An Out-of-body-cheese-experience

Roquefort and Port, originally uploaded by Sari&Andy.

This time we didn't have time to wander further than our local supermarket and it was a challenge to find a quality blue cheese there, but luckily we picked a gem ; cheese of the week is the Societe des Caves Roquefort from Southern France. It is one of the most famous of blue cheese, and has been said to be possibly the yummiest moldy substance in the world. I find it hard to say, as there are so many yummy moldy things around!

Our book of fine cheese tells us that the origins of Roquefort supposedly lie with a lovesick shepherd who abandoned his picnic basket of bread and curdled ewe's milk at the mouth of a cave in the Causses to follow his loved one. When the lad returned a few days later the milk had turned into a mighty moldy cheese indeed!

Roquefort is still made from sheep's milk and matured in the Cambalou caves below the village of Roquefort-sul-Souzon. "Roquefort" made anywhere else from anything else in any other method is an impostor! I am thinking making a pilgrimage to thoses caves must go on our to-do-list...

As any cheese, it is always best to take it out of the fridge well in advance and let the aromas develop and the texture soften. Roquefort is dense, buttery and white with green-blue veins of mould in it. The taste is wonderfully salty, sweet and tangy, and it just melts in your mouth.

We enjoyed some Taylor's Late Vintage Bottled Port and fig jam with it, and I almous left my body and went to heaven. It was that good!

A word about Port! It is a sweet fortified wine made from grapes grown in the upper Douro in Portugal. It can be purple, ruby or tawny, depending on how it's been aged. The Taylor's LBV that we had is a small bottle and was reasonably priced at Alko. It is not the traditional style LBV so it doesn't require decanting, and it keeps for weeks after opening.

The flavour is full of rich ripe fruit flavours like plums ans cherries, with something spicy from the oak maturation. It is very sweet and therefore balances the tangy saltiness of blue cheese. Also an excellent match to chocolate! Try it yourself!

Cheese, glorious cheese!

We have a problem with cheese. We love it, we love it too much. There have been times when it has been eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cheeseboards are nothing unusual in this household. And it really doesn't matter what cheese it is, blue, washed rind, goat's , cheap and plasticy, smoked or stinky, we'll have it. Even Cheeseaholics anonymous has come to mind...

But no, we will never ever in this world give up cheese, and why should we? Instead of munching down vasts amounts of any cheese, we have made a wow that we will visit Lentävä Lehmä in Hakaniemi food market, or another good cheese retailer, and try a new cheese once a week or so. We were inspired by the book "Fine cheese" by Leonie Glass, a recent Christmas present. There are so many cheeses we've never tried!

The idea is to try one or two cheeses, find out about them and in best case also find a matching wine. So this week we already had a bottle of Sauvignon blanc, which we decided to find the cheeses to match. Obvious choice was to visit Lentävä lehmä (Flying cow) cheese shop in Hakaniemi food market. The lady behind the counter was very helpful once we described we we're looking for a goats cheese or brie for our wine. So here's what we got:



Crottin de Chavignol, Loire Valley, France
(On top in the picture)

As we were told by the nice cheese lady, this is the classic match for a Sauvignon blanc. It comes as a small cylinder without any wrapping, therefore we did not eat the rind of it. It is quite soft on the inside and has a strong aroma, similar to the "cat's piss" fragrance found in Sauvignon blanc. It is rich with 45% fat and has a strong nutty taste. The acidity in the wine cuts the fat well and balances the flavours.

Eco-Bio, Vall de Cati, Castellon, Spain
(At the bottom in the picture)

A much milder treat than the French one, this is a hard, white cheese in a thin grey-green mold casing. Deliciously salty and slightly acidic taste that went well with the wine. Reminded us a little bit of Tomme de chevre, but this is a lot saltier. It is made from organic goat's milk, which must be a good thing. A lovely little cheese indeed.

We enjoyed the cheeses with some dried figs and dates as well as some organic carrot crackers, also from Lentävä Lehmä. Already looking forward to our next cheese adventure!