The Cheesiest Blog Around
We sat down with David Major, cheese maker and founding owner of Vermont Shepherd, to get an inside look at where their award-winning cheese Invierno is crafted, as well as talk about what it’s like to be one of the oldest dairies in the country.
Continue reading “Meet the Maker: Vermont Shepherd”
To Our Dear, Cheese-loving Customers:
For over two decades, Murray’s has traveled the world to discover and import delicious cheeses from Europe. We take pride in giving our customers access to the classics, well as our more unique finds.
Today, however, a recently proposed tariff on numerous imported foods and cheeses could drastically impact your access to and enjoyment of some of our favorite cheeses. Murray’s, along with countless others in the cheese and food business, is working diligently to protect our most beloved cheeses, and I am writing you with the opportunity to add your voices to the fight.
The tariff itself is centered on a decades-old dispute between the World Trade Organization and aircraft companies. Besides the impact these tariffs would have on the specialty food business, and the farmers who support it, the subsequent price increases would negatively impact you – our customers. Cheeses like Roquefort, Stilton, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Pecorino Romano are on the docket, among many others.
Should you feel compelled to help us fight for our beloved cheeses, you can do so by contacting your local representative, explaining the situation, and asking for their support. Simply follow these steps:
I am a consumer who is in opposition of the proposed tariff countermeasures in response to the airbus dispute. I feel that the increased duties on the products listed below would have an adverse effect upon U.S. stakeholders, including small businesses and consumers:
These products include but are not limited to the following:
I feel strongly that these cheeses have no domestic equivalent.
The deadline for submissions is August 12th, 2019 – so please click through and comment today…Murray’s and your favorite European cheeses will thank you for years to come!
Sincerely yours,
Elizabeth Chubbuck, SVP Sales and Marketing at Murray’s Cheese
Ever gotten a last-minute party invite? We’ve all been there. Your friend’s having a backyard BBQ and wants you to come…and bring something. Don’t worry–we’ve got a foolproof guide to curating an expert spread in just minutes with some classic pairs and crowd-pleasing cheeses that are guaranteed to impress.
Continue reading “Murray’s Cheese Survival Guide”
In honor of French Month, we wanted to take an in depth look at one of our favorite classic French cheeses, and the most popular cheese in France: Comté. We’ve recently brought in a new addition to our selection, Comté Fort des Rousses, which joined our stalwart version, Comté Saint Antoine, and the similarities and differences between the two got us thinking about the cheese style, it’s history, and most importantly, the spectrum of flavors present in Comté itself.
There are many guidelines around what can and cannot be called Comté, due to its designation as an AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) cheese, a French certification granted to certain important French products that designate how they must be made in order to use the “Comté” name. In fact, Comté was just the second cheese to gain AOC designation in 1958, trailing only Roquefort. These rules govern what breeds of cows can be milked, milk transportation, salting practices and more.
At its most basic, Comté is an unpasteurized, cow’s milk, Alpine-style cheese from the Jura Massif region of Eastern France. Mountainous and filled with alpine flowers, this terrain makes for happy cows, and their milk makes Comté full of flavors of terroir. That milk is brought daily from the farm to the cheese maker, who turns every 100+ gallons of milk into one 80lb. wheel of Comté. After being left to age at the dairy for a few weeks, they are then transferred to cheese caves, where they age for many months more. Though they may have similar starting points, it’s in these caves that our two Comtes get their distinctive flavors.
When talking about both Comté Fort des Rousses, and Comté (Fort) Saint Antoine, you have to talk about where the cheese are aged: in renovated French military forts.
The Cellars of Fort Saint Antoine are set into a refitted defunct military fort in a forest in Haut Doubs (an area in Eastern France) , at 3600 feet altitude. Erected after the French-Prussian war in 1870 to protect the eastern borders, the fort is made of cut and vaulted stone, covered in a thick layer of soil, which allows for optimal, natural conditions for aging cheese. The annals of the the fort were built into cheese caves starting in 1966, and today the cellars hold over 100,000 wheels of Comté Saint Antoine, aging between 10 and 20 months. Murray’s wheels are aged 12-18 months!
Less than 40 miles Southwest sits the Fort des Rousses, France’s second largest fortress, located in the heart of the Jura Mountains. The fort was built in 1840 and designed to accommodate 3,500 soldiers. Like it’s (relative) neighbor to the north, Fort des Rousses was also converted into cheese caves, though in 1997, and now holds over 130,000 wheels of Comté Fort des Rousses. While these two caves may seem similar in location, history, and design, their unique traits — from natural yeasts in the air to air temperature and moisture levels — lead to two distinct versions of Comté.
So what does all that time in those re-purposed forts yield? Comté Saint Antoine captures the essence of raw, mountain pasture-fed cow milk. Murray’s wheels tend toward the sweetness of cooked milk balanced by a bit of stone fruit and slight nuttiness of browned butter. Meanwhile, Comté Fort des Rousses has a creamy firmness and notes of dried fruit, almond, and hazelnut. With serious taste of place, this renowned favorite maintains a profile that reflects the mountain environment where it’s born, featuring an earthy essence punctuated with hints of citrus and spice.
Both are delicious, versatile cheeses, as much at home on a snack plate as they are in a croque monsieur. The best way to taste the differences? Pick up a wedge of each, and taste next to each other to truly experience what these special forts can do!
We’re rounding up the top cheeses you need this summer! From all-time classics to seasonal favorites, these selections are flying off the shelves. Perfect for barbecues, parties, and everyday snacking, our fan-favorite picks are the hottest cheeses at Murray’s right now.
Continue reading “Top 5 Cheeses of the Moment”