After the rather heavy week we all
survived last week, we deserve something light and frivolous. So
with that in mind, I'm gonna start rambling on and on about cheese.
Feel free to leave and come back tomorrow.
You still here? Well, that's good,
because I know I've written in here probably too often about great
cheeses I find at the Marquette Food Co-op.
Over the years, there have been some amazing cheeses to be sampled;
cheeses with everything from lavender to toasted sunflower seeds to
(gulp) espresso in them. In all those years, though, I keep coming
back to one that, hands-down, is the best cheese I've ever eaten.
And since, as you all know, I've eaten
a lot of cheese in a lot of different countries, that's saying
something.
What's the best cheese I've ever
eaten?. Well, it's a white cheese from Spain called
Romao.
It's a mild white sheep's milk cheese, which in and of itself
doesn't make it the best cheese I've ever eaten. Nope; what makes
Romao the best cheese I've ever eaten is the fact that it doesn't
have a regular rind. Instead, Romao is covered with dried rosemary
leaves, and the combination of the sheep's milk cheese and the
rosemary is just something that, the first time I ate it, blew my
mind. And my taste buds. It REALLY blew my taste buds.
And that hasn't stopped in the dozens
of times I've eaten it since.
Now I know I've gone on in here at
great length about things like a sublime goat's milk cheese or a
cow's milk cheese that's been soaked in raspberry vinaigrette (which
used to be my all time favorite). And I realize that weird cheese
flavors aren't for everyone. First, you actually have to like cheese
and second, you actually have to like weird cheese flavors. But in
the case of the Romao, stepping outside of the usual cheese box is
really worth it. The cheese itself is mild, and the addition of the
rosemary, while quite simple and unassuming, just does something that
I've never tasted in another cheese. Admittedly, rosemary is one of
my favorite herbs (I make a mean rosemary-thyme pork chop), but even
I had never considered sticking it on a cheese.
Trust me—I'm glad someone actually
did!
So if you're curious, head over to the
Co-op and try it out. Assuming, that is, that someone else (ahem)
hasn't bought it all before you get there!
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