Third-generation cheesemonger Adam Jay Moskowitz joins Epicurious to try 21 of the world's most expensive cheeses. Ranging from $29 per pound to $108, Moskowitz tests for taste, texture, and smell to see if these cheeses are worth their hefty price tags.
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00:00I'm third generation cheese monger, Adam J. Moskowitz,
00:03and I'm about to try 21 of the world's
00:05most expensive cheeses.
00:06Some of these have been coated in vegetable ash,
00:09wrapped in sarah leaves,
00:11or matured by the same family
00:12in the same Italian town since 1855.
00:15But are these cheeses worth their hefty price tags?
00:19Oh yeah, absolutely yes.
00:21And I'm gonna show you why.
00:25Pleasant Ritz Reserve.
00:27This cheese is made from Upland's Creamery
00:29in a place called Wisconsin.
00:31This cheese has won more awards
00:32than any other cheese in America.
00:35This cheese is one of the few American cheeses
00:37that have been exported to Europe.
00:38That's mind-blowing,
00:40because Europeans don't even know we have raw milk cheese.
00:43This cheese can only be made at certain times of the year
00:46because it has to be off of pastures.
00:48But this cheese is raw milk farmstead,
00:51which means the person actually milking the animal
00:53is also making the cheese,
00:55and that is a very difficult job.
00:56This cheese is also extra aged.
00:58Extra age means more work, more money.
01:02When your cheese is being aged also,
01:04it's losing its moisture.
01:05And if you're losing moisture, you're losing weight.
01:07And if you're losing weight, that's money.
01:10This cheese is expensive
01:11because there's so much work put into this cheese.
01:15Natural rind.
01:17Ooh, spicy.
01:18Has a damp note.
01:19It also has an animal-y note,
01:21like if you were riding a horse.
01:24Wow.
01:25With extra age, I always get nervous
01:27that it might be too salty.
01:28It's not.
01:29Because salt is such a key ingredient of cheese,
01:31if you extra age a cheese,
01:32sometimes the salt just becomes very forward.
01:35So the fact that this cheese is extra aged
01:37and yet it's not coming off salty
01:38is just a true testament to how balanced
01:40and well-crafted this cheese is.
01:42Bell burr canole.
01:43Bell burr canole is a Swiss version of a truffle
01:48made out of cow's milk cheese.
01:49This cheese is made with pure, unadulterated raw milk.
01:54This is coming straight from the cow,
01:57which means you're getting the truest essence
01:59of what milk is supposed to taste like.
02:01The natural modes of bacterias are in play.
02:04The natural enzymes are occurring.
02:05They take a raw cow's milk.
02:07They speckle it with garlic.
02:09They roll it in black pepper
02:11and then age it until it's super dry.
02:14And you would never believe this is cheese.
02:16It kind of looks like a cinnamon munchkin.
02:18There's nothing that exists like this anywhere.
02:20So this cheese, you don't cut into.
02:22This cheese, you shave.
02:24Oh my God.
02:29You get spicy black pepper, a sniff of garlic,
02:32and then the punch of raw cow's milk.
02:35Super bright, super lactic.
02:37I basically want to shave this on everything I eat.
02:41Lesbos feta.
02:42This is special because it's actually made
02:44from lesbian sheep, a breed of sheep.
02:47It has nothing to do with their sexuality.
02:49So cheese is made of milk, starter culture, rennet,
02:52and salt, and this salt is coming
02:53from a 400-year-old reservoir,
02:55which makes it super special.
02:56Everybody knows the word feta.
02:58What you don't know is that some people are making feta
03:00as traditional as it can be made.
03:02When a cheese is super acidified, it gets super crumbly,
03:06and that's what's happened here.
03:07That's the essence of feta.
03:10Sound weird.
03:11It smells like salad.
03:12It's got like this vinegar note,
03:13which makes sense given the acidity of it.
03:15It's also bright.
03:16It's got like this fruity note.
03:20So this to me is what feta's supposed to taste like.
03:22Feta's not just supposed to be a texture.
03:23It's not supposed to just be this dry, crumbly cheese.
03:26It's supposed to have a kick.
03:27Sheep nose is there, but it's underneath.
03:29Sometimes with sheep's milk cheese,
03:30it kind of gets in your face.
03:31That's not here.
