Category Archive for: ‘News’

Katie has lived in London for 2 years, after a decade living in NYC (and prior to that born and raised in the Midwest). The cheeses of England have become one of the perks of her expat life, in addition to her all-time favorite cheese, Comté, which is readily available, too! Whenever she hosts friends, her go-to cheeseboard is a combination of outstanding British cheeses -- like the blue cheese Stichelton (similar to Stilton), the washed rind sheep's milk cheese Riseley, and the salty & peppery goat's milk cheese shaped like a pyramid, Tymsboro. (Fun fact: Katie visited the farmhouse dairy in Somerset where Tymsboro is made and actually helped make some of the cheese, herself!). She...

Almost every Saturday morning, Carlos goes to the Farmer’s Market to get veggies, fruits, homemade jams, fermented foods and pickles. Then he runs to the cheese store to buy cheese and bread. The last stop is always the wine store. After this intense morning, he gets home, starts making lunch and thinking about dinner for the two evenings. He normally makes a batch of their three favorite dips to snack on and also to have for the weekday lunches. He makes chickpea hummus following a recipe from friend Enda McEvoy, from when he lived in Ireland working as a cheesemonger. Then he makes a small amount of baba ghanoush following a recipe he picked up while a grad student in New York. Lastly,...

Honey crisp apples are plentiful in San Francisco during the Winter thanks to the temperate weather and Sonoma County's apple orchards. One of Michael's favorite things to do is to chop them into cubes to make parsley and Comté skewers. The play of vegetal bitterness in the parsley, crispness of the apple and savory, vegetal notes that can be found in Green Label Comté makes for a fun amuse-bouche. The red and green is a fitting color scheme as well. For those who prefer to eat Comté straight or with a slice of apple, he prepares a generous number of Comté bars knowing that he can always toss the extra bars into a glass to save for snacking or a fondue later. Some suggested pairing are...

After visiting a local, pick-your-own persimmon and pomegranate orchard, Charlie and his 8 -month old daughter Penny put together this cheeseboard. Charlie felt the cheese board should reflect the season, with fall colors and fruit. Penny wanted toys. After hours of negotiations, with play breaks, they agreed that the cheeseboard had to have Comte, since Comte pairs deliciously with fresh and roasted persimmon, almonds, wildflower honey and Blenheim apricot jam. Charlie agreed to add toys to the cheeseboard, the rest is history.

Ann divides her time between Washington DC and Paris, and one of her favorite ways to spend a convivial evening with friends is the "apéro dînatoire," which is a casual meal of wine and small bites that can stretch for hours – and there's no cooking! In this cheese board, Ann has paired nutty Comté – a hard mountain cheese – with three soft cheeses made by Strongman Gourmet Farmer, a local cheesemaker in the Shenandoah valley. There's a runny, bloomy-rind triple-cream made with goat and cow's milk; Grayson, a fragrant, semi-soft cheese, and an aged goat crottin. Accompanying the cheese are saucisson sec, and truffled chicken liver mousse; as well as grapes, plums, pears, olives, a...

As someone who spends four months a year in the mountains of Colorado, Laura is naturally driven to locally-made cheeses and mountain-grown products. And so she invited a few Colorado friends over for a delectable dessert cheese course featuring Comté.She started earlier in the day by heading to the local farmer’s market to forage for accompaniments that would highlight the beautiful cheese. Her first stop was at LivingGreensColorado, which specializes in “wildcrafting” – making jams, jellies, and other truly delectable products from the berries, herbs, fruits, and plants that grow in their area. She tasted several of their jellies, but it was the unlikely sage jelly that...

Ronne loves to entertain and finds a cheese plate is a great way to start a party. That way, there’s always something for everyone. One of the best things about putting together a cheese plate is matching the components to the season. She likes to include really beautiful seasonal fruit with great cheeses and classic components, such as honey and nuts. Bringing the season to your cheese plate celebrates all the wonderful flavors that pair well with Comte cheese!For this cheese plate, she surrounded lovely Comte cheese with the following green grapes and Vermont Creamery Ash-Ripened Goat Cheese, Plouts (a cross between a plum and an apricot), Blue Diamond Honey-Roasted Almonds,...

Janet describes herself as “old style” when it comes to serving cheese. A cheese board at her house rarely includes more than toasted nuts and seasonal fruit. Janet started by thinking about what she wanted to drink with this beautiful Comté and settled on Lustau Amontillado “Los Arcos” (a Spanish sherry) because it echoes the silkiness and nuttiness of the cheese. She also loves buttery blue cheeses with amontillado so chose the lovely Point Reyes Farmstead Bay Blue, which is made not far from her Napa Valley home. She put the cheeses on a Tiffany cake stand, found in an antiques store many years ago. Then added fresh Mission figs from her garden and roasted walnuts that her...

This cheese board aptly named, "Le Comté et ses cousins Américains éloignés," (Comté and its distant American Cousins), was developed, by our friend, Max McCalman, well-known author, cheese educator, consultant and Maître Fromager!The other cheeses on the board include: Pawlett (back left) from Consider Bardwell in Vermont; Flory’s Truckle (back center) from Milton Creamery in Missouri and Goat Tomme (back right) from Twig Farm in Vermont; Kinsman Ridge (center, looks like a thick wedge of Brie) from Landaff Creamery, New Hampshire: Oma (orange rind cheese in front of Comté) from Von Trapp Farmstead in Vermont; Black and Blue (right side, middle) from Firefly in Maryland;...