SarVecchio Parmesan Cheese
There should be no such thing as a cheese-less culinary experience. But it takes some planning to pack up the right kind of cheese for a mid-summer picnic or backyard barbecue. Choosing the wrong cheese to sit under the California sun can result in an awfully greasy, runny cheese fiasco.
For any cheese-related question, I check in with Barrie Lynn, The Cheese Impresario, who has guided me—and countless others—through the worlds of wine and cheese, rum and cheese, chocolate and cheese…you get the picture.
Lynn, who hosts various cheese-related events and writes the cheese column for The Beverly Hills Times, knows very well the perils of packing improper cheese. She recalls once, long before she was the Cheese Impresario, bringing a “gorgeous, gooey cheese” to a picnic at the Hollywood Bowl—which wound up melting on her shoe.
Lesson learned, she’s now got her handy list of go-to cheeses that are ideal for a hot summer day:
10 Easy Summer Tips from the Cheese Impresario
1. Dealing with fresh fruit can be just as messy as goopy brie, so even before deciding on cheese, mix a beautiful bowl of dried fruit and nuts. Check Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods for any variety of dried figs, apples, apricots, and cherries (tip: head toward the bulk section instead of the more expensive pre-packaged kind).
2. An easy way to achieve that savory/sweet balance is to pack along a log of goat cheese, which won’t melt or drip in the heat. One favorite is Chevrai Fresh Goat Cheese from the Ontario-based Woolwich Dairy, Canada’s largest producer of goat cheese. The creaminess and tang of the cheese holds up nicely to the sweetness of any dried fruit, particularly Lynn's top choices: black Mission and gold Calimyrna figs.
3. If you’ve got picky kids in tow, try this trick: Smear some goat cheese onto a slice of dried apple, sprinkle with cinnamon and roll it up into an apple-cheese taco!
4. Of course, you can’t have apples without cheddar. But instead of dealing with bulky yellow blocks that sweat under the sun, stick with the spreadable kind from Widmer’s Cheese Cellars. Master artisan cheesemaker Joe Widmer produces a sharp spreadable cheddar that’s akin to “cheese sex.” This third-generation Wisconsin producer practically has curds and whey running through his veins, using his grandfather’s tools and techniques to make this small-production cheese.
5. Surprisingly, even some blue cheeses can hold up to the sultry heat. Buttermilk Blue, produced by Ro
th Käse USA Ltd, is a raw-milk cheese that Lynn swears is a favorite even among those who don’t like blue cheese. High in butterfat and cured for at least two months, it’s still got that strong pungent flavor, but is less salty than more other traditional blues.
6. A powerful blue cheese can be paired with any dried fruit, or just spread it onto a hunk of sturdy bread and drizzle it with honey. Lynn tends to rely on breads from La Brea Bakery for her events—right now she’s hording a stash of French baguettes, whole-wheat bâtards (a little shorter than a baguette), and olive breads.
7. Harder “mountain” cheeses are another option. She recommends Pleasant Ridge Reserve, made by Uplands Cheese Company in Wisconsin. This is a Beaufort-style cheese, which means it’s based on a French cows-milk variety made high in the Rhône-Alpes. Uplands produces this specific cheese from cows that graze from early spring through fall—no cheese is made in winter when cows can’t graze naturally.
8. It’s fine to bring along some ham to pair with the cheese, but stick with a type of salumi (Italian cured meat) that won’t dry out if it sits around for a while—in fact, traditional salami works just fine.
9. As for the hardest of the hards that promise to remain standing tall under blazing heat, nothing beats the pricey Red Cow Parmigiano Reggiano. This is the real deal—a hard, granular cheese from Parma, Italy, made from the milk of actual red cows (vacche rosse). This was the original cow used to make cheese in Parma, but as hardier breeds became increasingly popular, its population dwindled to near-nonexistence—but red cows have since been saved by members of the Slow Food movement specifically to produce this high-quality cheese.
10. For a more affordable hard cheese, go with the “unbelievable” SarVecchio Parmesan, a Wisconsin variety from Sartori Foods. Master cheesemaker Larry Steckbauer has earned multiple awards for this hard, crumbly cheese that is aged for at least 20 months. Though it’s made in America, it’s meant to be eaten the way Italians like their Parmesan—as an “eating cheese” rather than being desecrated by a grater.
Where to find them:
Artisan Cheese Gallery, 12023 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City; 818-505-0207
The Cheese Store of Silverlake, 3926-28 West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles; 323-644-7511
Cube Marketplace & Café, 615 N La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles; 323-939-1148,
Whole Foods, 331 North Glendale Avenue, Glendale; 818-548-3695
Trader Joe’s, 10130 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake; 818-762-2787
www.igourmet.com
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