Cheese

It is heartening to read the results on food safety as it relates to cheese. As I often say: If you are unsure about the other foods available, go for the cheese. We often promote the marvelous nutritive values of cheese but it is also nice to know how safe a food it is. Of the food-borne illness outbreaks reported to the FDA, the CDC, and the USDA, between 2001 and 2010, cheese ranks safer than fruits and vegetables, far safer. Adjusted for consumption, vegetables are responsible for more than twice as many food-borne illnesses as cheese is. The incredible edible egg can be blamed for more than six times the number of illnesses. Seafood is responsible for nearly twenty times as many illnesses, again, adjusted for consumption. Since 2010 there has been only one food-borne illness outbreak attributed to dairy in the U.S. – milk from a dairy in Pennsylvania in 2012. Cheese is even safer than milk! As of this writing there have been no reports of food-borne illnesses attributed to any U.S. dairy product this year. No other food group comes close to the stellar track record that cheese enjoys, except for beverages. Even beverages are not without blame. But when you consider the nutritive values of beverages, cheese is incomparable. - Max McCalman The post Stick to the Cheese appeared first on News From The Cheese Caves.

Caseus winners Dominic (left) and Jean Morin of Fromagerie du Presbytère. For the second year in a row, Bleu d’Élizabeth made by Fromagerie du Presbytère has won the coveted gold medal in the Caseus Québec Fine Cheese Competition, the annual judging of cow-, goat- and sheep-milk cheeses produced by Québec cheesemakers. For its repeat performance, Bleu d’Élizabeth was also honored with the Caseus Emeritus award. For the Morin brothers—Jean is the cheesemaker, Dominic manages the fourth-generation dairy farm—the awards just keep on coming. Earlier this year, Bleu d’Élizabeth won two medals in the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix, for best blue and best organic cheese. Two years, ago Élizabeth was named runner-up in the prestigious American Cheese Society competition. What’s the secret to their success? Happy cows is Jean Morin’s stock answer, but he adds: “Every morning I start the day by asking myself what I can do better today than yesterday.” Bleu d’Élizabeth That drive for perfection shows in Bleu d’Élizabeth, so soft, rich and creamy, with lovely grey-greenish veins, with understated saltiness, and a distinct earthy aroma. The Caseus awards were presented yesterday in the National Assembly in Québec City by Agriculture Minister Francois Gendron. More than 40 producers entered 165 cheeses in 24 categories of competition. Mont Jacob The Caseus silver medal went to Mont Jacob, a washed-rind cheese made by Fromagerie Blackburn, while the bronze was awarded to Pionnier, a firm cheese made with a blend of cow and sheep milk in a collaboration between Jean Morin of Fromagerie du Presbytère and Marie-Chantal Houde of Fromagerie Nouvelle France. Pionnier with its two collaborators A new Caseus medal honoring excellence in aged cheese went to the 24-month Alfred Le Fermier made by Fromagerie La Station. Alfred Le Fermier For the winners in all Caseus categories, please click here. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is the lead sponsor for the Caseus competition. The Institute of Food Technology, Campus Saint-Hyacinthe, manages the judging. This year for the first time the jury included a judge from Ontario, Vanessa Simmons of Ottawa, cheese sommelier at Savvy Company and presenter of guided tastings at The Great Canadian Cheese Festival. For information about the availability of all winners except Mont Jacob, contact Plaisirs Gourmets. For information on Mont Jacob, contact Fromages CDA.

