Yancey’s Fancy! In the 2010 World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, Wisconsin, Yancey’s Fancy earned the “Best of Class” gold medal for its pasteurized process Jalapeno Peppadew Cheddar. So all you spice lovers out there, rejoice!
If you’ve never been to Kutter’s Cheese in Corfu, where Yancey’s Fancy is manufactured, you’re due for a visit. (Unless of course, you don’t like cheese – which comes close to being sacrilegious in my book.) Their store is amazing.
I always come away with a bag stuffed with a great variety of cheese. In fact, I spent $70 in one trip, and my husband questioned my sanity. But cheese keeps, and he had to admit the price and selection were entertaining. I even bought a small piece of 12 year old cheddar. We’re saving it for a “special” occasion.
When you visit the store, you can have them cut cheese off a block, invest in a bag of cheese curds, pick up a bottle of Hunt Country Wine (they are a satellite winery), buy some frozen scone dough, pick up a bag of apples in season or poke through their huge variety of flavored cheeses. (I highly recommend the smoked Gouda and Bacon Cheese, it placed 4th in the contest, along with their Roasted Garlic Cheddar Cheese. Mmmmm.)
If you’d like a tour, give them a call in August. They generally have one day in September where they give “behind the scene” tours. As they’ve been in business for over 60 years, they have a lot of stories to tell about cheese making and what they do to promote capitalism. For those of you who don’t know, Mr. Kutter has made several trips to Russia, to help a ‘capitalist” cheese industry get started. His tales about Kutter’s history, and his trips to Russia are fascinating.
If you go to www.cheesefacts.org you can find all kinds of “cheesy” tidbits. I thought the following might come in handy:
Serving and Storage Tips
• Keep like cheeses together, wrapped in waxed paper (change the wrapper each time you use the cheese). Place cheeses in a loose-fitting food-bag so they won’t lose moisture, while maintaining air circulation.
• Totally wrap blue cheeses, as mold spores spread readily, not only to other cheeses but to nearby food items.
• Chilled cheeses should be taken out of the refrigerator and consumed at room temperature.
• Cheeses contain living organisms that must not be cut off from air, yet it’s important not to allow cheese to dry out. Hard cheese can last up to 8 weeks, soft cheese only a few weeks.
• Do not store cheese with other strong-smelling foods. As a cheese breathes, it will absorb other aromas and may spoil.
• Wrap soft cheeses loosely. Use waxed or greaseproof paper rather than cling film.
• In a perfect world, you’d store your cut cheese at around 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit and 80% humidity. Best option in the fridge is to keep it in a vegetable drawer to help protect it from the dehydrating air flow.
• If your aged cheese picks up mold while in the refrigerator, simply trim it off, but if mold occurs on softer cheeses, they are well past their prime.
- Dawn Ireland-Monsees
- Dawn Ireland-Monsees
