Pecorino Sardo is an Italian sheep's milk cheese which can be either young or aged. We tried the aged version. One might be tempted to confuse it with Pecorino Romano (as I did until I actually looked it up), but it's really a different cheese.

Slightly sharp, fruity and cheesy, pleasantly salty. This stuff is absolutely delicious. It was a bit crumbly, but still sliced well enough. I've read it goes wonderfully on sandwiches, although we just ate it plain.

The cat liked it as well, even though he didn't seem to be in much of a cheese mood.

Since we're trying lots of good cheese, Parmesan for our proposes will mean Parmigiano Reggiano which is only made in a certain part of Italy. And I'll take this opportunity to be a wee bit snobish. If you want your food to taste salty and waxy, the American Parmesan which comes in the green can is certainly adequate. But if you want good food you need to use the real thing, and you need to grate or shave it fresh.

Having said that, Parmigiano Reggiano isn't some magical mana from the gods that will blow you away with it's wondrousness. It's just really good Parmesan. The fact that it has a real texture is good as well. Crunchy cheese? Yes.

When I worked in an Italian restaurant in Missoula one of the tasks was to go down to the basement and grind the big wheels of Parmesan. We'd always assume that tasting a few of the chips was an important part of getting things ground up properly. Good times.

The cat however wouldn't have anything to do with it. He gave me this look like, "What? That's not food. Are you trying to confuse me? Isn't there some brie in the house?"

I used up the last of the Italian Parmigiano Reggiano in my four cheese mac & cheese a few nights ago, so it was time to restock. And as I was wondering through Whole Foods to the grab some of the real stuff I spotted an American variety - Antigo's Stravecchio from Wisconsin. Hmmmm..... This looks interesting.

And interesting it was. A bit less hard, more moist, richer flavor, slightly different tang, less rind, not quite as salty. But still darn good Parmesan. In fact I'd say I might like this parm better for nibbling than the Italian stuff. It seems to be more about the flavor and less about the texture.

Still..... At the end of the day it's not Parmigiano Reggiano. Since it's less "rock-like" it doesn't grate as well without crumbling, and it melts much faster when grated on finished dishes as garnish. But I'm quibbling at this point. Bottomline - It's really good cheese. And finding an American company making great Parmesan is a good thing all by itself.

One of the cool stories about the Antigo Cheese Company is that the original company decided to close the plant in 1993. But the employees and the dairies decided to buy the whole thing and keep it running. Good for them, and good for cheese.

When I think about washed rind trappist cheese I don't think about Canada. Well, Mr Cheese, time to think again.

Oka was invented by monks who had been kicked out of France in 1880. They were familiar with making Port Salut cheese, and oka is their version of that cheese. Fast forward to today when most Port Salut is commercially made and comes with an odd waxy covering, while oka retains it's smelly rind and it's handmade character.

Smelly rind aside (and it was only very slightly smelly) I found the cheese to be a bit milder than Port Salut. Which seems odd. It was nutty, creamy, and fresh tasting. Slightly sweet. Nice flavor. Semi-soft texture.

Since I'd never had any fresh Mozzarella before as opposed to the rubbery crap they sell at the mega-mart) I decided to grab some of that for the review.

Fresh Mozzarella tastes nothing like the stuff you're used to grating on your pizza. It's not rubbery for one thing, and it has a taste that is quite distinctive. Very sweet, and more like cottage cheese in character. Very mild flavor. If I can get some larger balls of this I'd love to try making some pizza with it.

One cool thing about the Mozzarella - The "buffalo" Mozzarella is actually made from water buffalo. Italian water buffalo. I told my wife that and she flat out called me a liar. Maybe we're just too sheltered over here in America, but it's just hard to imagine herds of water buffalo wandering around Italy.

I forgot to see if the cat liked it.

Mimolette is a cheese that looks very oddly like a cantaloupe. Supposedly this is just by chance, but the likeness is so obvious that one wonders. We got our sample here from Whole Foods, already sliced into thin wedges. There was o indication of age, but I'm guessing 18 months.