by Nadine Ijaz Researcher Nadine Ijaz It is healthy that we are seeing some vigorous conversation about raw milk safety this week.  In an earlier post, I responded to some inaccurate depictions of my work on this front.  The discussion continues across social media, with the twitterverse circulating a position paper to reproduce some of the raw milk science myths which I debunked in my recent presentation to the BC Centre for Disease Control here in Canada.  That position paper gives some historical context for pasteurization, cites some accurate evidence, and describes one family’s story of raw milk induced illness; it also makes some important errors. While one is entitled to express an opinion online, it is important to differentiate what is scientific evidence. Of course it is terribly unfortunate that a beautiful young child would and did become severely ill from consuming unpasteurized milk contaminated with E. coli 0157 as the paper’s author reports; and I feel certain that raw milk producers and consumers would agree that it is regrettable.  One would certainly wish Ms. McGonigle-Martin, her son Chris, and their entire family well; and wish to do the utmost to prevent any such future occurrence. These stories are absolutely worth telling, to honour the family’s experience. Regardless, as single case reports, such undeniably tragic accounts cannot be considered a good example of scientific evidence to back up laws prohibiting raw milk access.  In fact, raw milk consumers get frequently criticized for sharing ‘anecdotal’ stories as to how they may have personally benefited from consuming raw milk.  Please:  let us use consistent, high-quality standards of evidence to discuss these issues in a more balanced way. On the basis of my extensive review of the peer-reviewed literature, I disagree with the post writer’s premise that raw milk is a high-risk food in industrialized nations today.  However, I do agree that ‘people need to be properly informed’; which is why we urgently need a more scientific approach to raw milk risk assessment on the continent. An important, evidenced approach to preventing foodborne illness is to use scientifically-grounded risk mitigation practices.  Indeed, peer-reviewed scientists have proposed unpasteurized milk testing as an important 21st century mitigator of such a rare event as the McGonigle-Martin family regrettably experienced.  Keeping raw milk in the underground, as it is universally here in Canada, can make it difficult (if not personally dangerous, given the very real threat of a jail sentence) for raw milk farmers to seek out appropriate regular milk pathogen testing.  Perhaps a similar case of children becoming severely ill in BC (Canada) twelve years ago from E. coli 0157 in raw goat milk might have been prevented, had such safeguards been in place. Watch Nadine’s presentation to the BC Centre for Disease Control here.

From the Owen Sound Sun Times: Durham area raw milk advocate Michael Schmidt and his four year old son William at his Durham area farm on Friday September 30, 2011. James Masters\The Sun Times DURHAM - Local raw milk advocate Michael Schmidt’s appeal of a British Columbia judge’s contempt of court finding against him is based what he views as the lack of proof anyone drank his milk and lack of clarity of the court order he was found to have breached, he said Tuesday in an interview. Schmidt said he restructured a Chilliwack, B.C. dairy farm to produce cosmetics to comply with an injunction which ordered him and others not to package and distribute unpasteurized milk for human consumption. But Superior Court Justice Randall Wong called the cosmetics claim a “ruse” and found Schmidt and farm owner Gordon Watson in contempt of the court by violating the injunction. Schmidt said in an interview it’s not his business what people do with the milk once he produces it. He said there’s no prohibition on drinking raw milk but “they’re (authorities are) trying to get around that by issuing these orders.” “We tried to find a way how we can comply with the court order.” Schmidt confirmed he has appealed Wong’s written decision was released June 5. The Aug. 26 2011 breach of the March 18, 2010 court order became the subject of a contempt hearing after the Fraser Health Authority filed a petition with the court calling for a finding of contempt and special costs. The Public Health Act, under its regulations in B.C., deems milk that has not been pasteurized at a licensed dairy plant as a health hazard. The Public Health Act stipulates a person must not willingly cause a health hazard or act in a manner that the person knows or ought to know will cause a health hazard. The judge handed each man a three-month suspended sentence, followed by one year of probation and granted costs to the health authority. Schmidt said the court needed to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt before making a finding of contempt. Yet there was no evidence, Schmidt said, that anyone had drunk the unpasteurized milk in the “cosmetics,” in which raw milk was the only ingredient, the court decision said….” Read more in the Owen Sound Sun Times.

