I never think calories, vitamins, health benefits when I grab a piece of cheese.
I just enjoy.
These cheese facts that I never worry or care about were exposed to me last night thanks to a Cheese 201 session at Artisanal Cheese in New York.
I was the guest of Max McCalman who I interviewed last month after the publication of his latest tome Mastering Cheese.What was it all about?
This 201 session enlightened us on what some call 'the French paradox' or the 'Mediterranean diet'.
What's in a cheese?
Depending on the type of milk, the animal it comes from, goat, cow or sheep, cheese provides you with a few things, namely vitamins B and D and E, good levels of calcium, amino acids and way less calories, cholesterol and fat content than one would believe and way less than eggs.
One of these amino acids is Tyrosine coming from Tyros which mean cheese actually.
I will not serve you all the facts that Max shared with us.
As he mentioned even with a daily cheese intake, you still need fiber and fruits for your vitamin C.
If you are in the New York area, you can always sign up for his next 201 Class at the end of February and see for yourself.
Be reassured, it was not a medical course.
Before the session started we sipped come Cava along with a number of cheeses amongst them a very cream and tasty Nettle Meadow Farm Kunik from NY State (pictured below), a first time encounter.
Its proud producers describe it accurately as "a
unique and voluptuous triple cream cheese only made in Thurman, New
York in the Warrensburg area at our small family farm. It is a white
mold-ripened wheel made from goat's milk and jersey cow cream. The
blend makes Kunik far richer and more flavorful than a brie-type cheese
yet more subtle and sumptuous than similarly ripened goat cheeses."
During the session itself, we tasted 7 cheeses placed clockwise from milder to bolder alongside a Chardonnay Terre Dorees and a Gamay Vielles Vignes both from Jean Paul Brun.
On the mild side we started with the Majorero Pimenton (Spain, Goat Milk).
My 2 favorites though were the Forsterkase (Cow Milk), "washed in a white wine bath and then wrapped in fir bark" which gives it spicy tones and the Vacherin Fribourgeois (Cow Milk), an old timer that has 1000 years of existence to its name.
Now are you ready for a cheese diet?