But really cutting the cheese requires some thought and care. “French children,” writes food historian Margaret Visser in The Rituals of Dinner, “are carefully taught never to serve themselves by cutting off the point of a triangle of cheese:  in something like a Camembert or Roquefort this would be to take the delicious centre for yourself, under the noses of the furious other guests.”  That center is sometimes called the “heart of the cheese” and it is often prized by cheese aficionados.  Visseroffers other cheese cutting and handling protocols:  hand cheese to another person with a knife, except Gruyèreand cheddar.  These latter two should be pierced with a fork, she writes, and then offered to the other person.

Some commonsense says that cutting hard or semi-hard cheeses goes easier when the cheeses have reached room temperature; softer cheeses cut easier when they are cool.  The Cheese Lover’s Companion advises use of a “strong thread or unflavored dental floss” as a make-shift cheese wire for cutting chèvre.

Some of my most memorable experiences with cutting cheese have come as I have opened large wheels of cheddar or Parmigiano-Reggiano.  The smallest of these wheels typically weigh 50-60 pounds.  Wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano weigh 95-105 pounds.  I use large, two-handled knives that afford me pretty good leverage.  I also use a couple of small wedges.  With a cheese fork, I perforate the cheese wheel along the line I’m going to cut.  Then I begin to roll the blade of a large knife into the body of the cheese, starting on one side and working the blade into the cheese toward the center.  After making that cut about an inch and a half deep, I move the knife to the other side of the wheel and repeat the process from that direction.   I force my wedges into the cheese through my knife cut and resume cutting on the side where I started.  I usually reach a depth of about four inches through this alternating process.

Then with my largest knife, I work the blade into the center of the cheese and begin to drive it downward.  About an inch later, I can feel the wheel start to give.  I twist the knife handles with enough torque and firmness to encourage the cheese to open, and violá!

At that moment, the wheel opens like a flower blooming.  Itdoesn’t crack; it unfolds.  And the fragrance arises and tantalizes the nostrils with the fruity, rich, cheesy aroma.   Cutting these wheels open can be a bit of a work-out, but the rewards are stunning.

At home, for serving your own cheeses, remember a few simple rules.  First, wait to cut cheeses until you ready to serve them.  Leave rinds on.   Let your guests nibble around them or in some cases such as chèvre or Brie, let them eat the rind if they wish.   Cut a cheese like manchego into thin wedges and fan the wedges onto a plate; most other cheeses that come in similar small wheels benefit from wedged-shape cutting too.

and grasses and the soil that the grasses grow from have an important effect on the cheese made in those circumstances. So attempting to make the same Midnight Moon in the US would be very difficult, probably impossible. And this cheese has gotten some really impressive recognition—2002 and 2003 Best of Show at the New York International Fancy Food Convention. You don’t want to mess with a winner!

And it has been a winner with the public. Even people who usually dislike goats’ milk often enjoy Midnight Moon, and people who like Merlot usually find that it pairs exceptionally well with Midnight Moon. It also pairs well with Syrah and Sangiovese and Riesling and Gewuerztraminer among the
whites. Semi-hard goats’ milk cheeses often pair well this way, but Midnight Moon is exceptional.

As much as I have enjoyed Midnight Moon by itself or with wine, one of my favorite qualities of the cheese is the name that Cypress Grove has given it. I think that the folks at Cypress Grove really have a wonderful sense of humor. They are situated in Humboldt County, California, once a hot-bed of the drug culture, and there make Purple Haze, a chevre with fennel and lavender, Humboldt Fog, a delicious semi-soft, mold-ripened cheese, and Lamb Chopper, an aged sheep’s milk gouda that they advertise as a cheese that was “born to be mild.” And they produce Midnight Moon with the young woman on its label. They have given the young woman a name; she is Bella–Bella DeBall.

It is wonderful with fruit, especially apples and pears. In Norway, people place a container or a piece of gjetostnear the fireplace where it can warm and soften. Then they dip slices of fruit into it and enjoy the caramellytaste that compliments the fruit. People who see gjetostfor the first time often think that it is some kind of caramel or fudge. This fudginess occurs because to make gjetost whey is simmered until the moisture evaporates and the milk sugars caramelize.

Whey is the watery part of milk which is separated from the curds or the solid part of the milk in cheese making. Whey is nutricious and may be made into “whey cheese.” And there’s plenty of material to use for making it. Twenty pounds of milk will produce about two pounds of cheese and about fifteen pounds of whey. The whey may be used to create various whey cheeses like ricotta, manouri, Sérac, and the Norwegian whey cheeses, mysost, primost, flotøst, and gjetost.

Gjetost comes in a wide range of colors, consistencies, and flavors, and it is widely produced throughout Scandinavia where it is so common that, according to one of my Norwegian friends, they call it simply, “brown cheese,” brunost.

A woman named Anne Hov is believed to have made the first gjetostas it is known today. In 1864, Hovadded cream to whey to create a richer, firmer version of the ancient recipe. Hov lived in Norway’s Gubrands Valley where Gudbrandsalsost, a very highly regarded gjetost, is still made.

I like the combination of gjetost, apple and pear slices, and Riesling or a medium-dry Chardonnay, some hazel nuts, and a rye cracker or crusty rye bread.

But cheddar cheese or more properly “cheddaring” cheese is a process rather than place.  With hand-cheddaredcheeses this means partially draining the curd, cutting the curd into large slabs, and stacking the slabs atop one another, two to four slabs high.  The cheese maker turns these stacks every ten to fifteen minutes over a two-hour period.  This process extracts much of the whey and causes chemical and molecular changes in the curd, binding the protein molecules and densely matting the mass.

All of these cheddars range in color from slightly off-white to very pale yellow.  When cheddars appear yellow or orange, they have been dyed, usually with annatto dye, a flavorless coloring agent made from the red-orange seeds of the achiote tree, widely grown in South America.  Even Cougar Gold is off-white, not gold.  Calling it “Cougar Gold” comes from the name of one of the WSU researchers who helped to perfect it—Dr. Gold.

Extra-aged (that’s 30-36 months) Fiscalini cheddar, made by John Fiscalini of Modesto, California, won the international cheese contest for best cheddar in 2008.  That’s a first for an American cheddar, although there are some other really fine ones made in the USA:  Grafton  cheddar (Vermont), Cabot Creamery cheddar (Vermont), and Shelburne Farms cheddar (Vermont).

There are some fantastic “young” cheddars too; the best, I think, is Winzer Delice, aged only five months but mouth-wateringly delicious.  This Swiss cheddar is finished in sweet red wine and pairs well with Pinot Gris and Reislingor Pinot Noir.  Isle of Mull cheddar works well with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah.

For a grilled cheese sandwich, a good, well-aged farmstead cheddar or a traditional farmhouse cheese like Cheshire, Single Gloucester, and Double Gloucester are great choices.  The Welsh have traditionally used Caerphilly (care-FILLY) for grilled cheese or what they and the Englishcall “Welsh Rarebit” or “Welsh Rabbit.”  I just had an Isle of Mull cheddar grilled cheese on some crusty bread–that’s hard to beat–yum.