Jenny Glazer is moving on from the Rainbow Cheese Department and it marks the end of an era. Not only is she one of my favorite people and a friend from before she started working at Rainbow, but she helped make our department what it is today. I think we were dressed up for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving here. That used to be our annual tradition: First off, I should mention two other folks. We had such a solid core of people involved in transforming our cheese section from an afterthought to a destination that it seemed like nothing would ever disrupt it. Six of us worked for more than a decade together making all the decisions, doing most of the cutting, wrapping, and talking, generally figuring out from scratch what to do next. I do not want to make this a you-kids-get-off-my-lawn essay but things are easier to figure out now. The adversity of just trying to find accurate information on cheese bonded us together. I still remember when the Cheese Primer came out. I hear it mocked now by newer cheese folks but it is impossible to overestimate how important that book was to so many cheese people at the time. Sure, it’s out of date and the American section, with the hindsight of all these years, is embarrassing in its brevity, but it was the only relevant cheese book published in the US in decades. It was pre-internet and we were starving for the information in there. I think we all bought copies the first week it was out. It encouraged us in our love of cheese and the feeling that we were accomplishing something. Kelly Parrott was the first to leave. It was expected because she had been talking about moving back to Oregon for years. I should have written a tribute to her when she left because without her attention to detail, her task-masterness and her cheese experience from Natures (A Portland grocery bought by New Seasons) I am not sure we could have progressed so fast. Kelly, if you are reading this, know that we still talk about you and when wrapping especially pretty things often ask, “How would Kelly wrap this cheese?” Kelly and Andreas at the Cheeseworks Warehouse. No more Mimolettes to bowl… Anna Costa left us once when she decided to live in the North Bay and make cheese at Redwood Hill. She eventually came back though, and worked a few more years behind the counter before the wrapping got to her and she moved upstairs to HR and our Board of Directors (I still blame all those years of working at the burrito place, not the cheese ). I never wrote a tribute to her because she is still at Rainbow, still making it a better place every day. As for the cheese department, she brought her early FFA education and cheesemaking skills in addition to being pretty much the nicest person I have ever met in my life. Anna and I showing off the mold on a (non-Vella) Dry Jack and our new cheese cooler jacket: Jenny, moving to Pittsburgh, PA after 16 years at the store brought so much to the cheese that it is difficult to encapsulate it all in one blog entry. She had no previous cheese experience but she had more enthusiasm than anyone I can think of. She summed up the act of selling cheese in a up-from-hippie natural food store in the way I still think about it today. We are the permission department. Much of the rest of the store is about avoiding bad things and we are the ones who say, “Have something with tons of butterfat. Have something that tastes great just for the sake of eating something that tastes great!” Pete and Jenny in the early years: We often had the same brain about things. When one of us would propose something like keeping a cheese registry, the other would often say, “I was thinking of something like that too!” She was as committed to cooperative ideals as much as me and, even having worked at the store a long time was able to, be a bridge between new and older workers. She is a person who can always find common ground and, quite honestly, that ability is rare and will be next to impossible to

From Scott Dunn in the Owen Sound Sun Times: Michael Schmidt raises a glass of raw milk in a toast to his supporters at a raw milk rally outside the Grey Bruce Health Unit in Owen Sound in October 2011. Photo via Owen Sound Sun Times. “Local raw milk advocate Michael Schmidt is appealing a British Columbia Supreme Court judge’s finding of contempt against him for violating an injunction to stop the distribution of raw milk for human consumption under the “ruse” of saying his raw milk was a cosmetic. Justice Randall Wong, in a June 5 written decision, found Schmidt and B.C. farm owner Gordon Watson in contempt of the court’s March 18, 2010 injunction after the Fraser Health Authority filed a petition calling for a finding of contempt and special costs. “In this case, distributing raw milk as a purported cosmetic product was patent lip service and ruse to distribute raw milk for human consumption,” Wong’s decision says. Wong noted the farm’s website, “Our Cows,” said nothing about cosmetics at the time the milk was said to have been produced for cosmetic purposes, nor that it was not for human consumption. “The articles are directly aimed at raw milk, its virtues, and campaigns to advocate to legalize raw milk for human consumption.” The judge handed each man a three-month suspended sentence, followed by one year of probation and granted costs to the health authority. Schmidt could not be reached for comment Monday. It’s Schmidt’s second contempt of court finding related to the distribution of raw, unpasteurized milk. “With all due respect, Justice Wong got it totally wrong,” Schmidt said in an e-mail to The Sun Times after the B.C. decision was released. He said he was filing an appeal. Schmidt and fellow raw milk advocate Gordon Watson operated “Our Cows,” farm in Chilliwack, B.C. Schmidt “reorganized” the farm under a “new business model.” It involved producing raw milk products for cow-share members as cosmetics labeled with such names as Cleopatra’s Enzymatic Alpine Lotion. The products contained just one ingredient — raw milk, the decision said. Wong described Schmidt’s court testimony as “very vague and cagey about the raw milk.” He also found Schmidt was “directing” the farm operations. “The farm operates as a cow share in which members join and receive ‘dividends’ in the form of raw milk and/or raw milk products,” Wong’s decision says. Watson said he hired Schmidt as the farm’s agister, or livestock manager, the decision says. It says Schmidt sought the Fraser Health Authority’s view on his intention to call the raw milk product a “cosmetic.” In reply, the health authority told him in an Oct. 4, 2010, letter to “cease and desist from the production and distribution of raw milk whether it is labeled as a cosmetic product or not and that he comply with the March 18, 2010 B.C. Supreme Court Injunction Order.” A public health inspection of the farm Aug. 26, 2011, to check compliance with the injunction found jar lid labels which indicated “Cosmetic Skin treatment Only — Our Cows Sharemember Dividends — Packaged Not for Human Consumption.” Health Canada, in response to Schmidt’s inquiries, told him that since the milk was not for sale but rather was shared among the cow-share members, it had no jurisdiction to consider classifying the milk as a cosmetic, the court decision says….” Read more in the Owen Sound Sun Times.