03:32It's underneath.
03:33It's there, but it's subtle.
03:35The salt is from a 400-year-old reservoir,
03:37but it's not up top.
03:38It's in the middle.
03:39Everything is just really harmonious.
03:41This cheese travels in a pool of brine,
03:44and by doing so, it holds its moisture
03:46versus a feta that just is vacuum sealed,
03:49therefore it just dries out.
03:50The craftsmanship here is through the roof.
03:53I don't like it.
03:54This is Farmstead cow's milk cheese from Martha's Vineyard.
03:58It lives where most people vacation.
04:00This cheese is a young cheese,
04:01meaning it's only been made for about 10 years.
04:04One of the interesting things about a cheese of this size
04:06is it's an homage to how cheese was made
04:08way back in the day by dairy maids, meaning by hand.
04:12All right, so this smells like a cellar.
04:13By cellar, I mean like a basement,
04:15which is a good thing.
04:16I like that.
04:16So affinage is a word I'm gonna use often.
04:18Affinage is the aging of a cheese
04:20and the rind development of a cheese.
04:22Those happen at the same time.
04:23Historically, cheeses were aged in cellars, the basements.
04:26Today, they're more aged in refrigerators
04:29that are set up to mimic that.
04:32So you could see the cream line
04:34where the paste meets the rind, which is the skin.
04:37There's more activity creating more of that
04:39soft, ripened vibe near the rind,
04:40and then as you get closer to the center,
04:42it gets more hard.
04:44It's a little bit more sour or a little bit more tart,
04:46which is high acidity.
04:47It's a little boozy or yeasty,
04:49and it definitely has that cellar note.
04:50Supporting farmstead cheesemaking
04:52is the central part of loving cheese.
04:54So for that reason, I like this cheese.
04:56Seltzer Cher.
04:57This is a soft, ripened geotrichum goat's milk cheese
05:01made in France and then aged in New York City.
05:04Geotrichum is a mold similar to the penicillium candidum
05:07that inspires the rind development,
05:09which thus creates the flavor.
05:10A tell for the geotrichum is wrinkles.
05:12So if you've got a wrinkly cheese,
05:13then it's probably a geotrichum cheese.
05:14It's covered in ash because historically,
05:17they would use that to keep the flies away.
05:19The ash comes from charred vegetables,
05:21grapevines, and wood.
05:22I can already feel that it's ooey gooey.
05:25Wow.
05:26So goat, historically for me,
05:28is a bit of a scary milk to eat
05:30because it can kick you in the teeth.
05:32This is so clean.
05:33This is so delicate.
05:34It is lactic.
05:35So you've got that sour cream note to it,
05:38but it's also vibrant, bright.
05:40The texture is custardy.
05:41It's got this melted vibe, even though there's no heat.
05:43This cheese is so worth the price
05:45because it is absolutely decadent.
05:47It is very approachable.
05:49It is so pleasing and appealing to the eye,
05:51but then when you eat it,
05:52it is so balanced, delicate, and refined.
05:56I could eat this whole thing by myself.
05:58Torta del Quesar.
05:59This cheese is a raw sheep's milk cheese
06:02made from thistle rennet.
06:03Rennet coagulates milk into curd and whey,
06:05and you need curd because curd becomes cheese.
06:07This cheese is made from thistle rennet.
06:09So they're using the plant thistle
06:10to actually coagulate the milk.
06:12Because no animals were hurt in the making of this cheese,
06:14it's very popular among vegetarians.
06:16This cheese is expensive because it's super unique.
06:18Not a lot of cheeses are made with thistle rennet.
06:20It's not a lot of cheese are made like this in the world.
06:21It's pudgy.
06:22It's squishy.
06:23A little bit of a barnyard note,
06:24and it's also got that sheep note,
06:26which is kind of like lanolin.
06:27Typically with thistle rennet cheeses, for some reason,
06:29it comes off way more sour, way more bright,
06:32way more tarty than normal cheeses.
06:36Woo-hoo!
06:37All right, ladies and gentlemen,
06:38we're at kick you in the teeth level flavor right now.
06:41That is a bold, big cheese.
06:43It's boozy.
06:44It's got bite.
06:45This tastes like I just took a sugar packet,
06:47put it on top of a lime,
06:48and then shoved the lime in my face.
