Cheese of the week: Emmentaler

Name: Emmentaler

Brand: Emmi

Place of Purchase: HyVee Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Switzerland

Price in Iowa: $9.98/lb.

Milk: raw cow

Processing: Raw milk is curdled, rennet is added, 4 years of cave aging in cool, then warm, then cool caves.

Texture: semi-hard

Color: pale yellow with holes

Rind: natural

Aroma: earthy, woody, dairy

Taste: It's Swiss cheese, but something more. Sure it has the pleasantly tart and pungent taste, but true Emmentaler is creamier and more robust.

Mouth feel: Melt in your mouth creamy.

Notes: I've had lots of Swiss cheese. I've had it in sandwiches, and on cheese trays, and just by itself.

Fruit of the week: Rambutan

Name: Rambutan

Brand: Aroy-D

Place of Purchase: Uni Mart Korean Grocery in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Thailand

Price in Iowa: $2.59 for 8oz of fruit

Description: Firm, "dragon-eye" type fruits.

Flavor: Sweet, honey, citrus, rose, with a lingering flowery aftertaste

Aroma: Like sugar and rose.

Texture/Mouth-feel: Nice, firm orbs

Notes: Apparently, the rambutan is the most popular fruit in Southeast Asia. Indigenous to Malaysia, today Thailand is the biggest producer of this fruit. Similar to the lychee and the longan, this fruit is produced by an evergreen. In the pod, it is surrounded by fleshy red spines (when ripe), with a white "dragon eye" fruit underneath, covering an oily seed. A single rambutan tree can produce over 100 pounds of fruit every year.

Unfortunately, I had to get the canned variety packaged in heavy syrup. So, the sweetness level is probably off. I've had rambutan juice before, but it was pretty watered-down. So, I have to assume that this is the closest thing to the actual flavor. I put the syrup in my tea. It was pretty nice, actually. The flowery aftertaste made everything delicious.

Cheese of the week: Prima Donna maturo

Name: Prima Donna maturo (formaggio con passione)

Brand: Van der Sterre

Place of Purchase: Cub Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Holland

Price in Iowa: $19.99/lb.

Milk: Cow

Processing: similar to Gouda, with a lower fat content, 12 months of aging

Texture: firm

Color: pale cream

Rind: natural

Aroma: sharp dairy

Taste: mix of Parmesan/Romano and gouda, light, sharp and nutty.

Mouth feel: slightly dry, firm, not chewy, crunchy protein crystals

Notes: I guess I splurged when I bought the maturo, but I'm glad I did. A trend that I've found in many of these extra-aged cheeses is the protein crystals. They add a crunch to the dry paste, but they also add little pops of flavor. This cheese deserves to be served all by itself. It'sunique flavor and mouthfeel require your full attention

Fruit of the Week: Cacao

Name: Cacao

Brand: no brand

Place of Purchase: not purchased

Country/Region of Origin: Peru

Price in Iowa: free for me

Description: A large orange pod, with white interior flesh surrounding purple seeds.

Flavor: Like watermelon, but tart.

Aroma: Flowery and fresh.

Texture/Mouth-feel: Slimy, at first, but then creamy.

Notes: One of my friends went on a mission trip to Peru and brought me back a cacao pod. I'm not sure if she brought it for me because she knew about my blog, or just because she just thought I liked chocolate. But, I got it anyway and now I can share it with all of you. The pulp is a rare treat for the farmers that harvest the plant for cocoa powder. The fermentation of the flesh around the cocoa bean gives chocolate most of its flavor. That and there isn't much flesh clinging to the seeds. So, the local farmers will pop a few seeds into their mouth. The flavor is like watermelon or mangosteen, but with a tart zing of a finish. There is a bit of a membranous film around each seed, but the flesh underneath is creamy like durian.

It was a nice experience, but nothing beats chocolate.

Cheese of the week: "Drunken Goat" Queso de murcia al vino

Name: Queso de Murcia al vino

Brand: Drunken Goat

Place of Purchase: Cub Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Murcia, Spain

Price in Iowa: $21.79/lb.

Milk: pasteurized goat

Processing: short aging, then soaked in red wine, then aged for another 75 days

Texture: semi-soft

Color: pale yellow with a burgundy rind

Rind: Natural, edible rind soaked in red wine for 3 days

Aroma: Mild dairy, woody, fruity

Taste: warm, nutty, sharp dairy, tart

Mouth feel: firm, yielding, not chewy

Notes:This is a neat and very pretty cheese. The violet, edible rind would make it an exciting addition to a cheese plate. But the extremely complex mixture of flavors from the earthy got cheese and the infusion of grape and woody flavors from the wine, is something that must be experienced. It tasted wonderful, and had a yielding, but not crumbly, paste.

