For most of its history, cheese has been a local affair. Farmers would bring their milk to a village creamery that could convert that milk into cheese and other dairy products. Cheese has always been the long term storage solution for extra milk—especially before the era of refrigerators. The creameries would produce the same type […]
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Vinegar is more than a pantry staple; according to the Internet it’s a brand new life hack. Not only can it brighten a fresh salad with flavor, it can decalcify your shower head, keep colds away all winter long, and turn dull pennies shiny again! Great tasting vinegar takes lots of care and time to […]
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For centuries, coarse, whole grain flours were the everyday norm for bread and porridge. White flours were a once-in-a-while treat for only the most special cakes or breads, reserved for the highest of holidays. As refined white flours became more readily available in the 20th century, Big Ag marketing departments promoted them by running a […]
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Here’s a general rule about good food that can help us all: the longer you keep food intact, the better the flavor will be.
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In college, my roommate and I had a VCR with one tape: Braveheart. We watched it daily. Sometimes twice. I memorized the scenery as much as the dialogue. Regardless of the film’s historical accuracy, Scotland looked beautiful and I dreamed of going. Twenty years later, last spring, I finally had a reason. I had just […]
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On the surface, making caramel is simple enough: take sugar, heat it to boiling, add cream, let cool until creamy or chewy. But it’s tricky to make really well, which is why it’s hard to find great versions of the darkly sweet treat in stores. It comes in a variety of consistencies and flavors and […]
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Twenty-five years ago, you might have heard me patiently explain to a customer what a chipotle was: a smoky, slightly sweet dried pepper with a hint of heat. Nowadays there are more than 2300 “fast fresh” restaurants across the country with the same name. I remember snaking through unorganized aisles at Asian food stores looking […]
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With every iteration of the speciality coffee world’s evolution come new terms for folks like us to learn. One of the latest is “micro-lot” coffee. It sounds interesting, it even carries a whiff of the scientific, but what does it mean?
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In my twenty plus years in the food world, I’ve had the privilege of visiting some of the world’s best cheesemakers. The Comté aging caves of Marcel Petite in the Jura mountains of France. Jamie Montgomery’s bucolic estate in Somerset, England where they make traditional cheddar in the birthplace of the world’s most famous cheese. […]
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Twenty years ago we started gift boxing our as-of-yet-not-quite-famous sourcream coffeecake in traditional cheese crates made by Dufeck Manufacturing in Denmark, Wisconsin. What I didn’t know then was they were—and are—the last surviving cheese crate maker in the United States.
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