Comte - cow's milk hard AOC cheese aged 6 months - 1 lb, France. The AOC had designatedthat Comte is one of France's elite cheeses. Century-old techniques are used to make Comte, which is the most produced and consumed gourmet cheese in France. The combination of sweetness and saltiness give this cheese an intriguing flavor. Comte is traditionally sold in huge blocks and matures for a year before it is ready for sale. Older wheels will have a rich, nutty, fruitier and more flowery taste. The AOC designated regions include the Franche-Comte, eastern Burgundy, parts of Lorraine, Champagne and the Rhone-Apls. Comte is highly controlled for quality and 5% of the cheeses fail to meet AOC standards. Taste: The flavor is complex, nutty and caramelized with a lingering but not sharp flavor.Appropriate wines: Cotes du Rhone, red Burgundy, Beaujolais Gamay. Percentage of Fat: 45%
Caciocavallo Silano - cow's milk hard cheese DOP - 1 lb/454 gr, Italy. We cut each Cacciocavallo into quarters, making four 1 pound cuts. This elite Italian DOP cheese is firm and stringy, made from cow milk. The traditional technique involves hanging the molds astride horizontal rods, which leaves characteristic grooves on the cheese's rind. It delivers a smooth, mild salty taste, and is excellent for pasta dishes. This specialty hails from the Southern Italian provinces of Abbruzo, Calabria, Campania and Sicilia. Caciocavallo is a traditional pasta filata (stretched curd) cheese made from cow's milk. Other pasta filata type cheeses are Mozzarella and Provolone. Caciocavallos are gourd-shaped and come to us in pairs, tied together by a rope that loops around the "neck" of each cheese. After an aging period of three months, this ancient cheese takes on a tangy, meaty flavor with hints of anise and almonds. Uses: Table cheese, grated, grilled, melted.
Fontina Val d'Aosta - cow's raw milk fondue cheese. 1 lb/454 gr, Italy. Firm, thin, dark yellow or reddish-brown in color. Genuine Italian Fontina comes only from the Val d'Aosta mountains near the Swiss border. Made from unpastuerized raw milk, it is a pressed, cooked medium-ripened hard cheese with a delicate, nutty, almost honeyed flavor, somewhat like a Swiss Gruyere but more buttery and sweeter. Great in fondues. Taste: A delicate nuttiness with a hint of mild honey. When melted, the flavor is earthy, with a suggestion of mushrooms and a fresh acidity. Appropriate wines: Friuli Merlot; German Riesling; Dolcetto; Red & White Rhones; Urquell Pilsner. Compliments: This cheese goes well cooking fondue and melts well for pastas. Can also be enjoyed as a table cheese.
Capra Valtellina wheel - goat's milk hard cheese - 1 lb/454 gr, Italy. High in the mountains dividing Italy from Switzerland lie shepherds who have been herding goats and making cheese for centuries. Most of the goat's milk is available throughout the spring, but cheese is produced in small quantities throughout the year. Capra Valtellina is a 4-6 month aged cheese which is flavorful and complex.
Fiore Sardo wheel - sheep's milk hard cheese. 1 lb/454 gr, Italy. Sheep are very important to Sardinia, the island north of Sicily off the Italian coast. The landscape there is dotted with sheep everywhere you look. The sheep found on Sardinia are from ancient stock and live in the wild. Fiore Sardo is a straw-colored cheese with a brown rind. The Italian word Fiore means Flower. Thus this cheese is named the "Flower of Sardinia." A bit more forceful than Pecorino Toscano, a famous sheep's milk cheese from Tuscany, this Sardinian pecorino has a slightly salty flavor and a long finish. The Pecorino cheese is hard and grainy and has a wonderfully rich flavor, with caramel sweetness, salty tang and a hint of fruit. Compliments: Can be enjoyed unadorned at the table or used to liven up a simple pasta dish. Makes a memorable pesto. Appropriate wines: Brunello.
Pecorino Foglie di Noci - sheep's milk hard cheese - 1 lb/454 gr, Italy. A hard aged sheep's milk Italian cheese wrapped in leaves, perfect with bread and red wine (and not at all like Pecorino Romano, another Italian sheep cheese most people are familiar with). It is not salty and best enjoyed slivered, with olives on a hot day. A farmhouse sheep's milk cheese from Emilia Romagna that is aged in walnut leaves in ventilated caves to enhance its flavor. Since walnut leaves ripen just twice a year, this Pecorino cheese is available seasonally. Compliments: Foglie di Noci pairs nicely with artichokes and raw vegetables. Appropriate wines: Chianti, Cabernet, Petite Syrah, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay.
