Just to clarify, many of the Sweet Grass products can be found at Harry’s.
Is this even cheese? The farmers market version may be different, but the only time I’ve encountered it I thought it was some sort of semi-digestible plastic
For a genuinely eye-watering experience, get a block of well-aged Danish Blue, and another of genuine Roquefort. Place the two close together and the air between them will start to congeal. Roquefort is my favourite, although I’m also fond of Jarlsberg.
I’m coming around to the view that the cheese shop is almost as important as the cheese. A lot of cheese - particularly brie, washed rind and semi-hard blue - is sold either really under-ripe or close to rotten. Having a cheese shop that sells these cheeses when they are at their best is a big deal. Brie should pout after 30 minutes at room temperature. It should still be pouting an hour later. If it’s running away, it’s well past its best. Stilton should be creamy, not crumbly. Even the sharp version of Gorgonzola should have no hint of bitterness.
IMHO, it’s the cheese shops that make French cheese great as much as the cheese itself. They bring the stuff to perfect condition. If you can find a cheese shop with a good relationship with a local cheesemaker, you’re likely to find really good cheese.
Harder cheese are more forgiving. But the really good stuff is to be found outside wax, which cuts off the ageing process. Cloth-wrapped cheddar and wedges cut from whole wheels of Beaufort or Comte offer another level of goodness.
I dearly love a good, smelly Camembert. My favorite is Le Chatelain, sold in a tan-and-red circular cheesebox at Whole Foods. But here’s a tip: If the inner wrapping is a lighter, papery wrapping with the Le Chatelain trademark printed on it, it will have the full cabbage-y Camembert flavor. But if it’s a plastic-y wrapping and is plain and unprinted, it will be flavorless. I’m sure this has something to do with either the milk’s rawness (a shady legal area at the moment), or the fact that the plastic does not the cheese to age further once it is wrapped.
So if you like your Camembert stinky, check to make sure this brand has the writing on the wrapper.
In your culture (pun intended) maybe, but tell that to the people who eat it in the country where it’s made. I’ve never had a soft cheese in France (or indeed the Netherlands) that was anything less than a translucent, slightly viscous liquid. And it really tastes much fuller and stronger at that age too.
No such thing! Anyway, if it’s sold too young, just keep it (at room temperature) until it’s ready - about a month or so should do.
Ask if they’ll give you a sample of any of the cheeses to try while you’re there. The worst they can say is “no”, and a lot of cheese shops will let you try samples.
Try the Venezuelan beaver cheese.