Duchamp, you are speaking my language!! About the only thing I like more than cheese are charcuterie...

I havent tried any of yours except the Fog, but they all sound like they are on the list for my next Fairway run...

In order of preference:
- Cabrales, a very blue and sharp cheese from Spain, sometimes it really hard and dry like a parmesan
- Beemster aged Gouda -- I know, its for amateurs, but I love the little crunchy bits (again like in parmesan)
- There is a french stinky runny cheese that may be a young brie, I forget what its called but it comes in a little wooden basket, and often has a white mold or the start of it that needs to be scraped off...

Looking forward for some new ideas...

Andy

My new favorite for some of the harder cheeses is to dip them in a bit of honey and eat straight up or on a bagette.

Andy! - By any chance is the stinky runny La Tur? If so, great pick.

If you like honey with hard cheeses, you must try them with quince paste or Membrillo instead. SO GOOD! Particularly great with the one I mentioned above that I love, the Istara.

None of those cheeses are available in east central Florida. Oh well.

Just hand over the cheese and no one will get hurt...

Here I am with my arm raised and waving frantically. Love cheeses far better than dessert. That said, I can't get any of those you mentioned here.

My name is Lpink and I am a cheese-a-holic. I can't afford artisnal cheeses though, which is probably a good thing. Some of my favorites are havarti and regular swiss, I don't know the fru fru name for that, the non-Jarlsburg kind, fontina, kasseri, goat's milk feta, edam and gouda, St. Andre, and gorgonzola and buffalo mozzarells, although any fresh mozz is good, and so is provolone when it is fresh. What I buy most of the time is lowfat mozz, feta, muenster, a parm/romano mix, and lowfat cheddar. BOR-ING.
I also like ricotta for a lot of dishes, including baking. Good cottage cheese is hard to come by. I grew up with some being delivered right to our house by the milkman from the dairy down the street, now only a memory.

Duchamp,
I found what I was thinking of: vacherin, but now I need to try La Tur!! Quince is good too...

Ahhh, there is a little wine bar in Brooklyn, that serves wonderful cheeses and sliced meats with Italian wines. Heaven!

Here is a link that might be useful: Vacherin cheese

I love cheeses.....and could provide a link to my favorite cheese provider..
Tooting your own horn is frowned up on on this forum.

Lpink, speaking of cottage cheese, have you ever had pot cheese? It doesn't get you stoned, but your taste buds might beg to differ!

(It's like cottage cheese but with a larger, drier curd... something about it is just the right texture and flavor, look for it at your supermarket or ask the cheese monger there).

Oka isn't a Basque cheese, it is Canadian, named after the town of Oka, Quebec. It was originally made by an order of monks who lived in the region.

I LOVE CHEESE! (Yes, I know I'm shouting, but I get really excited over cheese)

I buy every cheese that I sample at Whole Foods, and the people in there know me and laugh at me -- they ask why I even bother to sample. I don't care for goat and sheep cheese, and rarely buy those, but will eat them at parties if that's all that is there. I really prefer the cow cheeses.

Now, I have a question for everyone. I buy lots of cheese. At any given time I probably have 20 or more different types of cheese in my refrigerator. We snack on cheese all of the time. When I buy the cheese I read the name and description and know what it is, but once I bring it home and we unwrap it and start eating it, I forget what it is. How do you all keep up with which cheese is which, and what the description is? If I only have one cheese out at a time I can usually label it when re-wrapping it. But if we have had several out, I lose track of the names. Anyone else with this problem?

At present I have feta, cheddar, Parmesan, provolone, and some manchego remaining, a Christmas gift. Ohhhh, that manchego is good! I made feta turkey burgers recently and also pimiento cheese. My omelette this morning was filled with some Parm. If I have homemade bread and cheese in the house, I'm set for any meal or snack. As I have often said, I could live off soup, fruit, bread, and cheese!

dlynn, could you write the name and description on a slip of paper and include it when you re-wrap the cheese in fresh plastic wrap or put it in a zip bag? I hardly ever keep cheese in it's original wrapper. If I do, I put the cheese, wrapper and all in a zip bag to store it in the fridge.

dlynn, I had that problem for a while too. Now, when I open a package I remove it from the package and cut the name of the cheese out with scissors, place into a ziploc bag and put the name in there with it. Then I always know exactly what I have.

Nobody would probably believe how many different kinds of cheese I sometimes keep in my fridge at one time. I really don't care for the Bleu Cheeses and haven't tried Limburger. I never hear of anyone eating Limburger.

Dlynn,
I am not sure I understand the concept of leftover cheese :)

Actually I cut out the label for the cheese and place it in the ziploc with it. Ziplocs really are sacriledge for cheese storage, but it is convenient and prevents any of the stinky ones from contaminating the fridge too terribly.

There is a cheese that I get at the winebar that is white and semi-soft, and has a weird effect of making my throat (and anyone I am with) a bit itchy -- odd stuff, does anyone what kind of cheese this is.