06:50Cheese is more intense by the rind
06:51because cheese is very impressionable.
06:52It takes on the flavor characteristics
06:54of the environment in which it's aged.
06:56If you want a big, bold cheese
06:58and also want it to be vegetarian,
07:00this is a great cheese for you.
07:01Afterglow.
07:02This is a geotrichum washed rind cheese
07:04by Blakesville Creamery.
07:06Blakesville Creamery is one of the hottest
07:07up-and-coming cheesemakers here in America.
07:09This cheese is very limited in production.
07:11This cheese is aged on a wire gate.
07:14You can see the lines of the wire gate.
07:15Why I bring this up?
07:16Because it means that this cheese was turned by hand.
07:18This little, deliciously special puck of cheese
07:21was hand-cared for, turned so ever-delicately.
07:25This is a washed rind lactic cheese.
07:27A lactic cheese typically comes across more sour,
07:29but sour in the sense of brightness and mineralness.
07:32This is an homage to a French cheese called lagrasse.
07:34And what they do is they actually wash the cheese
07:36with a beer, and the yeast of the beer
07:39helps develop the rind and fosters
07:41a very, very unique flavor.
07:43It's got that goat note, almost smells like sour cream.
07:45And it's got a little bit of the cellar note.
07:47You can look at this cheese and think
07:48it's gonna be a soft, ripened cheese and be ooey-gooey,
07:50but it's not.
07:51Because it's a lactic cheese, the paste comes across firm.
07:53If you look at the cream line,
07:54you can actually see the rind development in action,
07:58and that line is where flavor is just magically going complex.
08:04Light salt, cakey texture.
08:06As I chew on it, it almost evaporates on my teeth.
08:09Tempered, the goat is not kicking you in the teeth.
08:11That's why this cheese is so good.
08:13This cheese maker is exquisite.
08:15Why is it expensive?
08:16Because the person behind this cheese
08:18knows what they're doing with goat's milk.
08:20This is made from pasteurized goat's milk.
08:22The trick with pasteurization is that
08:24when you heat the milk, you're like scorching it,
08:26which kills all the bad bacteria,
08:28but it often kills all the good bacteria.
08:30And that's where flavor is.
08:32To take a pasteurized milk and then make
08:34a fully flavorful cheese means you gotta know
08:36what you're doing, you gotta understand rind development.
08:39And that's what's happening here.
08:40You get your hands on anything Blakesmell makes,
08:42you better shove it in your face.
08:44Don't share it with your friends.
08:46Rombach.
08:47Rombach is a raw milk farmstead cheese from Sweden,
08:51which makes it very special.
08:52Smells like chocolate, smells like cellar.
08:55You can tell it's cow's milk because of the color.
08:57Cow's milk is usually more yellow
08:58because it has carotene in it.
08:59Also because cows eat a lot of hay.
09:01We can see tyrosine crystals.
09:02The aging of cheese is the breakdown
09:05of amino acids and fatty acids.
09:07Protein and fat.
09:08When the protein gets super broken down
09:10and broken down and broken down,
09:12what's ultimately left is tyrosine crystals.
09:14Some people think it's salt.
09:15It's not.
09:16It's distilled protein.
09:17It's a hallmark of a cheese being aged.
09:19A cheese being aged also is why it's expensive.
09:21With a cheese like this, I don't mind playing
09:23with it a little bit.
09:24Generally speaking, cheese you want to eat
09:26at room temperature.
09:27So if a cheese in your touch feels a little bit cool,
09:29just play with it.
09:30Just move it around in your hand.
09:33Off the nose, I get yogurt.
09:35I get potato, sour cream.
09:37This texture, I would say, is a little bit like fudge.
09:41It's also a little bit like wax.
09:41This is made as an Alpine-style cheese in Sweden.
09:44And by that, I mean that salt is a key element
09:47to how the cheese is actually made.
09:48It sits in a brine tank.
09:50That salt kind of kicks in, especially on the finish.
09:52When I'm thinking about flavor,
09:53I'm thinking of flavor at the attack,
09:55which is the front, then the middle, and then the back.
09:57And the back on this is super salty.
09:59The name Rangbak was first registered in the late 1800s.
10:03But in 2022, the cheese was awarded PDO status.
10:07It is the only cheese from Sweden with a PDO status.