Fruit of the week: Sapote/Long Mut

Name: Sapote of Long Mut

Brand: Aroy-D

Place of Purchase: Uni-Mart Korean Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Thailand

Price in Iowa: $1.59 for 10 oz. of fruit

Description: A cross between a yam and a skinned kiwi

Flavor: Hints of strawberry, hard apple, prunes and rose.

Aroma: strawberry and cider

Texture/Mouth-feel: Very, very fibrous. :P

Notes: I was hoping for black sapote. I was hoping for sweet, custard-like fruit that tasted like chocolate pudding and love. Instead, I got some sweet, flowery sponges. I just sucked the juice out and spit out the flesh.

Canned fruit makes me so sad.

Cheese of the week: Saint Andre

Name: Saint Andre

Brand: Saint Andre

Place of Purchase: Cub Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: France

Price in Iowa: 22.99/lb.

Milk: cow

Processing: triple cream

Texture: soft

Color: buttery white

Rind: edible white mold

Aroma: clean dairy

Taste: clean front taste, mild dairy finish

Mouth feel: creamy silk; dense, rich and buttery

Notes: Wow. If they make cheese in Heaven, this is it. It's a creamy, crumbly, spreadable treasure that reminds me of everything that is good about Brie, but firmer, creamier and with a more well-rounded flavor. It's pretty pricey, though. But if you can find some, I insist that you try it.

Libation of the WEEK: Sidral Mundet

Name: Sidral Mundet

Brand: Novamex?

Place of Purchase: Cub Foods in Ames, Iowa

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Country/Region of Origin: Hecho en Mexico

Tasting Conditions: Chilled.

Price in Iowa: $1.09 for 12 oz.

Description: a sparkling, amber-colored juice.

Flavors: Lip smacking red delicious apples

Mouth-feel: like soda pop, with a cloying apple aftertaste

Aroma: Apples

Notes: I've run out of fruits again, so I decided to raid the Mexican soda pop aisle. I've seen this product for years now, but part of me always wondered "WHY?" I mean, they have sparkling cider already. How is this any different.

Flavor. Intense, but natural, apple flavor. The first few swings of this beverage cold are like biting down on a Red Delicious or Macintosh apple: cold, crisp and sweet as summer. After you get past the initial burst, the apple flavors fade into the background, and it's mostly cold and sweet. Still, it's worth the price of admission for the first few draughts.

Cheese of the week: Double Gloucester

Name: Double Gloucester & Double Gloucester with Chive

Brand: Amber Valley

Place of Purchase: (Plain) Fareway Grocery in Ames, Iowa & (Chive) Wheatsfield Organic Co-op in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Product of England

Price in Iowa: (Plain) $11.99/lb & (Chive) $12.12/lb

Milk: unpasteurized cow

Processing: double cream milk, extra aging for a stronger flavor

Texture: semi-hard

Color: orange

Rind: natural, with some mold

Aroma: mild, but tangy, dairy

Taste: rich and tangy

Mouth feel: creamy, but firm. Does not "melt in your mouth," but offers a yielding satiny firmness

Notes: I tried a plain and a chive infused double gloucester. The photo is the chive, since the plain was so good that we ate most of it before I remembered to take a photo. The plain was good, like a very fatty Colby or mild Cheddar. Something magical happened with the Chive Double Gloucester, though. The herby spark of the chives blended perfectly with the flavors of the cheese and created something quite extraordinary. There are other varieties of Gloucester, including Huntsman which is a layered cheese with Gloucester and Stilton. That, sounds like a match I'd like to sample.

Libation of the WEEK: Bilberry Nectar

Name: Bilberry Nectar

Brand: Bionaturae

Place of Purchase: Wheatsfield Organic Co-Op in Ames, Iowa

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Country/Region of Origin: USA

Tasting Conditions: Chilled over ice.

Price in Iowa: $2.79 for 15 oz.

Description: A violet-blue-colored juice.

Flavors: Grape, blueberry, cranberries and currants.

Mouth-feel: A clean nectar

Aroma: Blueberries

Notes: The bilberry, or whortleberry, is a relative of the blueberry, the cranberry and the lingonberry. Which is probably why this nectar tastes like those berries. This particular nectar was diluted with apple juice, but I really couldn't detect any apple flavors. If anything it made this nectar have a cleaner mouthfeel.

There is a bit of sediment at the bottom of the glass. I guess I let mine sit and sipped it slowly. The sediment is both tart and astringent, so I wouldn't drink the dregs.

Bilberries supposedly have a bunch of healthy properties including better eyesight, cancer-fighting agents, and antioxidants. I just think it's tasty. Bilberries are hard to find, and aren't easily cultivated. So, if you're planning an authentic Lughnassadh next August, pick up a bottle of this tasty beverage.

PS: Sorry about the photo. My uploads have been twitchy all day.