One of the interesting things about this cheese is that the dimpled rind is created by cheese mites which chew on the cheese and are periodically brushed off. One wonders why they wouldn't just kill the mites and try keeping the cheese out of the sorts of places mites are proliferating. But apparently mites gnaw on lots of cheese and it's all part of the wonderful artisanal process. And the fact that these mites get to gnaw extra long so that the cheese looks like a cantaloupe is just chance. Hmmmm.......

Anyway. The cheese is quite yummy. It's an aged edam style cheese. It's hard but not crumbly. Mild. Sweet and slightly fruity. Nutty. Slightly oily, but not in a bad way. Very good for nibbling on and with great melting qualities. Plus, it's just too much fun to say "Mimolette".

This cheese is served at a wide range of ages so you might find it soft and creamy if you get a younger one.

For those wondering, the cat loves Mimolette.

Liptauer is one of the Monty Python "cheese Shop" cheeses, and as such I must try it. But as I've documented before, deciding just exactly what form of "Liptauer" I need to try to cross it off the list is problematic. A few sources say that Liptauer is a cheese in itself, while the vast majority say that it's a cheese spread made with spices and junk. Making the issue more problematic, some of the sketch versions give the cheese as "Lipto", which certainly is a cheese.

In the end I decided to go the easy route and just mix up some Liptauer spread. In my defense, the sketch also names Boursin, which is a cheese spread made for mystery cheese.

Most recipes for Liptauer are some variation of - cream cheese, Feta, Quark, or Lipto mixed with butter, capers, paprika, and caraway. And it varies enough that you can make a semi-legitimate batch as long as it has some manner of soft cheese and paprika. I decided to go with Quark cheese, paprika, capers, and caraway.

I must say this wasn't something I'll ever eat again. Maybe I just don't like paprika enough. Or maybe putting it in cheese is something you need to be from Austria to enjoy. So...... crossing it off the list.

In the picture above, the quark is the white cheese.

This is the good stuff. Very much like a fine cheddar, but with some of the sweetness you'd expect from an aged gouda, with a bit of the tanginess very reminiscent of a good parmesan.

One would think that by so many different things together in one cheese you'd get a big mess, but no so. The cheese has won numerous awards. And even if it hadn't, it certainly caught my attention right away.

To the horror of many I'm sure I made a macaroni & cheese with this stuff. Hey, we have a lot of cheese to eat and it has to go somewhere. And the wife had already announced that the Midnight Moon gouda was going to be our nibbling cheese this week. So........... mac & cheese it is.

That was some damn good mac & cheese.

Lincolnshire Poacher is farmhouse created by Simon Jones 1992. Nice to know that in the Internet age we're still inventing great new cheeses.

It can be put off no longer. We must review the Limberger.

Bottomline - Stinky.

I love how some of the online descriptions for Limberger say that it's "piquant". Please. Would someone describe my stinky feet as piquant? No. My stinky feet are stinky and foul. So can we please just stop with the polite adjectives? Limberger is foul and everyone knows it. Certainly, if you get past the initial odor it has plenty of cheese character - Buttery and sweet even. But frankly I don't understand the attraction. I tried it on it's own and with dark bread and stout. Let me just say I won't be trying it again.

I found Limberger to be rather uninspiring, even if I put aside the smell. Rather mild in that respect. If I really had an urge for smelly cheese there are much better options.

The cat wouldn't go near it. Which is odd since he generally likes the stinky cheeses.

We tried Kirkham's Farmhouse Lancashire and I really liked that. Semi-hard and a little crumbly. Sweet when you first bite into it, but with a slight sour finish. Lots of depth.

It's also suppose to have excellent melting properties so I decided to try some Welsh Rabbit for the first time. I don't think I like Welsh Rabbit. When I could have grilled cheese or even cheese on toast, I don't think I'd go to the bother of making the beer and mustard cheese sauce thing. And even if it wasn't a bother I'm not sure I like it.

The cat loves Lancashire. Maybe not as much as he likes the Cotswald, but it's certainly on his yummy list. This was rather surprising since he usually won't even try the milder cheeses. Or maybe he was just really hungry.