10:10The family making this cheese has only,
10:13in the last 20 years, significantly invested
10:17in the cheese-making facility at their home.
10:19And so we've got a family that's been on this land
10:22for so long, but is now super focused
10:25on making a raw milk farmstead cheese.
10:28And that's what makes this cheese so special.
10:30There's really nothing like it in the world.
10:331605 Manchego.
10:35Not regular Manchego, 1605 Manchego.
10:37Why?
10:38Because this Manchego stands apart from Manchego.
10:41Manchego as a term has been bastardized.
10:43This 1605 Manchego, raw sheep Manchego.
10:46The calves are being born to mariachi music.
10:50That's the type of care and consideration
10:52the cheesemaker is putting into this cheese.
10:54That is not a story, that is a reality.
10:56Natural rind.
10:57Too often Manchego is covered in wax, not this Manchego.
11:01When you seal a cheese in wax, you're sealing in the flavor.
11:04There's no more interaction with the outside world.
11:06And it's the interaction with the outside world,
11:08the environment in which it's being aged,
11:09is what actually fosters complex flavor.
11:12The nose, umami note, damp leaves on your knee.
11:15So for this cheese, I'm first gonna try it in the center.
11:19Milkshake, candy, little bright, little tart, salt, low.
11:23I have a very difficult time even calling this Manchego,
11:26because my perception of Manchego
11:27is not what this tastes like.
11:29This is elegant, this is sexy, this is sophisticated.
11:33So when you hear the word Manchego,
11:35often that cheese has been mass produced.
11:37This cheese is not that.
11:381605 Manchego is limited production,
11:41handmade, natural rind, individually cared for.
11:45This blows what you think is Manchego out of the water.
11:49Montgomery's cloth-bound cheddar.
11:51We've all heard the term cheddar,
11:53one of the most bastardized terms in cheese.
11:56But this right here is one of the most originally,
12:00authentically, truly made cheddars in the world.
12:05It is wrapped in cloth and then washed with lard.
12:09Lard is a natural preservative,
12:11protecting the cheese from unwanted bacteria.
12:13However, it still allows all the magic of the molds
12:17and the enzymes and the bacteria
12:18to thrive inside the cheese.
12:20Cheddar is now a term that could be used
12:22anywhere, all the time.
12:24It's often 40 pound blocks.
12:25It almost doesn't mean anything anymore.
12:27But this cheesemaker wants it to mean something.
12:29They're using raw milk.
12:31They're using the cloth, the lard.
12:33It's round.
12:34It is as authentic a cheddar as one could ask for
12:37or seek if you're interested in having a great cheddar.
12:40Smells clean.
12:41Got a little bit of a cellar note.
12:42Has a grassy vibe.
12:43You can see these blue lines in the cheese.
12:44That's actually blue mold.
12:46But just to be very clear,
12:47I'm not afraid of this blue.
12:48I'd eat it.
12:51Herbaceous, chives, endive, tart, a little salt heavy.
12:55This cheddar is different than what you might find
12:56in a supermarket because of its complexity.
12:58It's both salt.
12:59It's both vegetal.
13:00It's sour or tart.
13:01It is more wide and varied.
13:03Lettuce vase.
13:05Lettuce vase is a raw cow's milk cheese,
13:08similar to like a Gruyere or Comte.
13:10This cheese is as traditional a cheese as one can find.
13:15It also represents pastoral transhumanist.
13:17The cheese comes from Switzerland.
13:19Basically, this family takes its herd of cows
13:22up into the Alps and then milks the animals
13:26on top of a mountain
13:27and then makes the cheese from that milk.
13:30What's awesome about this cheese
13:31is the milk is put in a copper vat.
13:33Copper vats hold heat extremely well
13:36and allow for precise temperature monitoring and control.
13:39The curd in the vat is cooked.
13:41When the curds are taken out of the vat,
13:43they're pressed, pressed, pressed,
13:46literally put in a press, squeezing out the moisture,
13:49which is why this cheese is so delicious
13:51because it can stand the test of time.
13:54We got tyrosine crystals,
13:55which shows that it's been aged.
13:56The nose has like a petrol note,
13:58fruit, like stone fruit, pineapple,
14:01got some funk, crumbly in the mouth,
14:04has an airiness to it.
