Photograph courtesy of Cheeses of France Spring is naturally the season of new beginnings, and during these warm days rife with optimism, I like to think about all the wonderful things this season kicks off. Spring harvest, baseball, the first days of the rest of a college graduate's life, and of course the effective start of cheese season. In this third installment of Cheese 101 (we've already covered blues and Alpines), we take a detailed look at some of the best cheeses for spring—the aged goat cheeses—largely inspired by the "chèvres" of France's Loire Valley.... More

Photograph from neoterra on Flickr Leave it to the French to spend their hard-earned tax dollars sponsoring wine and cheese parties here in the U.S and around the world. Last Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the French government, along with a handful of wine and cheese producers, is spending over $2 million to sponsor these parties in order to "show that French cuisine can be relaxed." If you want a chance to have the French pay you to throw a party, head on over to the contest form at houseparty.com. One thousand winners will get a 15 percent discount on certain French wines and receive a free gift when ordering French cheeses from specified websites. Okay, so... More

"This is not really the same thing as the government subsidizing (i.e. naturally inflating) the cost of corn, or soybeans." Photograph courtesy of Grafton Village Cheese In these tough economic times, it must be difficult for companies to take the long view on things. Especially one like Grafton Village Cheese, larger than many small-scale artisan producers but still tiny compared to the struggling giants making news on Wall Street Journal covers. But by temporarily subsidizing the dairy farmers they rely on to produce their cheese, this small Vermont cheesemaking collective was in the news yesterday for doing just that. The price of milk, a commodity traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, has fallen almost 40 percent in just one year... More

"Beecher's is a great model for the new urban gastronomy—it reminds us city-dwellers that food comes from somewhere." Photographs courtesy of Beecher's Handmade Cheese Seattle's Pike Place Market delicately straddles two seemingly antithetical modes: down-home city produce market with plenty of local flair, and crowded tourist trap complete with fishmonger hijinks and overpriced hippie regalia. But to paint this place in such broad strokes is to miss the real beauty of it. What it comes down to for me is that for all the spectacle, a lot of the food you can get at Pike Place is really, seriously good. Other than the fishmongers, nowhere in the market is food performance as important to the experience than at Beecher's Handmade... More

"Many of the 'cheesiest' products in the supermarket are not made with real cheese." Photograph from srboisvert on Flickr When I was a kid, Kraft used to run a very memorable commercial for their boxed Macaroni and Cheese in which they marketed their product as "the cheesiest." In fact, it was so cheesy, the ad argued, it should be called "Kraft Cheese and Macaroni," as if the order of the components determined their relative importance. Well, Kraft's dirty little not-so-secret is that their boxed macaroni and cheese doesn't even contain real cheese but a sort of alchemical admixture of cheese's component parts: whey, milkfat, and milk protein concentrate. And now, if Sen. Darrel Aubertine's bill passes in the New York... More

"Every victory for raw milk is a victory for cheesemakers everywhere." Photograph from Wikimedia Commons For almost two years now, we at Serious Eats have been following France's long and arduous battle over raw milk Camembert. Last spring we reported that the clash had been settled—that French authorities had ruled that cheese made from lightly pasteurized milk could not be called A.O.C. Camembert. This week Business Week ran an interesting and detailed piece on the issue, which reports that the two large corporations that had been lobbying for pasteurized Camembert, and that had ceased production of raw milk cheese entirely, are now in fact considering a return to raw milk production. Ultimately this is a victory for traditional foodways and... More

Photograph from Sopra Mais on Flickr With Winter in full swing here in New York, I thought it would be a good time to talk in a little more detail about alpine cheeses, which are at their peak during this season. Because of the varied vegetation on which the alpine cows feed, these cheeses have rich, complex flavor, and yet are some of the most accessible cheeses out there. I have yet to meet someone who otherwise enjoys cheese but dislikes a really good Gruyère. Man, These Cheeses Are Big Wheels of Gruyère and Comté, two of the more famous alpine cheeses, are about 40 inches in diameter and weigh 65 to 85 pounds. Emmental, the cheese that most... More

Photograph courtesy of Fromages.com Last year around this time, we offered our suggestion for the perfect Thanksgiving Day cheese plate, one that featured five delicious American originals that ran the gamuts of taste and texture. This year, given the economic environment, we decided to simplify down to a single, powerfully flavorful cheese. With all that other food on the table you definitely don't need an entire cheese plate; just serve a square of Maroilles along with your dessert course to top off the meal in the right way. It's the perfect fall cheese, with its red-orange rind the color of fallen leaves and an earthy, rich taste reminiscent of mushrooms and roasted vegetables.... More

Photograph courtesy of Cheeses of France Yes I am, according to a Chow video called "How to Serve and Cut Cheese" with Laura Werlin, noted cheese expert and author of many books including The New American Cheese. There aren't any hard and fast rules when serving cheese—or any other food, really. You're only doing it wrong if you don't like the end result. Serving cheese should be easy, not fussy; it should be fun, not stressful. That said, some of the guidelines in the video can help direct you towards a positive cheese-serving experience. Serving tips, after the jump.... More

Photograph from kochtopf on Flickr With only a few more weeks left of summer foods, it's time to start preserving the bounty of the season before the cold dark months to come. One of the simplest and most delicious things you can do is marinate a good sheep or goat's milk feta in olive oil and fresh herbs, an ingenious combination that can last throughout the winter and beyond. Taking inspiration from David Lebovitz, here's a simple guide to marinating feta: Fill a Ball jar, or similar glass jar, with two-inch cubes of feta. Add some fresh herbs of your choosing: oregano, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, mint, red chili flakes, and/or fresh pepper. You can really use your imagination... More