Maytag blue is one of the best. I also enjoy Roquefort, Gorgonzola(and Cambazola),

My faves are St. Agur-mild, creamy blue from France.

Bleu Benedictin-drier, crumbly blue from Quebec.

Roaring Forties-sweeter blue from near Australia.

I like to have at least 2 varieties of blue cheese on a board to demonstrate how different blue cheese can be.

Not sure how widely available it is, but I LOVE Cowgirl Creamery's Rogue River Blue. I think Whole Foods carries it, at least some places....
Rogue River Blue

I prefer Roquefort and do not like Gorgonzola (or Stilton). I also like Delice de Bourgogne, which is more like Brie, but has a "Bleu" flavor to it.

Rogue River is fabulous but very pricey. I also love Castello Blue - very creamy and great with a good ripe Comice pear. Whole Foods has a great selection and one cannot go wrong with any of them.

Roquefort. I also like Gorgonzola dolce for cooking or in salads.

I like good Stilton, but I've haven't seen any in years, or when it is, it's a complete ripoff because it's cut from the outside rather than dug from the middle, so it's all rind-y and you only get one or two good bites from a large piece.

Cue LindaC. She's knows her blue cheese!

Does cheese really travel well? I wonder sometimes. I imagine that a hard cheese like parmesan is ok but a blue cheese? or a goat's cheese? I have doubts about what you're really getting. Isn't it one of these cases where eating local must be better?

I love Gorgonzola (particularly dolce), and the Roaring Forties Blue (there's also a very lightly molded one called "Touch of Blue" iirc), Blue Castello and many of the French blues, but not Stilton. DH really dislikes blue cheese but did enjoy a pizza we had the other night which had chunks of Gorgonzola on it.

Isn't it one of these cases where eating local must be better?

In theory, undoubtedly. However, in my whole state there are only a handful of cheese makers, all of whom make mostly a basic chevre which I could not afford to buy. Heck, we don't even have a cheesemonger within a hundred miles, only what the grocery store sells.

So in real life, I'm afraid the answer is no, not in many places in the US. Even getting good ingredients to make your own cheese is not always easy.

My favorite is currently Ciel de Charlevoix (Quebec), it's creamy and mild, compared to other blues.

Dandyrandy....you say Maytag Blue is not up to par? When did you last have any? They have been off the market since last Februrary.
But the good news is there is a new catalog on line so, while the blue won't be available until early spring....there are other wonderful cheeses to ba had from Maytag Dairy Farms.
As for does cheese travel well? You bet! After all cheese was circling the globe before refrigeration....and we in the US get soft cheeses imported from Europe all the time.
And Maytag Dairy has been sending cheese through the mail for 75 years.....yes really! And sending it to England too!
Here's the hopeful link

http://www.maytagdairyfarms.com/aspx/welcome.aspx

I realise that cheese has been travelling the globe but I'm wondering on the state of the cheese after a few thousand miles. Some cheeses are physically robust but others are very fragile. Also, you can be sure that many producers will keep the best for their local consumption..... that is even clear when you travel to different regions within France!

The travel factor is figured into the aging time on most cheeses which are shipped. That's one of the reasons we don't get good French Brie in the US. Our rules say that any cheese coming into the country, which is made from unpasteurized milk, must be at least...I think....90 days old. That is the outside age for brie, so all imported brie is made from pasteurized milk.....which doesn't make as good cheese as raw milk does.

Islay, I have a question for you about French cheese. When I stayed at the monastery in Vauhallan last fall, we had the best cheese we had the whole time we were in France, but I have no idea of what it's called. It was a square log of brie-ish cheese with a round core of another type of soft cheese, more like a chevre. Do you have any idea of what that might be?

Sorry for the OT.

I can't think of a cheese quite like that but I'm investigating!!! Watch this space!

Did it look something like this?

Thanks, Islay.

Not really. The overall shape was like photo #2, but the texture was more like photo #1 with less rind, and then it had the core of something else in the center.

Well, i contacted the Monastery and they answered very quickly. It's a simple goat's cheese log. :

Bonjour,

Il s'agit bien d'un fromage de chèvre en buchette tout simple.