14:05The salt is medium high, got a tempered funk note,
14:07like a horse kind of like dancing, not like galloping.
14:11And then that subtle petrol note, which I love.
14:13Sometimes it feels like when I'm eating cheese,
14:15I'm huffing gas and I like it.
14:16One way to think about cheese
14:17is that it's a flavor footprint of a specific place.
14:20Like when you go up to the mountains,
14:22the grass in those mountains are growing
14:24in a much different way than grass in Wisconsin.
14:27This cheese is worth it because,
14:28have you ever been to the top of a mountain?
14:29How'd you feel?
14:30You felt amazing.
14:31So how do you think the cows feel?
14:33How do you think the family making this cheese feels?
14:35They all feel amazing, isolated, one with nature.
14:39And it tastes like that with every bite, worth it.
14:43OG goat, a goat gouda made in Belgium
14:47at a dairy called Grundel.
14:48What's cool about gouda is that they actually
14:50wash the curds when it's in the vat.
14:52Usually when people think of gouda,
14:54you're thinking about a very tangy, soft cheese.
14:57To me, gouda is a sweet cheese.
15:00It comes off like caramel, it comes off like maple.
15:03And when you wash the curds in the vat,
15:05what happens is the cheese becomes sweeter.
15:07How?
15:08Because cheese is a fermentation converting
15:10lactose to lactic acid and lactose is milk sugar.
15:14But I digress.
15:14Goat, ooh, sweet, kind of boozy, yeasty,
15:18fermented vibe, sour cream.
15:20Gouda historically is covered in wax.
15:23When you're covering it in wax, you're sealing it up.
15:25And when you're sealing it up, that does not allow
15:27for external stimuli to impact the flavor.
15:30It's all happening on the inside.
15:32I consider goat to be a magnifier of terroir.
15:34This like screams like sweet apple trees and cherries
15:39and this is what I imagine heaven tasting like in my mouth.
15:43It's a little crunchy, thanks to the tyrosine.
15:44Sweet cream, sweet Vidalia onion, cotton candy,
15:48mildly tart, this cheese is worth it
15:50because it's precisely what the gods want gouda
15:54to taste like.
15:55Robiola bocina.
15:57This is a soft ripened, bloomy rind cheese from Italy
16:00made with cow's milk and sheep's milk.
16:02You can tell it's bloomy because it's got a little bit
16:04of white on it.
16:05It's got like a pudgy texture,
16:07which tells me that it's soft ripened.
16:13The texture is both ooey gooey,
16:14but then the rind also gives it this like
16:16mildly rubber texture as well.
16:18Overall, this cheese is so expensive for a few reasons.
16:21It's very limited production.
16:22It's actually flown here because it's such a delicate cheese
16:25it can't travel by boat.
16:26So it's flown to America.
16:28And then it's also made with sheep's milk
16:29along with the cow's milk.
16:31That's a very expensive milk.
16:32It's got a little bit of a sour note,
16:34but like it's super subtle sour.
16:36I mean, a lot of that has to do with the fact that like
16:37the acidification hasn't gone too wild yet
16:40because it's a young cheese.
16:41So the cheese is a bloomy rind cheese,
16:42which means penicillium candidum, which is a mold,
16:44ripens the cheese from the outside in.
16:46The cheese's flavor actually comes from
16:48it developing this rind,
16:50breaking down the protein and the fat from the outside in.
16:53This is like the Italian version of a camembert.
16:56We're used to seeing a circle this size
16:58and it's usually made of cow's milk.
16:59What's cool is the Italians were like,
17:01now we're going to add some sheep to it.
17:02That's going to punch up the flavor.
17:04And then we're going to make it a square
17:05because it's different than the camembert.
17:07This cheese wins my heart because it's ooey gooey delicious.
17:09It comes off more buttery than a camembert.
17:11And it's just so sexy to look at.
17:13Cravero Parmigiano-Reggiano.
17:16Not to be confused with Parmesan.
17:18Parmigiano-Reggiano is to me, the perfect table cheese.
17:22It is just a masterfully aged cow's milk cheese.
17:27What's cool about Cravero Parmigiano-Reggiano
17:29is they actually turn the wheels more frequently
17:31than normal affinores.
17:33And what that does is that keeps the texture more even
17:35and prevents the cheese from drying out faster.
