The worst is I know that many people prefer the blander industrial food, it’s what they know all their life. Example sometimes I brought some good dark chocolate, and people will prefer the sweeter industrial ones with less or no cacao content, they think the good ones are too bitter.
This 2 trends seem to apply to many types of food, not only bread, so not everything is lost yet.
According to Steven L. Kaplan, an American historian whom even the French consider the world’s foremost authority on French bread, breadmaking has followed two trends in the last century: a steady decline in the quality of most products, and the emergence of a new breed of artisanal bakers devoted to excellence and tradition.
Most hard cheeses don’t have lactose.
Sort cheeses will send us lactose-intolerance sufferers into agony unless we take the tablets.
The lactose is concentrated in the whey – not the curds – so a cheese like ricottta might be problematic for the lactose-intolerant.
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Does the cheese shrink that much with aging?
It does.
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So Presunto, I picked this up today and I have to stay that most of the cheeses weren’t note worthy. Kinda bland.
Its a sliding scale. Mozzarella, ricotta, brie and other soft cheeses are difficult. Medium cheeses like cheddar and swiss can be tolerated in small quantities by most, and hard cheeses like parmesan are fairly well tolerated.
It’s highly individual, so there’s a fairly unforgivable learning curve, as guessing incorrectly is miserable.
I’m still adjusting, but this time of year I’m just making sure I have tablets with me in case the menu/buffet has nothing that isn’t full of dairy/blanketed in cheese.
Too bad, it looked promising.
I’m luckier than you, I have no problem with cheese, even soft ones… but with milk and cream, aches.
Christmas time, a lot of selection in the supermarket cheese section.
Haha, The Emmental was being eaten (not by me) before the photo. The Saint-Marchellin was very good, it was oozing.
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That’s what makes it so difficult. There is no way to find your level of tolerance without risking discomfort…and no two people react exactly the same.
Im finding that just avoiding dairy is easiest, but I made an exception Saturday for a lovely crab and artichoke dip. The tablets avoided problems.
On my recent trip I noticed not many Canadian made cheeses were intense, both in taste and smell. I’m used to strong cheeses here in Europe.
Is there a cheese specialist in your area? Hope you can get some good stuff in the future.
I had St. Marchellin before and yes it was really oozing. Saw it at the market last week but didn’t get it. Still have to finish the last of the cheese in the fridge this week.
My favorite, more intense Quebec cheese is Oka.
Got some Brillart Savarin today. $23/ lb. Cheaper cheese shop. Says Brillart Savarin Soiapro on the label. no idea what Soiapro means.
No idea for Soiapro too, maybe you should ask the shop next time.
I once ate a christmas version of Brillat Savarin with black truffle, both matched really well!
That’s right – the scale is the drier and harder the cheese, usually the lower the available lactose.
Hey how about a nice Wensleydale?
The visitors centre restaurant is offering a cracking 3 course Christmas lunch for £16.95:
It features Wensleydale cheese in every course.
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Looks good, the dishes on the menu.
Saint Nectaire from Auvergne: we bought a small piece several days in the supermarket and compared to this one we bought in the food fair, it has a much more complex and subtle taste, texture is much softer. The supermarket one hasn’t got too much taste, and very salty in comparison.
In the food fair, they gave me a tasting for several Cantal, the young one to aged ones. I love this extra aged Cantal (24 month) has a hint of mushroom, the aged and the younger ones doesn’t have this property.
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I just reserved a very large wheel of Vacherin Mont d’Or that I intend to drizzle with white wine and bake with cloves of garlic and sprigs of thyme to be served with bubbles over NYE.
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