an idea about it's flavor. Also ask to taste a small piece since there is no sense in purchasing a picante version if you do not like sharp cheeses. The brands to look for here in the United States are Auricchio, Il Giardino but our favorite imported one is Albiero. The Alberio Dairy consistently produces superior quality products that reflect the family's dedication to the art of cheese making.

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You can serve dolce Provolone as a sandwich cheese, with raw vegetables, olives and sweet peppers in an antipasto or as a topping for pizza. Aged versions can be served as a table cheese or grated over pasta, meat or seafood dishes

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Wine Pairing: Since the simplicity of this cheese is it's strong point look for unpretentious Italian red wines like Chianti Classico. For aged versions look for bold Italian reds.

For information on other Alberio Brand cheeses go to: http://www.albiero.it/albieroeng.html

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