Cheese as Art
by Miranda McQuillan
B
ehold the power and the beauty of Cheese! The Art of Cheese
making is a long standing, artisanal, creative process, full of
culture, legacy and ideas on how to engage and thrill the senses.
“An artisan is a person engaged in or occupied by the practice of a
craft, who may, through experience and talent, reach the expressive
levels of an artist using their hands, mind and heart in their work
and what they create.” (Merriam Webster)
I can say without doubt, that cheese makers are artists that spend
countless days, hours and months – even years – servicing their
masterpieces. They use their surroundings as inspiration, as well as
to find ingredients. They self-critique using all of the senses, they
“go back to the drawing board” and they are committed to the role
that better food, including their cheese, plays in our lives.
“Cheese makers are artists that
spend countless days, hours and
months – even years – servicing
their masterpieces.”
My first experience with the artistic nature of cheese was the
first time I cut into a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano 12 years
ago. Though it’s a bigger house cheese today, made en masse, it’s
considered the “King of cheese.” Those that make it are considered
master cheese makers, maintaining what is called alimentary
control in Europe. You could say it is one of the first artisan cheeses
available to the world.
Government organizations (DOC in Italy/the AOC in France
etc.) assure terroir – that your cheese is made on the same land, in
the same climate/country, using no artificial ingredients etc., as it
first was and always has been. It’s important to that craftsmanship.
Similar to how a Picasso and a
Picasso print are valued
differently, the
original is always
the one that
brings the
most at
auction.
With Reggiano, there are even special cutting and carving tools,
not just a knife or a wire. The blades of some of the tools look
like big, flat, silver paint brushes, designed to crack that 75 pound
wheel. You score the wheel with the carving tool, insert the “paint
brushes,” and twist them to crack the wheel.
That moment when the rind cracks and the air touches the paste,
that cheese is “born” and breathes for the first time. The cheese
reveals its beauty, simultaneously speaking to your eyes, ears, and
nose. The smell of a fresh wheel starts the wanton need of your taste
buds for that first, sweet, nutty, sharp, intense, stinky, soft, crumbly,
crystal crunchy taste. When I am cutting cheese, I have people
smell the half wheel before we taste it. It’s like regarding a painting
or sculpture for the first time – something to behold, creating a
passion which brings you back for more.
This European cheese artistry influenced mainly Wisconsin,
Vermont and California for a long time, but recently has reached
into almost every state in the U.S. The burgeoning American
artisanal landscape is prime for the picking with brewers, vintners
and cheese makers all throwing their hats in the ring and producing
rustic cheeses, brews, wines and spirits that delight and rival their
counterparts. They are cultural forefathers and mothers that took
those huddled cheese masses and helped turn them into some of
the best cheeses, loved all over the world, which was unheard of for
American cheeses just ten years ago.
Humboldt Fog, from Cypress Grove in Northern California, is
a long standing goat cheese made in the U.S. that has amazing
craftsmanship. It’s goat brie that is aged like St. Andre. Sitting about
six inches tall, the effect is a soft, brie texture at the rind, and a bit
thicker, richer texture in the middle. It’s like two cheeses in one.
Rogue River Blue from Rogue River Creamery, as well as Maytag
blue from Newton Iowa, are two of the most highly acclaimed
American artisan cheeses. Due to demand, they are produced in
quantity now, so they are not handled in that small batch manner.
However, the attention to authenticity and truth in cheese was
started by these up-and-coming cheese companies and, as with their
European counterparts, it matters to them.
All over the U.S., there are great local cheese makers creating