Even though embarrassing I wanted to share this story with you. If it weren’t for the happy ending you would never be reading this…
On July 14th for Bastille Day, I led a cheese tasting at Blue Haven Bee Company where we featured six French cheeses, courtesy of Swiss American Distribution. One of the cheeses was the sublime triple creme, Saint Angel. It was the big hit of the evening. Swiss American had generously sent me two square wheels and the second one I shared at an August 18th tasting, also at Blue Haven Bee and again, it was a big hit. For me, it was especially interesting to taste the difference between the July tasting and the riper tasting in August. Both were sublime but with the aging, the Saint Angel had become more like butter, creamier and more spreadable. After the August tasting I had a small wedge left which I wrapped in Formaticum paper and tucked into my refrigerator to enjoy within a couple of days… fast forward…
Today, September 7th, while rummaging through the refrigerator choosing a cheese to accompany lunch guess what I found??? Yep, that wedge of Saint Angel wrapped in my favorite cheese paper. An embarrassing moment when a respectable cheesemonger leaves cheese alone and forgotten…
Even though Formaticum claims it extends the shelf life of cheese as much as three times other wrappings, I feared this delicate triple creme would be past its prime. I opened it expecting ammonia to sting my nose and find a hard, dried out cheese… but wow!!! the cheese was as fresh as it was on August 18th. Not even a whiff of ammonia and still creamy and buttery. I cut off the rind to use it for spreading on freshly baked baguettes… The Man swooned… so did The Lady… The Happy Ending…
I realize my last posting was also praising the benefits of using Formaticum; however when I opened the wedge today, I knew I had to share again.
Formaticum did not donate the paper I use; I buy it and have no reason to shout-out how good it is… other than it’s better than good… it’s terrific. I enclose either a sheet of Formaticum paper or a Formaticum bag with each cheese purchase at Bringing Specialty Cheese to You.
October is American Cheese Month and we’re celebrating in Franklin County with the following events:
Friday, October 12th at Sweet Combs of Honey. I’ll be debuting my new handmade cheese boards for sale at this downtown Lavonia business that promotes the creations of local artists. My dad was a self-taught painter and loved to paint on slabs of wood. He left behind hundreds of slabs. I gave many of them away but as I work my way through his woodworking supplies, I have discovered I still have at least two hundred of these slabs in various sizes. I finished one to use for cheese and showed it to LaDonna Andrews at Sweet Combs and she wanted to sell them in her shop… We will be introducing my cheese boards in the shop on October 12th from 4pm to 6pm. We will also be offering complimentary, light refreshments which will include… cheese. Hope you can attend.
Mark the date: October is American Cheese Month and to celebrate I am teaming again with Blue Haven Bee Company on Saturday, October 20th by creating an Artisan Cheese Grazing Table with the wonderful Award-Winning cheeses of Beecher’s Handmade Cheeses, Beehive Cheeses, Cabot Cheese Cooperative, Sartori Cheese, Cypress Grove Chevre, Jasper Hill Farm, Schuman Cheese, Rogue Creamery, Emmi Roth Cheese, Swiss American Cheeses, Clock Shadow Creamery, Olli Salumeria, BelGioioso Cheese , LaClare Family Creamery, Saxon Creamery and from Germany the cheeses of Champignon. In addition to these wonderful artisan cheeses, Gourmet Foods International is sponsoring the accoutrements that pair well with cheese from chocolate to hummus to peppadews to olives, Kelly’s Jelly is contributing her small-batch, Award-Winning jellies and preserves, 34 Degrees Crisps are sharing their Award-winning crisps and Olli Salumeria and Creminelli Fine Meats are contributing a selection of their Handmade Italian Artisan Meats and Salumis. Our thanks to all for helping with this event. My compensation for the event will be donated to the American Cheese Education Foundation, earmarked for the Cheese Study Group 2019 Scholarship Fund.
$40 per person; must be 21 and make your reservations at bluehavenbee@gmail.com or 760 245 6586. Tickets will be limited. Tickets will also be sold for a raffle of some terrific “cheesy” bling.
In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
Pardon our dust… we’re remodeling the website and over the next few weeks, you will see old files moved to new places and some old files may be gone. If you can’t find something you need, just send me an email and I’ll locate it and send you a link… the new site should be complete by end of September to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the website. (Marcellathecheesemonger at gmail.com)
Latest updates and additions include: Updated About Me page, a new Availability page, Cheese Menu, Cheese Education Index, Cheese Index, Recipe Index pages. (All of these pages are still “under construction” and will be completed in the coming days.)
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