A Cheese within a Cheese

In today's modern society, we are quick to sacrifice quality in exchange for efficiency and convenience. But I will not let efficiency be a factor in choosing my cheeses. This week, I ventured out of my normal routine and neighborhood to find a truly special cheese experience. The extra time and effort paid off: the experience and cheese were just ideal.

At Ideal Cheese, I found what I didn't even know I'd been missing. I had a personalized experience that added tremendous value to the product I was purchasing. I found someone to talk cheese with me, give input and suggestions, and share the choosing process. Buying cheese can be quite daunting, especially in a store with over 250 varieties that hail from 17 countries.




For an incredibly personalized and unique cheese experience, pay a visit to this 53 year old store on 1st avenue and 52nd Street: Ideal Cheese- a cheeser's delight!

Although overwhelmed, I finally settled on the cheese that seemed most peculiar to me, and also happens to have the longest cheese name I've ever heard:
Oh Double Gloucester Layered with Stilton
I hereby crown ye Cheese of the Week.
*Clap*Clap*Clap*Clap*Clap*Clap*Clap*Clap*Clap*Clap*


This cheese hails from the town of Gloucestershire in England. It's been made there since the 16th century, and only the milk from certain Gloucester cattle were once used to make it (these cows are now nearly extinct). "Double" refers to the older version of the cheese, which is often compared to a cheddar. "Single" Gloucester is not usually exported. I suspect its because its so delicious that the English want to keep it to themselves.
Inside the cheese there's a hidden surprise- ANOTHER CHEESE! Looking at the cheese sideways, we find layers of Stilton within. Some call it Huntsman cheese, I call it amazing.


This bizarre mix of tangy blue and mild cheddar creates a two-phase experience in the mouth: first we are delighted by the sweet smooth texture of the Double Gloucester, and then surprised by the sour pop of Stilton. 


Here's to a week filled with stories and cheese that are surprising, unfortunately abandoned, perpetually awkward but so personalized & unique. 

Abandoned: 
I don't know why, but this fantastic cheese has suffered from a lack of sales. The store manager informed me that it was their worst selling cheese in the entire store. This convinced me that I must stand up for this cheese. Like this little penguin born without feathers, this cheese has been abandoned by those who should be loving it. We can only hope that like the penguin the cheese can one day flourish.


The Once Was an Ugly Penguin... (animaltracks.today.com)

Surprising:
I'd say that shattering a century old law of physics, written by the man we deem most worthy of the word "genius",  is a bit more surprising than cheese. But both gave me a similar shock.

CERN scientists 'break the speed of light' (Telegraph.co.uk)


Personalized & Unique:

One must love cheese to run a great cheese shop, and one must love an onion to win a record for the largest. Peter Glazebrook certainly loves his 17 pound onion!


Pensioner grows world's biggest ever onion...a 17lb 15oz whopper (dailymail.co.uk)







Awkward:

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com has taken the world by storm. Now everyone seems to be trying to get photos onto the site, including our world leaders. Here's the American President surrounded by UN notables. Why he thought it was appropriate to wave when no one else was will forever remain a mystery (or an obvious example of American arrogance). I want to give Bam the benefit of the doubt and say he was just confused.

PICKET: Obama blows U.N. photo op (washingtontimes.com)

Now go out and eat some cheese. 

Stagnola Blu: Italy's Tin Foil

I needn't go further than my refrigerator for my first featured cheese. My roomate and I make a point of experimenting each week when it comes to cheese purchasing, usually choosing them haphazardly based on their funny names or strange crossbreeds. They are usually delicious, as most foods are at Trader Joe's. 


When I first opened the Stagnola Blu (stagnola=tin foil in Italian), I was a bit thrown off by the spots of pink I discovered. I've heard of blue cheese, but this seemed a bit peculiar. Special edition for the Sept. 11th anniversary? Unlikely. Regardless, I dove in. The discoloration doesn't scare me. After all, cheese is adventure. My first bite was... confusing. As your first encounter with every great cheese should be.

Oh Stagnola Blu, I hereby crown ye Cheese of the Week. *Clap*  *Clap*  *Clap*  *Clap*


Doing a little research online, I found a post about Stagnola Blu from a fellow cheese lover, whose blog I highly recommend:

Milk's Leap. A very informative blog on how to make crazy cheese.

In the post titled, "A Fungus Among Us", we find our friend attempting to make a stagnola-esque cheese. The description we are offered: a moist, creamy, green veined, bloomy rind, truly spicy blue cheese. A perfect description. My first experience was moist and creamy, but the tang crept in quickly. I didn't even consider the green veins until a close examination after I'd already consumed many morsels, but they are really strange. And I believe the phrase "bloomy rind" is referring to those little pink spots.


This cheese is truly unique, and thus the week must be too.
Heres to 7 days of moist, creamy, green veined, bloomy rind, truly spicy blue tin foil.