Cheese of the week: Wensleydale

Name: Wensleydale

Brand: Tuxford and Tebbutt

Place of Purchase: Ames British Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: The T&T headquarters is in Leicestershire , but the fields of Wensleydale are in Yorkshire.

Price in Iowa: $13/lb.

Milk: pasteurized cow

Processing: cow's milk from the fields of Wensleydale are used to make this crumbly, sweet cheese.

Texture: semi-hard

Color: pale yellow

Rind: no rind on my piece

Aroma: clean dairy

Taste: sweet and milky

Mouth feel: crumby and moist
 
Notes: I'm working my way through the cheeses at the Ames British Foods store now.  Wensleydale is typically served as a dessert cheese and is often paired with fruits.  In fact, there were blueberry and cranberry varieties available, but I went with the natural variety.  I liked this cheese.  I think I'll get some fresh blueberries and finish off the rest of this cheese.

Fruit of the Week: Saladitos con Chile

Name: Saladitos con Chile (salted dried plums with chili)

Brand: Mi Costenito

Place of Purchase: HyVee Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Mexico

 

Price in Iowa: 99-cents for 1.5 oz.

Description: Big, rust-colored raisins

Flavor: SALTY.  SOUR.  Spicy.

Aroma: Like smoked chiles.

Texture/Mouth-feel: The plums weren't very gummy.  They were almost like powder. They also still had their pits. 

Notes: I'm out of fresh fruit again, so I went with preserved.  Pickled and salted fruits are common in many cultures.  There are many kinds of salted fruits from India and the nations that neighbor it (especially salted mangoes).  I didn't like these salted plums.  Maybe if they were pitted, I would have enjoyed them more.  At least then there might have been a bit of gummy sweetness in the middle.  Instead, it was a hint of hot spice and a blast of sour and salt.  So much salt.  But, if you were keeping these as a treat in your backpack, or used them to add flavor to a dish, they'd be perfect.  They would last forever, and be jam-packed with salt.  But on there own, they're simply too much flavor.

Cheese of the week: Comte

Name: Comte

Brand: President

Place of Purchase: Cub Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: France

Price in Iowa: $18.99/lb.

Milk: raw cow

Processing: raw cow's milk is warmed, rennet is added, curd is cut into small chunks and heated again, the curd is pressed into molds and exposed, the cheese is aged for at least 60 days

Texture: semi-hard

Color: pale yellow

Rind: natural

Aroma: woody, nutty, dairy

Taste: warm, umami, fruity

Mouth feel: firm
 
Notes: This shepherds cheese is produced during the summer months, and aged for a long time.  Salt is only added to the exterior, producing a meaty, fruity pate that even the most finicky palate will appreciate.  The cheese is a bit stinky, but man does it taste good!  My family devoured the wedge that I brought home.   

Fruit of the Week: Geranium Jelly

Name: Geranium Jelly

Brand: Opies

Place of Purchase: Ames British Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Britain

Price in Iowa: $5.95 for 190 grams

Description: Bright yellow, clear jelly.

Flavor: It tastes like geraniums, with a spicy kick like black pepper and a light, wine aftertaste.

Aroma: It smells like geraniums.

Texture/Mouth-feel: Even though it looks homogeneous, the jelly is actually a bit chunky.  The apples in the jelly are coarsely ground. 

Notes: I wasn't sure what to expect from this British jelly.  The apple flavors are obliterated by the floral mask of the geraniums, but the taste of electric black pepper was a nice surprise.  I can see how this jelly is easily paired with meat dishes.


Great find!

Cheese of the week: Probiotic Farmers Cheese

Name: Probiotic Farmers Cheese

Brand: Lifeway

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

Country/Region of Origin:

Price in Iowa: $5.99/lb.

Milk: pasteurized cow

Processing: cultures and rennet are added, whey is removed from the curd, cheese is put into plastic container

Texture: soft

Color: creamy white

Rind: No rind

Aroma: nothing.  Just clean.

Taste: sour, dairy

Mouth feel: somewhere between yogurt and cottage cheese
 
Notes:Not my favorite cheese.  The sour flavor, combined with the uneven texture made it a yucky experience.  I think that this cheese might be good in blintzes or cannoli or ravioli or something.  But on its own, it wasn't for me.

Nut of the week: Ginko nuts

Name: Gingko nuts

Brand: None listed

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

Country/Region of Origin: China (which is funny, because I live in the Gingko capital of the U.S.).

Price in Iowa: $0.79 for 3.5 oz.

Description: Bright yellow ovules.

Flavor: Bland at first, then nutty and astringent.  Almost medicinal, but in a positive way.  Good medicine.

Aroma: Nothing obvious.

Texture/Mouth-feel: Nice, firm orbs surrounded by a tight,snappy membrane.

Notes:Ginkgo biloba is a living fossil, the lone member of its own division of plants.  This ancient plant with fan-shaped leaves produces stinky fruits and supposedly has medicinal properties.  Research shows that long-term use of this product can increase the female sex drive, but that's about all that has been proven.

A few years ago, I watched Chinese students gathering dried nuts from the ground on campus.  I thought it was weird, because gingko fruit smells so bad.  But, 5000 years of Chinese medicine can't be wrong.

I will warn you that kids shouldn't eat to many of these nuts, as they can be toxic to smaller people.  I would also suggest that you make sure that you aren't allergic to the fruit before you try to gather fresh nuts.  Some people have a bad reaction.

Cheese of the week: No Woman Jerk Cheddar

Name: No Woman Cheddar

Brand: Beecher's Handmade Cheese

Place of Purchase: Cub Foods in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Made in Pike Place Market Market in Sunny Seattle, Washington

Price in Iowa: $18.99/lb.

Milk: pasteurized cow

Processing: an artisan cheddar with added sugar, cane vinegar, onions and other spices.

Texture: hard

Color: pale yellow with dark caramel veining

Rind: No rind on the piece that that bought, but cheddar usually has a natural rind

Aroma: very mild diary, onion, vinegar, pepper

Taste: the fattiness of the cheddar delivers the jerk seasonings in waves of tart and spicy.

Mouth feel: Like a high-quality cheddar, with raisins in it.

Notes: I really only got one raisin in my 8 oz piece. It tasted nothing like a raisin. It had absorbed all of the flavor of the onions and peppers. The neat thing about this cheese is the variety of flavor throughout the cheese. Because of the random veining, you get some bites that have the sting of the vinegar, some that have the spice of the pepper, and a smooth creamy onion cadence to the whole cheese.

It makes me want to see what else Beecher's has to offer.

Libation of the WEEK: Sugarcane juice

 

Name: Guarapo de Cana

 

Brand: Goya

Place of Purchase: Fareway in Ames, Iowa

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Country/Region of Origin: Product of Thailand

Tasting Conditions: Chilled.

Price in Iowa: $0.99 for 11.8 oz.

Description: a cloudy, pale green juice.

Flavors: Sweet, with a mix of banana leaf and asparagus, followed by a woody bamboo aftertaste.

Mouth-feel: slightly think, but not as thick as a nectar.

Aroma: Asparagus and fresh-cut grass

Notes: This was another weird one.  It reminded me of some of the Thai dishes that my wife's mother makes.  They use a lot of banana leaves as wrappers for steamed dishes and the flavor is very similar.  They also use sugarcane, as well, but those strong "vegetable" flavors only come through with the banana leaves.  I don't know if I would drink this juice everyday, but it might make a great base for a sauce or dressing.