Cheese Based Question aimed at Colonials.

[Janne]

What I mean is that it is unlikely they will go moldy if stored correctly.

With the proper French Camembert and Brie (I buy the whole wheel) I like them best when the outside ring is starting to get brownish, but when they are at that stage I do not each much of the rind.
I wrap them tightly in al foil, hate it when the inside runs out and messes up the container.

I hate baked Camembert or brie, or even worse, melted on Pizza.

 

[Robson Valley]

Begin with long thin wedges from a big wheel of Brie.
Heap each of them with Apricot Jam or Seville Orange Marmalade.
Wrap in foil and freeze. Reheat to melt. I thought the idea was foul until I tasted some.

Both BIG FOOD and Health Canada appear to be trying very hard to prevent anyone from learning cheese making, getting started.
If anyone local is active, they sure do keep a low profile. Seems they really need to use the experiments to pay for the supplies.
I must call around = I don't even know who wound up aging the last of our class cheeses.

 

[santaman2000]

Do you mean the Edam type ?
We get waxed truckles of everything from cheddar to Wensleydale, and at this time of year an enormous variety of 'flavoured' cheeses....with things like chopped apricots, cranberries, chives, etc., added, too.

If you mean the miniature stuff (the size of wrapped candies) Yeah, we get a good variety of those. We call them "baby belles." There's only a bite or two per baby belle though. The waxed cheese I mentioned earlier is a wedge cut from an big cheese (cheddar) wheel. The full wheel (hoop) would be at a minimum a foot or two in diameter, half that thick, and weigh 20 - 30 pounds.

Brie and Camembert should be perfect to age as they are already protected by mould. The US cheddar I will age is already wax coated. The Grana (they call it Parmesan) comes sealed in vacuum, thick plastic. Might take one wedge and dip in bees wax.

I will store them in my wine area, it has 54 F and the humidity is controlled.

See my above answer to Toddy. A prewaxed cheddar is far more cheese than I could afford at one time. And it would certainly spoil long before i could use it unless frozen. The cheddar I had when in England was certainly no stronger than what I get here. They may well have stronger that I didn't get a chance to sample, but it certainly wasn't what I usually encountered (that would me "medium sharp" compared to here; certainly nothing close to Vermont "extra sharp")

 

[santaman2000]

RV, if you're looking for a local small producer i have a suggestion (or a suggestive question actually) Do you have a local Amish community?

 

[Janne]

Edam is a Dutch cheese, a red waxed ball, some are quite small maybe 200 grams, up to a kilo or so.
Baby Bel is a good cheese to bring into nature, but tastes nothing like Edam.
Edamer is firmer and saltier.
Baby Bel is a processed cheese, with a base cheese plus the cheese that gives the name.


You can buy those waxed smallish sticks of Vermont Cheddar.
The Extra Sharp one ( black wax I believe?) is similar to Waitrose 3 Cheddar.

 

[Toddy]

No, I don't mean babybel (horrid stuff that it is) I mean the hockey puck and larger sized truckles.
Like these ones.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp...ginIndex=0&hideFilters=true&categoryFacetId1=

From my end the cut and paste of that address ought to lead to a supermarket site and it's assortment of festive cheese truckles....but there's like four lines of code showing up !

M

 

[santaman2000]

We usually buy the Vermont cheddar the same way we but most cheese; in a 1 or 2 pound block.

 

[santaman2000]

No, I don't mean babybel (horrid stuff that it is) I mean the hockey puck and larger sized truckles.
Like these ones.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchDisplayView?catalogId=10123&langId=44&storeId=10151&krypto=HIrJyx6+KO9oUlfk1RW6Vf9wETrzYQNB7Z/EEkf316xPmRvb2x+1V/pl3YWRfNgsVDGBokxj2DMObWWtGlf3lknyWO7xMvOZqnqln63bxFtnxk4xo5FNtBdWtTTbygEJOKzqNqqCaTKuRM+FbPd45F1MshRoF7DXfGfZkCYw5P7UvMQ2Emty1XbZ/4FB5hvfdTdghaGYFXpg6YyPnlYi+g==#langId=44&storeId=10151&catalogId=10123&categoryId=&parent_category_rn=&top_category=&pageSize=36&orderBy=RELEVANCE&searchTerm=truckle&beginIndex=0&hideFilters=true&categoryFacetId1=

From my end the cut and paste of that address ought to lead to a supermarket site and it's assortment of festive cheese truckles....but there's like four lines of code showing up !

M

No, we don't get those here. Maybe they do up North though? On second thought, I might have seen one or two of those in the specialty section of the higher end store? Not really sure.

 

[Janne]

Try an ethnic European shop if you have them around you. Polish, Russian. Also Jewish, they might have some.

Edam is very salty because it was meant to last a long time. Possibly exported to the colonies?