Andy

I'm not a huge cheese consumer, but Elery is so there's always half a dozen kinds of cheese in the fridge. I don't care for most goat cheeses, won't eat blue, don't like brie, etc.

However, my current favorite is Dubliner, it's like a cross between cheddar and parmesan. Mimolet is nice and I like the Black Star Farms fresh raclette, but I don't care for aged raclette at all.

Right now I have asiago, parmesan, romano, some local goat's cheese from Manistee that Elery loves, the Black Star raclette, some Dubliner, feta, mozzarella, gjetost, organic raw milk Edam from the farm where I took the cheese making class and some baked ricotta. Oh and a chunk of fontinella and some chunk ricotta, as well as a piece of 5 year cheddar, also local.

A lot of cheese for someone who can take it or leave it, LOL, and I have a package of Kraft slices for Ashley's grilled cheese sandwiches but I don't believe that's cheese at all...

Annie

I am totally a cheeseaholic!

My current favorite is called Tomme Crayeuse... A cows-milk cheese from the Savoie region of France. Its heaven -- creamy, pungent, a little acidic... Really really good.

I can't wait to try the Istara -- thanks for the recommendation duchamp!

Emily

I can eat a wheel of cambozola or an Epoisses all by myself but I'm sure my heart wouldn't like it. Only cheese I don't like are the super sharps. I nearly polished off half the blue cheese at a fund raiser last night.

Annie, I love that gjetost as well, it makes such a wonderful sauce.

Anyone have any good cheese books to recommend, just for fun?

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon - 'cheese' books

Well, I try to keep the names in or on the ziplocks. (if the kids get to it first, that doesn't always happen). But if we have several out at once, they are totally unwrapped, they get re-arranged on the cheese tray and I forget which is which before I put them away, so those end up unlabeled. But my biggest problem is, I'll sometimes buy cheeses because they tell me all about them in the store ("this one has a nutty flavor with hints of....). Then when I get them home and they get mixed in with the other 15 or so cheese that I already have, I forget what I'm supposed to be tasting. I end up telling DH "There is one of those cheese that has a really interesting flavor, but I don't know which one anymore"

Another one here that would prefer cheese to dessert any day. I can honestly say there is only one cheese I have found that I didn't care for. It was cured in ashes and the dirty ash taste permeated the cheese. I don't remember the name.

But other than that... a few particular favorites -
Any good English farmhouse cheddar, St. Agur blue, gorgonzola, aged gouda, bufala mozzarella, brillat savarin, fresh-made artisanal goat cheeses, and if I don't worry about a stinky refrigerator, Pont-L'Eveque or a traditional Alsatian Munster (the riper the better).

Favorite cheese shops:

Neal's Yard Dairy in Covent Garden, London
The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills

For those that can't get good cheese locally...

Here is a link that might be useful: Cheese Store of Beverly Hills

I'm a pedestrian cheese fanatic mostly due to budget. I'd rather spend the money on good wine and eat ordinary cheese.
But I do love the gourmet cheeses! I usually have pedestrian: parmesan, cabot white cheddar, mozzarella, swiss, asiago, feta, and cream (is that a cheese?) on hand all the time.

Occasional cheeses would be brie and fontina. Not a big fan of the blues although I do like a good blue cheese salad dressing. I think I might like it only because it has the word "cheese" in it.
I do look at the gourmet cheeses all the time at the grocery store! But, usually decide eighteen dollars a pound is too high.

Cooksnews is correct, Oka is not a Basque cheese it is a Canadian cheese from Quebec. Quebec produces some very fine world class cheeses, especially the non pastuerized aged cheddars....beyond sublime!

I am definetley a cheese-a-holic. Love most cheeses but especially semi softs. St Andre, really good double Cream bries, Drunken Goat from Spain. Mind you I also love hard cheeses like Dubliner and aged cheddars.

And of course there is Maytag Blue Cheese which cannot be beat !!!! I can say it Linda! LOL

I often have siz or seven cheeses in my fridge. When I end up with bits and bobs I process them all together in the food processor. If there isn't enough soft cheese I'll add regulkar cream cheese. To that I add enough mayo to make it easily spreadable and use it as a cracker spread. Makes a great treat but one that can never be duplicated!

I could eat swiss cheese until it comes out my ears. Even my little granddaughter would eat an enormous amount of it when she was a baby. So,I too, am a cheesaholic...one who is on Weight Watchers and can no longer eat it whenever I want to. Sob.

Duchamp look what you have started, you're such an enabler!

(spacific thanks for not busting me on the blue cheese snarfing LOL)

I'm just sayin . . .

"Several scientific teams have shown that the principal protein in cheese, casein, breaks apart during digestion to produce abundant amounts of morphine-like compounds called casomorphins. Biologically, these opiates appear to be responsible for part of the mother-infant bond that occurs during nursing.

