Some stupid questions from a novice cheese taster:
1. I'm exploring cheese selections now that I've found places I can buy from with good selections (online and Whole Foods in St. Louis). I finally tasted Manchego with some membrillo. Good combo and the manchego has that nutty taste I love. It reminded me a bit of Asiago although asiago isn't as dry, or does that just depend on the cheese producer?
2. I also bought a small wheel of L'Explorateur. First bite, delicious. Second bite, ammonia -- yuck. The Whole Foods packaged date was the same day as when I bought it, so I thought this would be fresh. Not the case. I flipped the wheel over and there was the Meilleur Avant date on a tiny little sticker -- early February. Oh well, lesson learned. There are at least bits that aren't completely overripe yet. Question: edible rind, oui?
3. This is related to 2. How does a cheese novice know when a rind is edible or not? I never eat the rind on camembert, yet it's edible right? The manchego's rind looked a bit tough and waxy, so I cut that off, too. At the moment, I just take the rind off everything since I don't know any better.
1. I'm exploring cheese selections now that I've found places I can buy from with good selections (online and Whole Foods in St. Louis). I finally tasted Manchego with some membrillo. Good combo and the manchego has that nutty taste I love. It reminded me a bit of Asiago although asiago isn't as dry, or does that just depend on the cheese producer?
2. I also bought a small wheel of L'Explorateur. First bite, delicious. Second bite, ammonia -- yuck. The Whole Foods packaged date was the same day as when I bought it, so I thought this would be fresh. Not the case. I flipped the wheel over and there was the Meilleur Avant date on a tiny little sticker -- early February. Oh well, lesson learned. There are at least bits that aren't completely overripe yet. Question: edible rind, oui?
3. This is related to 2. How does a cheese novice know when a rind is edible or not? I never eat the rind on camembert, yet it's edible right? The manchego's rind looked a bit tough and waxy, so I cut that off, too. At the moment, I just take the rind off everything since I don't know any better.