17:38The more moisture it can hold,
17:40the longer you could age it out.
17:41That's why people will experience Parmigiano-Reggiano
17:43in like 36 months.
17:44Boozy, fruity, sweet, super dry, apple, pear.
17:51Not too salty.
17:52Again, not too salty means craftsmanship.
17:55Cravero Parmigiano-Reggiano is aged on pine,
17:57aged on wood.
17:58By being aged on wood, that is allowing for moisture.
18:01It's allowing for a conduit between its outside environment
18:04and its inside environment.
18:05The term Parmigiano-Reggiano
18:07has been bastardized to Parmesan.
18:08So often what you think is Parmigiano-Reggiano, it's not.
18:12And you can just tell by its texture.
18:13You can just smell it.
18:14This is perfect Parmigiano-Reggiano.
18:16Testun a foglia del castagno.
18:18We've got a mixed milk cheese.
18:20Cow and sheep.
18:21This cheese is wrapped in chestnut leaves.
18:24By adding the chestnut leaves,
18:25you're adding a vegetal note to it, a tannin note to it.
18:28I asked five of my favorite cheese mongers
18:30what they thought were expensive cheese.
18:32Each one of them made sure that this cheese
18:34was on their list.
18:34Talk about value, talk about handmade, talk about artisan.
18:37So somebody found these chestnut leaves.
18:40Somebody picked these leaves up and collected them.
18:43Somebody hand placed each leaf on the cheese.
18:48Add that to the age of the cheese.
18:49Add that to the two milk types.
18:51And you're like, yeah,
18:51this is gonna be an expensive cheese.
18:53I smell the sheep.
18:54So like the lanolin really comes through.
18:56There's a dampness to it.
18:58There's a bit of a booziness to it.
19:01White chocolate, currant, sweet, floral, not that salty.
19:04Ooh, a little antihistamine on the back.
19:06This is good.
19:07It's got a very fermented, yeasty, yummy, sweet vibe to it.
19:11Very unique flavor of cheese.
19:13Vacheron Mondeur.
19:14This cheese in its raw milk form,
19:17banned in the United States because it killed somebody.
19:20That's how good it is.
19:21The cheese is covered in wood to retain its shape.
19:25It's actually really wrapped in spruce bark.
19:28It holds its shape,
19:29but it also gives it this campfire note to it.
19:32The smokiness to it.
19:34Woo!
19:35Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
19:37Unctuous, bold.
19:38This cheese is often referred to as the holy grail
19:41of soft, ripened cheeses.
19:42This cheese you don't cut into per se.
19:45You slice the top off, revealing a very sexy paste.
19:51The way to eat this typically is like with like a spoon,
19:53you could just scoop it, but I'm so excited.
19:55I'm just gonna use my finger.
19:57It's got a little bit of a sulfur note.
19:59Unctuous, it's funky.
20:00So this is made from thermized milk.
20:02Thermized is slow and low.
20:03It is not a highest temperature as pasteurized,
20:07but it's for a longer period of time.
20:08And what that does is it retains a lot
20:10of the good bacteria and mold
20:13while killing off the dangerous stuff.
20:15This cheese lives up to the hype.
20:17It's ready to party.
20:18Bon anniversaire.
20:19Raw cow's milk cheese made on Martha's Vineyard by Grey Barn.
20:23Got a funky nose.
20:25It's got some candida note to it.
20:27It's a little white or bloomy.
20:29I'm fascinated by this rind.
20:30Typically when you hear a washed rind,
20:32you're expecting it to be orange and tacky.
20:34There is orangeness to the rind,
20:37but it's surely not tacky.
20:39Salt forward, high sour, high bitter.
20:42Unlike everybody else on Martha's Vineyard
20:44who's vacationing and like living the high life,
20:47there's this cheesemaker that is grinding it out
20:50every day, 365 days a year.
20:53And that's what makes this special.
20:54If you like a tangy cheese,
20:55if you want a cheese with a high punch of tart,
20:58this cheese is for you.
20:59Grayson.
21:00Raw cow's milk cheese made by Meadow Creek Dairy,
21:03hailing from Virginia.
21:05This cheese is special first and foremost
21:08because the cheesemaker, Helen Feet,
21:09is one of the best American artisan cheesemakers we have.
21:13Woo!
