Glorious.

Sweet and nutty upfront.

Sharp, a light cheddar tang.

That glorious crunch of snowflaked amino acids.

An aroma of roasted nuts, sweet butter, and the grasses of its origin.

Rubbed with a distinctive exterior coating of black pepper, unsweetened cocoa powder.

This morning Luke told me the sad news: Vella is closing.

We once were a proper civilization.

Essential.

 Lively Run Goat Dairy, Finger Lakes Gold Reserve 

Food & Wine has 25 essential American cheeses ...

Flourishes.

An organism native to Gubbeen Farm which flourishes on the rind of Gubbeen cheese, was identified by microbiologists in 2001 and named microbacterium gubbeenense after the farm and dairy.

Deeper.

Neal's Yard Dairy's respect for origins ...

“If you eat a nice piece of cheese, you can forget that you're having a human experience. It’s simple, it’s flavoured, it brings you pleasure,” Joe said. “Go a little bit deeper and you can see that this cheese is representative of something. Of a place. Of a farming system. Of people.” Stichelton's name forces you to go deeper – into history, authenticity, and raw milk cheese. 

Small-Production.

Neal's Yard Dairy on the production of three relatively new, small-production Wensleydale cheeses called Stonebeck, Yoredale & Whin Yeats ...

Caerphilly.

Deep summer.

Finishing the last of dinner's accompanying glass of milk, then run as fast as possible through the neighborhood to get into the pick-up baseball game.

That flavor of milk that's still on the tongue ... that's Caerphilly.

Treasures.

Having worked in food service for over 25 years, a word that best encapsulates the eating experience for me is satisfaction.  When it comes to products like cheese, it's the difference between Kraft and craft.  The sliver of aged, cloth-bound farmhouse cheddar that is need to provide the most pleasant gustatory fulfillment is minuscule when compared to the number of pieces of individually wrapped cheese-product required to achieve the same vilely-satiated result.

The highest quality cheeses are not produced in industrial settings, but rather on farms, generally those that have been in families for generations, if not centuries, by cheese makers who have their own herds, and who created their art by hand, under increasing oversight and artistic encroachment by government regulation.

Whether it's estate-bottled wine or olive oil, extravecchio balsamic vinegar, or an honest loaf of handmade sourdough, it is impossible to get high-quality products from low-quality processes.  These processes take time and expertise to perfect (a word that's hard to believe in, but in this realm it exists), taking generations, even centuries of technique create such results.  This is the secret ingredient that never shows up on a nutrition label: time.

Find a Mom and Pop cheesemonger, talk to them, ask about their relationship to producers, listen, taste, explore.  Avoid the kitsch of espresso pecorino, hot honey prosciutto, and infused oils.  You'll get what you pay for ... guaranteed. Unless you find such examples at merchants of neglect like Whole Foods, who should be flogged for what they've been able to get away with from decades at their cheese counters (or maybe it's Hell Foods customers who deserve the lash).

Academy of Cheese has Harvey & Brockless' Tom Badcock ...

One of the most striking aspects of Tom’s worldview is his deep affinity for Japanese craftsmanship – an ethos rooted in shokunin and monozukuri, where devotion, precision, and a lifelong pursuit of mastery are not only expected, but revered.

Tom’s understanding of this philosophy was cemented during a three-week visit to Japan last year, travelling with his wife and immersing himself in a culture that places extraordinary value on craft. He speaks with real passion about witnessing how artisans dedicate their entire lives to perfecting a single product, striving to do their work to the very best of their ability – every day, for decades.

What struck him most was not just the commitment of the craftsmen themselves, but the response of society around them. In Japan, mastery earns respect. Craftsmen are treated as living heritage: valued not only for what they produce, but for the cultural continuity they represent. Some are even formally recognised as Living National Treasures.

For Tom, the parallels with British farmhouse cheesemakers are unmistakable, and deeply frustrating. “Their skills are irreplaceable,” he says. “Once they’re gone, they’re gone.” He believes cheesemakers here embody the same devotion and mastery yet are too often undervalued by the society they serve.

The Academy's Cheese Library.

Their blog is an outstanding resource for ...

• Cheese Buying and Distribution, Industry Knowledge, Language & Communication, Regulation & Good Practice
• Tasting
• Iconic Cheeses
• Affinage
• Milk Production & Cheesemaking
• Presenting and Serving

Découpe.

Technique is the proof of your seriousness.

Wallace Stevens

Poacher.

From a hunk wrapped in a bandana, warmed in your pocket during a walk, to Welsh Rarebit, that first Tuesday after Thanksgiving ... 'tis Autumn and time for Lincolnshire Poacher. 

Buttery.

... a texture the Kirkham family call "buttery crumble" – this raw milk farmhouse Lancashire boasts a bright, full flavour finished off by a light, yoghurty tang.

Proud.

The director of Neal's Yard Dairy, David Lockwood, explains his cheese selection process ...

When I'm selecting, I take the ones that we at Neal's Yard Dairy will do best with.  There's a bit of variation in there, I think that the cheeses, even if they are different, are all cheeses that I'm proud to have on the counter.

Mushroomy.

Fresh, lemony flavours that give way to a creamy, more mushroomy layer beneath the edible rind.

Extraordinary.

Before the Second World War, Paxton & Whitfield’s lavishly stocked windows were immortalised by Eric Ravilious and the shop sold some 2,000 Stiltons a year. But rationing and a dearth of farm workers saw its display dwindle to almost nothing — by 1951, you could only buy five cheeses there. In the interim, No. 93 Jermyn Street became an ordinary grocery shop — albeit one where extraordinary things continued to happen. Churchill liked to say that "a gentleman buys his hats at Locks, his shoes at Lobbs, his shirts at Harvie & Hudson, his suits at Huntsman and his cheese at Paxton & Whitfield." 

Listening.

Stepping over the threshold into the sounds and scents, I find myself in a small room with a red tiled floor. I am surrounded on three sides by floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves, all holding a row of neatly arranged wheels of cheese, each roughly 14 inches wide and three inches tall, some vacuum wrapped in plastic, others naked. 

All of them are listening to Vivaldi.

Technique is the proof of your seriousness.

Smile.

'Tis the season for Valençay.

Raw goat.

Lemony tang.

Crack a few Tellicherry peppercorns over it.

Put some Benny Goodman wax on the hi-fi and swig some ice-cold Ferrari-Carano Fumé Blanc straight from the bottle.

Smile at one of the best parts of Spring.

Scoop.

Drink a pot of ale, eat a scoop of Stilton every day, you will make "old bones."

Nineteenth-century saying