Guiness make one brew for export. Manna. The normal Guiness is a bit weak.

 

[oldtimer]

Brie is only made in France, Parmesan is only made in Italy and Cheddar is only made in England. Period.

COPIES made elsewhere are not the real thing. Either there is intent to deceive or a lack of imagination in thinking up an original name. "Cornish Brie" is an insult to Cornish AND French cheese makers.

By the same token all Canadians and citizens of the United States and for that matter, Cayman Islanders, should be called British!

 

[Toddy]

......and today's Order of the Big Wooden Spoon goes to ..........

I think you're right about the cheeses though, surely they can come up with their own area names for their's.

M

 

[Janne]

Brie is only made in France, Parmesan is only made in Italy and Cheddar is only made in England. Period.

COPIES made elsewhere are not the real thing. Either there is intent to deceive or a lack of imagination in thinking up an original name. "Cornish Brie" is an insult to Cornish AND French cheese makers.

By the same token all Canadians and citizens of the United States and for that matter, Cayman Islanders, should be called British!

I agree 100% for the cheese.

Cayman Islands ARE a British Overseas Territory.
People here

But I was British before I moved. Pure, 100% immigrant Brit!
Thank Gods I kept my Swedish Citizenship though, as I got the full three points for 'nationality" when I applied for my Permanent Residency 3.5 years ago.
Pure Brits only get One Point. (Still better than Jamaicans, Filipinos and Canadians that get Nil Points!

 

[Janne]

I went around the corner to the supermarket.
Bought one stick ( 226G) of Cabot Vermont Cheddar analog, called 'Private Stock" in a black wax coating. I also discovered they had flown in Waitrose Davidstow Vintage Cornish Cheddar, strength 7!
Testing time tonight!

Plus at last they had Waitrose Smoked Christmas Gammon. Need it for our Christmas Day mmeal!
"Only" USD 30 per kilo.......
British Airways are expensive shippers! But once a year it is OK!

 

[Toddy]

Oh Davidstow's nice
Good with fruit, and cake, or oatcakes

M

 

[Janne]

We usually buy the 'standard Waitrose 6' so it will be interesting to compare.
I already have the Coastal and Waitrose 6 in the fridge, so degustation time tonight!

Son arrived today from Toronto, he is the Cheddar connoisseur.

I hope that Rick Stein has nothing to do with the Davidstow cheese?

 

[Toddy]

My favourite cheddar is McClellands extra mature rich red.
The company (after 150 years as family owned) was taken over by another European family owned cheesemaker's with a huge portfolio. They claimed that it would mean that McClelland's cheeses would be available world wide.
The company is now Lactalis McClellands and they do have a presense in Canada.

M

 

[Janne]

Lactalis? They make a cool longlife milk, that tastes like longlife milk did when I was a kid.

As long as they do not mess with the production.......

 

[Toddy]

http://www.seriouslystrongcheddar.co.uk

Over ten years ago GroceryTrader interviewed McC's, and I quote....
"GT - Do you export Seriously to any other countries? Are people overseas as keen on cheddar as we are?
This year we've started exporting, initially in small volumes, to various countries including Germany. Cheddar is popular there, and also in many English-speaking countries with a strong British heritage. The aim is to develop Seriously internationally as a concept, and our Scottish heritage comes over well in translation in other countries."

http://www.grocerytrader.co.uk/News/October_2006/G_lactalis.html

 

[Robson Valley]

Canada is 4,000miles/6,400km wide. What gets "imported" into Canada from the far east (UK & Europe) has a long way to go to get to the west coast.
Easterners believe that Canada ends at the Ontario border so what goes west of that simply disappears.
At the same time, they all expect zero cost increase for PacRim goods as we pay.

What we all do see is that cheeses from everywhere seem able to transcend that BS thinking.
With the exception of the Emma and Oka brands and a few top cheddars from small dairies, most Canadian cheeses are blah.
I watch people pick over the selection in the deli. They aren't picking up many of the Canadian cheeses.

You need to understand Canadian hypocrisy: there are carving quality soapstone deposits to be mined in almost ever province across the country.
Look and look and look. What can you buy? Not a dang thing except soapstone from Brazil.

 

[santaman2000]

Brie is only made in France, Parmesan is only made in Italy and Cheddar is only made in England. Period.

COPIES made elsewhere are not the real thing. Either there is intent to deceive or a lack of imagination in thinking up an original name. "Cornish Brie" is an insult to Cornish AND French cheese makers.

By the same token all Canadians and citizens of the United States and for that matter, Cayman Islanders, should be called British!

Actually at the time of the Revolution there were more German speaking people here than English speaking Then we expanded to take in the French and Spanish colonies too. It's now a fact that the original 13 English colonies are a minority (area and population) part of the country

And we began to make whiskey, cheese and hams sooooo much better than the originals.