Pecorino Ginepro wheel - sheep's milk hard cheese - 1 lb/454 gr, Italy. An unusual and arresting cheese made of raw sheep milk. Each 6 pound wheel of Pecorino Ginepro is soaked in an aromatic bath of balsamic vinegar and juniper before it is aged for a minimum of four months. The dark brown rind is created by the vinegar, though the lingering finish is kissed with gin-juniper rather than acerbic acid. Wrapped in paper, which contains moisture, the Pecorino cheese is always moldy, and benefits from a few hours 'breathing'.
Pecorino Toscano Stagionato DOP - sheep's milk hard cheese - 1 lb/454 gr, Italy. This traditional Italian Pecorino Toscano is firm and dense in texture with complex nutty flavor. Unlike our other Pecorino's, this one is not aged. Pecorino Toscano is a young 100% sheep cheese, only about 40 days old when it arrives on our shores. Because it is a young cheese it is somewhat discreet, almost shy. As the cheese first hits your tongue, you detect a hint of Tuscan herbs, grass and wildflowers. The aftertaste it leaves on your palate is a wonderfully complex flavor that is hard to describe but easy to enjoy. Appropriate wines: Pecorino cheese goes best with Chianti (Sangiovese). Authentic Pecorino Toscano is name-protected by the Italian Government. This one is truly a special item.
Ricotta Marzolina - sheep's milk hard cheese cone - 1 lb/454 gr, Italy. A hard sheep's milk cheese from Southern Italy. It is excellent for cooking and salad tossing, or even for grating. Individual serving sizes come in the shape of yellowish cones. A very pleasantly-flavored, rather sweet and rich taste, but not pungent.
Garrotxa - goat's milk hard cheese - 1 lb/454 gr, Spain. This goat’s milk cheese was once produced solely in the Garrotxa area of Catalonia. This is the area of the Pyrenees region of Spain that is furthest to the East, lying right on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Spanish Garrotxa cheese has a white interior with a very creamy texture that is surrounded by a natural mold rind. It has an unusual but mild flavor with a light acidity and a hint of hazelnuts. It melts very smoothly, but we like to eat it out of hand. It is sure to become a new Spanish favorite. Appropriate wines: Garrotxa is delicious with young fruity white wines, such as the white Albarino from Galicia, Oloroso Sherries from Jerez, Muscatels produced in Navarra and Valencia, Spain.
Emmentaler - cow's milk hard cheese, cut - 1 lb/0.45 kg, Switzerland. Emmentaler is a hard, pale yellow Swiss cheese. It has a sweet smell, with a fruity taste and delicate aroma. The most prominent feature of mmentaler is the walnut-sized holes it contains. Emmentaler is probably the origin of the sterotypical holey cheese image. Cheese is originally from Emmental in the Swiss canton of Bern. Uses: Table cheese, grilling, fondue. In Switzerland Emmentaler is combined with Gruyere and Swiss white wine to make fondues. A glass of the same white wine forms a perfect complement. When served on the table, a crisp dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Shiraz, is preferred by most.
Tete de Moine - cow's milk hard cheese - 1 lb/454 gr, Switzerland. Tete de Moine was invented by monks at Bellelay Abbey, in the Bernese Jura mountains. 'Tete deMoine' means 'monks head' and derives from the tax levied by the abbey whereby the farmers would provide one cheese for each monk during the season. The Swiss cheese is formed into the shape of a short cylinder. It has a firm, straw yellow paste and a spicy, fruity flavor and aroma. It is matured from four to six months and receives regular brine washings which produces a red sticky rind. Tete de Moine is often shaved using a special cutter called a 'girolle'. Shaving the cheeses releases all the aroma and flavors. Sometimes it is eaten with pepper and powdered cumin. Compliments: This cheese goes well as a fondue or melted into soup or pasta. Appropriate wines: White Burgundy. Great for a Swiss gourmet food gift.
Tete de Moine - cow's milk hard cheese - 1 lb/454 gr, Switzerland. Tete de Moine was invented by monks at Bellelay Abbey, in the Bernese Jura mountains. 'Tete deMoine' means 'monks head' and derives from the tax levied by the abbey whereby the farmers would provide one cheese for each monk during the season. The Swiss cheese is formed into the shape of a short cylinder. It has a firm, straw yellow paste and a spicy, fruity flavor and aroma. It is matured from four to six months and receives regular brine washings which produces a red sticky rind. Tete de Moine is often shaved using a special cutter called a 'girolle'. Shaving the cheeses releases all the aroma and flavors. Sometimes it is eaten with pepper and powdered cumin. Compliments: This cheese goes well as a fondue or melted into soup or pasta. Appropriate wines: White Burgundy. Great for a Swiss gourmet food gift.
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