Cordialement

Soeur Anne-Sabine

Le 17/11/2016 à 08:57, Islay CORBEL a écrit :
Informations :

Madame
CORBEL Islay
islay.corbel@gmail.com

Téléphone : +33296733723
Portable : 06 86 56 58 10

Bonjour.
Je me permet de vous contacter de la part d'une Américaine qui a séjourné chez vous l'année dernière.

Elle m'a demandé de trouver le nom d'un fomage qu"elle a mangé chez vous. Elle dit qu'elle n'a jamais mangé meilleur!
Buche réctangulaire, type Brie avec une cylindre de type chèvre au milieu.

C'est une question peut-être bête mais j'aime une mystère!

Je vous remercie en avance.
Dans l'attente de vous lir e
Cordialement
Islay

--
Soeur Anne-Sabine
Abbaye Saint Louis du Temple
Chemin de Limon - 91430 VAUHALLAN
01 69 85 28 96 avec répondeur
01 69 85 21 00 pour urgence
retraite@limon91.com

Thanks very much, Islay. Very interesting. There was a regular chevre type cheese as well, though, so now I'm more confused than ever. Oh well, I want to walk from Paris to Vauhallan again sometime, so hopefully they'll have it next time, too, and I can ask someone then.

It's kind of hard to ask anything when you're there because the guest quarters are totally separate from the monastery, so once Soeur Anne-Sabine checks you in you never see anyone but the baker again (unless you opt to attend the divine office and then they aren't exactly chatty, of course), and he was one scary dude, kind of like the old cliches about Parisian concierges. :)

LOL It looks very serious when you look at the website.

There are so many different goat's cheese. I've also contacted a cheese shop in Palaiseau to ask if they recognise it. I reckon that the monastery would be more likely to buy locally so fingers crossed.

Cheeses like photo one are just goat - often with 2 textures, though, that comes naturally.

Thanks, Islay. They did have goats at the monastery, BTW, although they don't farm their fields the way they used to.

lindac, As mentioned I've bought only Maytag for many years, but last Christmas the two pound blue came with green stripes. Maytag replaced it, but the same green stripes appeared in the replacement cheese. Perhaps it had to do with holiday time, but we were quite disappointed. May give it another try this year.

There is none this year.......there were difficulties in their process that had to be ironed out. There are other cheeses, a couple that are brand new and locally made but none of the traditional Maytag blue.
Those "green stripes" you saw were veins of the roqueforti mold, you likely got a perfect wheel and previously your wheel was under aged.. The stripes you saw were where the aeration needles punctured the cheese to allow air to enter and the mold that gives the flavor to grow. It looks green and even a bit yellow-ish at times, but that's part of of what makes blue cheese good.

This probably will not help as i don't have a favorite or rely on just one type/brand. But if this is a once a year treat like so many things Holiday...you might want to try a variety selection from one of the Artisan on-line places.

I've never ordered from artisanal cheese or any of the many as we have a good cheese monger at our local grocery. A few years ago an employee gifted a large selection of cheeses and cured meats. Small slivers from his local monger. That wonderful gift lasted throughout our holiday break. We've continued that tradition once a month or so during the year for an easy weekend meal with fresh bread or my crackers. Fresh fruit, a salad. A lighter goat and/or fresh mozzarella in the warmer months. With garden harvest veg.

We let our cheese monger select for us, though keeping in the 3-6 out of ten range, not too mild or too strong. Usually 4 varieties, 1/4lb or less of each.

(parm and soft goat cheese i buy at Costco. The goat i roll in fresh herbs or a pepper spice blend). I make my own mozzarella. DH has all the tools to make our own goat cheese this holiday.

2 lbs is a lot of cheese to be disappointed. Have you looked in your own backyard for farms that make their own cheese? Instead of lunch last wednesday i took a walk through UnionSquare greenmarket and sampled lots of locally made cheeses and new-to-me varieties of apples, breads, spreads, salsas, and jams, cider, veggies, even sampled radishes. (lunch!) Beautiful Fall market.

Like said, giving Maytag another try might be worth it. Seems a style and tradition you like. Just order early enough to go elsewhere if again disappointed.