Cheese Tasting

Welcome to our cheese tasting!  The lesson today is:  Cheese is not just "cheese."  Cheese has a rather wide scope of textures and flavors and a grand range of uses.  

Some of the cheeses featured today were previously tasted by our crew... but it's easier to sneak in a couple of surprises that way!  Every family member had the opportunity to contribute a reaction to each cheese.  What would yours be?

The first cheese we tried was marscapone cheese.  We used this cheese to make some of our sweet and savory fig jam crackers from a prior blog, so this was not too unfamiliar.  Tasted alone, however, we had quite a different reaction!

Chef Daddy:  "Bland, creamy, and buttery.  Liked it."

Chef Mimi:  "Smooth, neutral, and buttery.  Liked it."

Chef E:  "Dry, needs jelly.  Like it with something, but not alone."

Chef S:  "Ewww!  This is NOT brie!" 

Our next trial was a favorite and easy to convince all parties to try.

Chef Daddy:  "Nutty, smooth, and earthy.  Liked it."

Chef Mimi:  "Oozy, gooey.  Liked it."

Chef E:  "Smooth, earthy.  Liked it."

Chef S:  "It's my FAVORITE!"

This English cheddar was surprising for Chef E, as she did not know that there are different types of cheddar cheeses.  American (yellow) cheddar is much different!

Chef Daddy:  "Sharp, crumbly, and nutty.  Like it."

Chef Mimi:  "Punchy, crumbly, and uncommon.  Liked it."

Chef E:  "Dry and tastes different.  Liked it."

Chef S:  "Bleh."

This was one of my two big surprises for the day.  I have previously made paninis for Chef Daddy with this cheese, but have not previously introduced it to the girls.  In my opinion, it is best paired with a strong, sweet jam and a crisp, porky product.

Chef Daddy:  "Pungent and needs to paired with something.  It's just OK."

Chef Mimi:  "Sour, dry, and needs to paired with something.  It's just OK."

Chef E:  "Not my thing.  Did not like it."

Chef S:  Refused to try it.

This cheese was my trick of the tasting.  It looks inviting and sweet... but it packs quite the sour punch.  Stilton cheese is traditionaly injected with a blue penicillin mold product to make blue cheese.  White stilton does not have the mold injected, but is still a stinky British cheese.

Chef Daddy:  "Sour and grainy.  Did not like it."

Chef Mimi:  "Surprising, sour, and its appearance is deceiving.  It's just OK.:

Chef E:  "Sour and dry.  Did not like it."

Chef S:  "BLEHHHHHHH"  (She choked, gagged, and spat her bite out.)

What did we learn today?  We learned that cheeses taste very different and we each have our own personal preferences.