This weeks cheese, another favourite.
We'll go onto some more obscure less well-known cheeses from next week.

Camembert de Normandie

Description:
A very famous French cheese, Camembert dates back to the 18th century and is named for a Norman village in which there is a statue of the creator of this particular variety (Marie Harel). Originally, this cheese was dry and yellow-brown, but after a few modifications it became softer and more earthy. In 1855 one of Marie Harel's daughters presented Napoleon with a piece of that cheese, saying that it came from village called Camembert. He liked it a lot and from that moment Camembert became known by its contemporary name. At the beginning of its ripening, Camembert is crumbly and soft and gets creamier over time (usually 2-3 weeks). A genuine Camembert has a delicate salty taste.

Love it.
cheeseman, how do you categorise cheese?
Generally, how many types are there?

Here you go, 7-11, this might help....

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Unlike wine or animals, the character of cheeses can be judged by a glance at their rind. From just a brief encounter you can gauge its texture, taste, strength of flavour and, with a little experience, even the stage of maturity. Using the 'rind' method, you can categorise 90% of all cheeses into one of the following types.

• FRESH CHEESES - [No rind]
Only 1-15 days old when eaten they have no time to develop a rind and only a subtle 'lactic', fermenting fruit flavour with a hint of the green pastures. They can be smooth and creamy, mousse-like or crumbly like Feta. Some are wrapped in chestnut leaves, rolled in ash or covered in herbs.

Examples: Banon, Ricotta, Feta, Cottage cheese, Cream cheese


• NATURAL RIND - [Wrinkled rind, bluish grey mould]
Nearly always goat, they are chalky and moist when young, with a lemony fresh tang. Gradually they develop a delicate bluish grey mould and dry out, producing a wrinkled rind which becomes more pronounced with age and the flavour is more nutty with a more distinct goaty taste.

Examples: Sancerre, Chabichou, Crottin de Chavignol


• SOFT WHITE CHEESE - [White Fuzzy Rind]
The curd retains much of the whey, ensuring the cheese becomes wonderfully soft, almost runny and grows a fuzzy white rind of Penicillin candidum. The best taste of mushrooms sometimes with a hint of sherry! Unpasteurised examples develop a reddish-brown ferment on the rind whereas pasteurised versions have a pure white appearance.

Examples: Camembert, Brie, Chevre Log


• SEMI-SOFT - [Brownish orange to thick greyish brown]
There are two styles of semi-soft cheese. The first are those with supple, elastic, sometimes rubbery, texture and sweet, buttery to savoury or even meaty in taste. These may have a barely formed rind like Edam or be encouraged to develop a thick, leathery rind encrusted with greyish mould.

Examples: Edam, Pont L'Eveque, St Nectaire, Tomme de Savoie

The other style, known as washed-rind cheese, are rubbed or 'washed' in strong brine to maintain their internal moisture and attract special bacteria that create the characteristic orange sticky rind, strong, piquant flavour and aroma. The texture ranges from slightly chalky when young to rich, smooth and voluptuous when fully mature.

Examples: Langres, Carre de L'Est, Epoisses


• HARD CHEESES - [Thick, dense rind often waxed or oiled]
The curd is cut finely then heated in large vats before the whey is drained off. The curd is cut again or even 'milled' before being salted, packed in moulds and firmly pressed. Some cheeses are bathed in brine to seal and protect the cheeses from drying out in the curing cellars.

Examples: Cheddar, Parmigiano Reggiano, Gruyere, Manchego


• BLUE CHEESES - [Gritty, rough, dry or sticky variable in colour]
The blue moulds, like Penicillin Roquefort, need oxygen to develop their colour. This is achieved by piercing the young cheese with rods [normally steel]; the blue then grows along the tunnel, cracks and trails between the roughly packed curd.

Examples: Stilton, Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Maytag Blue, Cashel Blue


• FLAVOURED CHEESES - [From barely formed to hard and crusty]
They are a rapidly growing area of the market and offer an alternative to those who like dessert rather than cheese or who are not sure they like cheese. They range from the sublime to the ridiculous and are hard or semi-soft cheeses with added flavourings - nuts, fruit, spices, herbs even salmon or ham!

Examples: Cornish Yarg, Gouda with Cumin, Stilton with Apricots, Devon Garland.

Do you take requests cheeseman? I have sent you a pm.

Yes feel free to send in your requests cheesefans. After all, this forum is for people into snow sports and cheeses.

hrm
www.snowandcheesejapanforums.com is available!

But this is already the cheese forum, right?

It's that time of the week, time for the Cheese of the Week. This week..... drum roll please...

Zamorano. I loved to scoff on this one when I was in Spain, haven't had any for a while but it's good stuff.

Zamorano
Zamorano, a well-known and respected Spanish cheese, is usually produced in the shape of drum. The cheese is very similar to Castelanno and Manchego in texture, but is less grainy. Its natural rind is covered in gray mold. The flavor offers a hint of burnt caramel and the buttery taste of sheep's milk. Zamorano is used as a table cheese and it ripens in three to nine months.

Hello, it's that time of week again - Cheese Of The Week!!

This week, a nice hard one from Russia....

Gornyaltajski

Description:
Gornyaltajski is made from full-fat sheep's cheese. There exists another variety, a smoked one, which can be kept for a very long time, and just like Parmesan, is eaten when very hard.

Anyone tried that one?

An Egyptian cheese anyone?

Testouri

Description:
Testouri, shaped like orange, is a cheese made from sheep's or goat's milk and is eaten fresh and lightly salted. This cheese is popular in the Near East and was introduced into North Africa by the Ottomans after the 15th century.

cheeseman: not a big fan, sorry

sava - not a fan of cheeseman or cheese?

Never heard of that last one cheeseman.

not a fan of that cheese

Can you get that one in Japan cheeseman?

I have never seen it in Japan JellyBelly, it's not one of the ones I find here. It's reserved for when I go back to my home country.

Ordercheese.com
seem to have a large range and are a Japanese company (?). Not sure if they have quality but they seem to have quantity.

That looks very expensive.....

That is very expensive. I would avoid that site if I were you. Do some searches on rakuten for some better CheeseDeals. I hate it when places rip you off for your cheese fix.

Anyway, this week's Cheese coming up soon!

A really nice Welsh cheese anyone? I really like Caerphilly. "Moist yet supple". Hmmmmmm

Caerphilly

Description:
Traditional, farmhouse, unpasteurized, vegetarian cheese made from cow's milk. It usually has a wheel-shape with ivory-white rind dusted with fine flour. As the cheeses are aged in a moist cellar, the white and gray moulds become thicker and more leathery. This cheese is known as "the crumblies". These cheeses originate from South and West Wales. It was first made in Caerphilly in about 1830. When young, Caerphilly has a fresh taste, the texture is moist yet supple. With maturity the edges become creamy and the flavor becomes more rounded.

Not available in Australia