The Lady was exhausted when she returned from the cheese mines yesterday… so she wanted something delish and easy to prepare. The great folks at Sartori had recently sent several wedges of their sublime cheeses and I suggested she build one of those fabulous David Eyre Pancakes around the wedge of Merlot Bellavitano we had. Here’s what she did: Ingredients: 6 ounces of Merlot Bellavitano, shredded 1/4 stick butter Dollop EVOO 4 eggs 1 cup flour 1 cup whole milk 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup fresh blueberries Handful almond slivers Preparation: Pre-heat oven to 425. Pre-heat cast iron skillet in oven. Add and melt butter to pan. Add EVOO to pan. Heat but don’t allow to smoke. Mix eggs, flour, milk and salt in bowl. Fold in blueberries and half of the cheese to the mixture. Pour into pre-heated skillet. Top with almonds. Bake for 15 minutes until puffy and golden brown. When you take from oven, top with remainder of cheese. Cut into four slices and serve with maple syrup or your favorite jam. Inspired by the recipe of David Eyre which you can review by clicking here. You can read my interview with Jim Sartori by clicking here. FTC Full Disclosure – The manufacturer sent me their product(s), without any obligation on my part, hoping I would review the product/cheese. For more information, please see my About Me page.

Dear readers, I am here to tell you that you have been tricked. Bamboozled. Flim-flammed. By McDonald’s, of all places. The most universally trusted fast food restaurant in the world. Okay, that’s probably not true. Neither is the idea that you’ve been tricked, per se. The truth is, McDonald’s has, rather quietly, removed the Angus Third Pounders from their menu and replaced them with three new Quarter Pounders. The old Angus Third Pounders were Bacon and Cheese, Deluxe, Mushroom and Swiss, and, later on, the Chipotle BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Bacon Onion. A lazy amount of Internet research seems to indicate that the Angus Third Pounders weren’t doing that well, possibly due to their high price – $3.99 – in relation to the rest of their menu and the current trend towards value menus. This idea is directly contradicted by the fact that the new Quarter Pounders are the exact same price, so I’m just going with “nobody seemed to like the Angus Third Pounders so we’re trying something else”. The new Quarter Pounders are Bacon and Cheese, Deluxe and Bacon Habanero Ranch. Guess which one I chose to review? …Oh, right, you don’t have to guess. It’s in the review title. Gosh darn spoilers. The Bacon and Cheese and Deluxe varieties are just as boring as you can imagine they are, containing ingredients like…bacon, and…cheese. I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to be impressed with in the Deluxe – it’s got mayo, and lettuce, and tomatoes, and zzzzzzzzzzzz. So I find myself with the Bacon Habanero Ranch Quarter Pounder, which, in stark contrast to the other two, actually sounds interesting. “A quarter pound* of 100% beef topped by smooth white cheddar,** thick-cut Applewood smoked bacon, tomato and leaf lettuce, and a spicy-cool habanero ranch sauce, all on a toasted, bakery-style bun.” If you’re curious about the asterisks, the first lets you know that’s the weight before cooking and the second informs you that the cheese is pasteurized process. There, I’ve done my boring due diligence. At this point I was about to launch into the part where I actually eat the fucking burger, but I stumbled upon something on McDonald’s website that I just could not, in good conscience, ignore. In recent times I’ve made a point of not poaching pictures, because I’m pretty sure there’s copyright issues involved. But a picture is worth a thousand words, which I’ll probably end up writing anyways, and I just couldn’t help myself on this one. So up it goes until I get a cease and desist email from Ronald. Look at it. Love it for its ridiculousness. HABANEROS SLAPPING YOUR TONGUE! ZING! Bacon shaming! The tongue-slapping is my obvious favorite, but I’m also very fond of, “I see you looking at me?” With some different punctuation, it could be construed as an amusing threat from the aggressive habanero pepper. But phrased as a question, it a.) makes no goddamn sense and b.) makes the habanero sound insecure. I’m lovin’ it. (Please kill me.) Okay. Burger time. Hab. First off, I took pictures and ate my Bacon Habanero Ranch Quarter Pounder before I did all that researchy stuff, which led to me being surprised by the lack of habanero peppers on my burger. I thought it was bacon, habanero and ranch, not bacon and habanero ranch. I was a little disappointed, but that’s okay. As far as I can remember, this is the first time a major fast food chain has gone habanero, in any form. In case you didn’t know, habaneros are pretty serious business. To give you a point of comparison, jalapeño peppers rate between 3,500–8,000 units on the Scoville scale, while habaneros are between 100,000–350,000 units. Even if you don’t know what the Scoville scale is, and you should, you can see the impressive disparity in those numbers. What I’m trying to say here is that habaneros are hot. Let’s

