[Sca-cooks] Cheese Poll

[Kathleen Madsen]

Granted in the past 15 years cheesemaking in the US
has made amazing strides, there are still cheeses that
just don't compare to their counterparts from
overseas.  It's a question of culture, Terrior,
animal, and cheesemaker.  The best cheeses represent
their environment, the quality of the milk and animal,
as well as the skill of cheesemaker.  Unless you make
your cheese in the same micro-climate with the same
conditions you're not going to get the same texture
and flavor.  Last weekend at University I did a cheese
tasting and we took two of the same type of cheeses
and tasted them side by side.  You'll get similar
profiles but different flavors - even with a more
generic cheese.

I think that here in the US we place too much value on
the "name" of things and trying to recreate them.  We
should do what they originally did overseas and make
the best darned product we can using our local
environment.  That's how most of those fabulous
cheeses were created.  We should copy techniques but
not try to make cookie-cutter replicas!  (standing on
soapbox, fist raised to the sky)

I've had some pretty horrid cheese that was US made,
but I've also had some of the most amazing cheese. 
Goat's Leap Eclipse comes to mind.  *sigh*  A moment
of silence if you please...  I can't get it now that
I've moved.

Eibhlin

> 
> The U S.
> We can make great versions of every known cheese
> from
> the Continent.
> BB
> YIS
> Lothar
>