Other research has shown that naloxone, an opiate-blocker used to treat morphine and heroin overdoses, reduces the desire for chocolate, sugar, cheese, and meat suggesting that their attraction does indeed come from druglike effects caused within the brain." Neal D. Barnard, M.D.

Those dang opiates! They're everywhere! Which is worse for you though, cheese, meat, chocolate or love? I was able to give up meat so it must not be that addicting. Sometimes I can resist chocolate. Love's a hard drug to come by. So I guess I'm left with cheese!

Jessyf, I just finished "The Cheese Chronicles" by Liz Thorpe. Already a cheese-a-holic, I now want a milk goat.

Check out Bee Hive cheese made in Ogden, Utah....just down the road from where I live. This is an artisan cheddar cheese, with different flavors. The milk comes to the cheese "factory" from a local dairy that is just 15 minutes away...so fresh, fresh, fresh. Bee Hive Cheese tries to use Utah products whenever possible.

Founded in 2005 or 2006 (by a couple of business men who were sick of the suit, tie & brief case routine), this artisan cheese shop has won accolades and awards in the artisan cheese contests they've entered. Their Barely Buzzed cheddar (cheddar rubbed and aged in a mixture of espresso grounds and lavendar) won top prize at their first artisan cheese competition in Vermont. The next year, in Chicago, their cheeses again scored in the top 3, and similar results have occurred with each competition they've entered. In 2009, they competed for the first time in the international artisan cheese competition, and their smoked walnut shells & apple cheddar came in #3, internationally.

I do not work there, nor am I affiliated...I'm just a loyal customer who loves spreading the word about this very good, and very different cheese. I order the cheese and have it sent to friends and family located throughout the U.S., so if you're interested in trying this cheese, you can certainly do that. I recommend the cooler months though, to keep the cheese in peak condition during transport. From my many discussions with the owners, I know that California has many cheese shops which carry Bee Hive Cheese.

Here's a link to the cheese shop. Please let me know if any of you try this cheese. I also highly recommend the Rusk crackers they make there (again, a laborious hand-made process) because they're filled with dried fruit, nuts & seeds and go beautifully with the cheese.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bee Hive Cheese

Speaking of cheese does anyone know anything about Hoop Cheese? Just came across some from North Carolina. Never heard of it and not sure what to expect.

My mom used to get Hoop cheese when I was a kid in Mississippi. It was just a cheddar cheese that came in the wax. I don't remember it being the really sharp kind of cheddar, but that might have been because she just didn't buy the sharp hoop cheese.

I've gotta quit reading this thread. Every time I read this, I go eat more cheese.

I dunno the name of this cheese but they have it at Whole Foods. It is dark yellow like American Cheddar BUT it is a blue cheese!! Really stinky and soooooo good. I had it with a dolop of quince jelly.

DL

Sharon, hoop cheese is still readily available here in NC. The red waxed large round of cheese is a medium cheddar-like cheese and the black waxed cheese is sharper. These are good tasting and melting cheeses used in cooking and cubed or sliced for eating alone or with bread or crackers.I would used both grated together to make pimiento cheese.

Some people call this cheese "rat" cheese which (I think) indicates that they use it in traps to catch mice. These two hoop cheeses are not at all expensive and keep well wrapped and stored in the fridge. They are often found at small, country general stores and sometimes with farmers' market vendors. I would call them an "everyman's" cheese.

Teresa

Lpink, I like your logic. *goes to eat more cheese*

The Bee Hive sounds interesting. Thanks.

Currently, opening my fridge door would scare any witch or bad spirit away. I have 4 smelly cheese varieties in there. No matter how well I wrap and ziplock them, their aroma pervades. I eat the cheese in the morning. My contractors (I'm renovating) must think I never take a shower, or that I like to pass a lot of gas just before they arrive. I better hurry up and finish the cheese. :-O

(to jessyf... what goes on in Pedro, stays in Pedro!)

I just had St. Andre for the first time not long ago, so I'm a new fan and will definitely agree on that one being a keeper! While I LOVE cheese, I have to watch my cholesteral and my weight, so I simply can't eat it the way I would like - which would be at every meal, every day of the week!! One reason I could give up meat is that I just replaced it with cheese - which is probably why I gave up meat and gained weight!!

And I agree with others on the prices - I just can't pay that much for something only I'm going to eat. So I stick to the "usuals", cheddar, swiss, jack, feta, parmesan, romano, mozzarella and ricotta for the usual ones. I do get brie now and then or gorgonzola for myself as no one else will eat "moldy" cheese. I like Jarlsburg and smoked gouda, dilled havarti, asiago, goat cheese and a few others as well. Once in a while I find a cheddar that has horseradish and I love that. I had a "stinky" soft, French cheese that I can't remember the name of that, sofar anyway, has been the only cheese I haven't liked that I've tried. It was beyond strong - I felt like I had taken a mouthfull of ammonia!!!

Lisa