I can’t go on vacation without stopping at least one cheese place. However, I didn’t realize that on this trip it would be so easy. We decided to vacation in Bend, Oregon for the hiking and for Beer Week, but it is also only ten minutes from Tumalo Farms. We are currently selling a ton of their Classico Reserve which is one of the best American Aged Gouda-style goat cheeses around. I actually think all of the Tumalo cheeses are underrated. Great clean flavor. Good tang. Good sweetness. Great balance of added ingredients to cheese on their flavored cheese… they do not make a mediocre cheese. Partially because Cypress Grove launched their (Dutch) goat gouda (Midnight Moon) years before Tumalo hit the Bay Area, I have always thought that the Tumalo cheeses were really under appreciated down here. And my timing for visiting was good because I even got to see a few little baby goats The farm itself is beautiful. It’s in the high desert of Oregon, surrounded by mountains. If I were a goat, I would love to live there. It was overcast the day I visited, but it is hard to imagine a more picturesque setting. Oh, what the heck, here is a picture of more cheese: here is a picture of me and Flavio DeCastillos, the owner of Tumalo Farms. Can someone remind me to get a haircut before I go on vacation next time? p.s. Little Jewels aging. I am putting this here so I remember to order some.

The recent Wall Street Journal story quoting the findings of Canadian researcher Nadine Ijaz to the effect that, contrary to current regulator attitudes, raw milk is in fact an inherently low risk food, has prompted some backlash, notably on Doug Powell’s Barblog: Doug Powell’s Barfblog logo, David E. Gumpert, Nadine Ijaz “The scientific fringe craves the credibility – the impateur — of the scientific mainstream. It fuels conspiracy theories, drains public health resources, and unnecessarily worries a lot of folks; it’s a recycled tactic often used in the politics of genetically engineered food, water fluoridation, and so on. Mainstream science can be wrong; but it’s better than astrology….” and so forth. To counter this attempt to discredit the science supporting the “raw milk is a low risk food” thesis, David E. Gumpert and Nadine Ijaz have put together a new post on The Complete Patient blog: David: “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has had no hesitancy about spending taxpayer dollars to promote its viewpoint that raw milk is a mortal  danger. A couple years back, I called the FDA on its practice, after it spent nearly $2,500 with a press release service to put out  single warning on a slow-news weekend about possible illnesses at a private food club from raw milk, long after any possible threat had passed. The hidden agenda behind the press release was clearly propaganda. It had nothing to do with safety or science…” “Ijaz made a well-received evidence review on unpasteurized milk at the British Columbia (Canada) Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC). Her research debunks raw milk health and safety claims across all sides of the debate. It was picked up by the Wall Street Journal thanks to a media release from the Weston A. Price Foundation.  This kind of exposure represents a wonderful opportunity for sincere scientific debate based on actual evidence…or so Ijaz thought. But, of course, discussion is the last thing some food safety professionals in the academic and government orbit seem to want. Anyone who advocates such a rational approach tends to be shot down, such as in this case, with terms like ‘astrology’ and ‘conspiracy theories’ and ‘scientifically-sounding garble.” This arrogant academic said he decided to `leave it to others to comment on the uh, unique interpretations of risk assessment`.  So much for scientific rigour….” Nadine: “In my BC CDC Grand Rounds presentation of May 16, 2013 entitled Unpasteurized milk: myths and evidence, I reviewed a substantial number of peer-reviewed studies to deconstruct myths propagated on various sides of the raw milk debate. In that presentation, I employed evidence-based perspectives towards a balanced critique of raw milk consumer claims as well as those presented by North American public health bodies.  My goal is to begin depoliticizing the raw milk debate and to bring a higher standard of scientific rigour to this long-controversial subject. My evidence review concluded that while little evidence substantiates several common raw milk consumer claims, neither is raw milk as uniquely hazardous today as it was in the 1930s.  While acknowledging the ongoing value of pasteurization as a public health intervention, I systematically deconstructed what appears to be a fundamental and unprecedented bias against unpasteurized milk in the scientific literature and by public health bodies. I also critically examined recent evidence around the proposed protective effects of raw farm milk on the development of atopic conditions in young children, as well as evidence pertaining to industrial milk processing`s possible health impacts….” Get the whole story on The Complete Patient blog. Watch Nadine’s full presentation to the BC Centre for Disease Control here.