FRENCH CHEESE MAKING CLASS

During a weekend in May this year I took a French cheese making class in western Massachusetts from Jim Wallace, the big cheese tech guy. There were 8 of us eager students in his basement learning the finer points of Reblochon, Brie, and Tomme de Savoie. They were all made with local jersery milk and Jim took us from the initial heating of the milk, tho not pasteurized, to the eventual pressing and placing in his cheese cave for aging. During our lunch times he brought out wheels from former classes for us to taste and discuss. Three of the students brought cheeses they had made which Jim opened, critiqued and we all then enjoyed, except one soft cheese that was too old and quite bitter. One was a cheddar that traveled clear from Nairobi, Kenya, another, a goat cheese came down from Canada. It was a fabulous two days, making, smelling, talking about and eating cheese. Jim is a regular tinkerer, in addition to making cheese he also makes wine with grapes he gets from Argentina, plus makes his own cheese and wine cultures, and interesting things of every sort hiding out in his basement laboratory.

OSSAU-IRATY

Something was pulling me towards my favorite cheese shop. Lately they haven't had the selection as in times past, but I thought I'd check it out, and nothing beats their chopped salad, so even if the cheese didn't pan out, at least I'd get a tasty lunch. Walking along the cheese counter like a general reviewing the troops, I had almost given up on finding anything when a huge wheel of Ossau-Iraty nodded back at me. This was not an artisan Ossau-Iraty, but from the producer, Istara. Rumor has it that this mountain raw sheep's milk cheese has been made for around 3800 years. Shepherding their indigenous red and black-faced Manech ewes up and down the mountains that rise from the Iraty and Bearn rivers, those ancient cheese makers knew this was the ideal terroir for a hearty semi-soft cheese. Though ancient, Ossau-Iraty only got it's A.O.C. label in the 1980s where it stands along with Roquefort, the only other French sheep's milk cheese to earn the designation. Back at the local cheese counter, I asked for a 4" wedge which I happily stuffed in my purse while imagining a lovely afternoon munching on bits of this buttery, nutty cheese with a delicious and long finish. It didn't need bread, crackers or anything, tho I found some blueberries in the fridge that went along perfectly.