21:15Okay.
21:16The funk is in the building.
21:19This smells like something you should run from
21:22in a good way.
21:23So although this has a big, big, big, bold smell,
21:27I am very confident it is not gonna taste that way.
21:30I'm very confident it's gonna have a big taste,
21:32but it's not gonna taste like what I'm describing.
21:35Smells like onions, cabbage, steamed Brussels sprouts.
21:39It's got a kick.
21:40High salt, got that tang, got that funk.
21:42It's definitely like beefy and bold and bouillon.
21:46This cheese is not for people that like it mild and creamy.
21:50This cheese is gonna kick you in the teeth.
21:52I sometimes want my cheese to kind of like
21:54smack me around a little bit,
21:56like a stooge, you know?
21:57And that's what just happens here with this cheese,
21:59in a good way.
22:00Withersbrook Blue.
22:01Raw cow's milk blue cheese,
22:03a collaboration between Jasper Hill and Eden Ice Cider.
22:07They're aging the cheese for 60 days
22:09in the cellars of Jasper Hill,
22:11and then washing it with ice cider
22:13and sealing it in a pouch.
22:15And so what's wild is you got the reaction
22:17of the blue cheese also interacting
22:20with the reaction of the cider,
22:22breaking down the proteins
22:23and creating this wild, fruity flavor combination.
22:27Eden Ice Cider is a alcoholic cider made from apples
22:31that is stored outside over winter and allowed to freeze.
22:34It's super fruity,
22:35and it's got that like fermented yeast note right on top
22:38that really, really, really, really, really marries well
22:41with the blue cheese from Jasper Hill.
22:43Okay, so we've got a natural rawing cheese.
22:45Woo!
22:47Ladies and gentlemen, we have acetone.
22:49That's that note that kind of smells like
22:52nail polish remover.
22:53Sweet, tart, sour cream.
22:57This is like mega boozy, super fruity.
22:59Cherries.
23:00This is creamy in texture, sweet, supple, tart,
23:04fruity, boozy, punch drunk on this one.
23:07This one's a winner.
23:08Rogue River Blue.
23:09World champion blue cheese from Oregon.
23:12That's right, ladies and gentlemen.
23:14This cheese went to the World Cheese Awards
23:16and was the first ever American cheese
23:20to win the top award.
23:22Rogue River Blue is a cheese that is wrapped
23:27in Syrah leaves that are soaked in pear brandy,
23:31which creates this very, very sweet anaerobic vibe
23:37that makes the cheese taste like dessert.
23:39So they seal the cheese in a pouch,
23:41and then there's this anaerobic reaction
23:43where the lactic acid is basically fermenting itself
23:46and breaking down slow and low
23:48over an extended period of time,
23:50creating a very, very, very subtle texture.
23:53The note off the top doesn't sound weird.
23:54It smells like tea.
23:55Ooh, I get the actual pear brandy note.
23:57Little bit of sour cream, chive.
23:58Ooh, smells like, smells sweet.
24:03Creamy and crunchy, boozy, decadent.
24:06Blue cheese too often at the supermarket
24:08is super salty, super loud, and very one note.
24:12The thing about expensive cheese, valuable cheese,
24:16is that it's harmonious.
24:17It's multi-note.
24:19It's like an orchestra.
24:20And so there's a lot of different things happening at once.
24:22You will never find blue cheese as fluffy as this
24:26in any supermarket.
24:27Roquefort, the OG blue cheese from France.
24:31There's only seven producers left in the world
24:35that are making Roquefort.
24:36And Roquefort, by the way, is a place in France.
24:39This is Maison de Carles.
24:41Out of the seven, they are the only ones
24:44that are actually creating the mold necessary
24:48to make this cheese, penicillium roqueforti.
24:50There's these caves where they take rye bread
24:53and then create mold off of that rye bread.
24:56And then that mold is what creates the blue cheese.
24:59And out of the seven Roquefort producers out there,
25:01there's only one that's actually cultivating
25:04that penicillium roqueforti
25:05in the traditional way of storied past.
25:08So this is a young Roquefort.
25:10And how do I know it's young?
25:11It's because it's like so creamy.
25:14Salt forward, it's made of sheep's milk versus cow's milk.
25:17So it comes off more delicate, more fatty.
25:19One way to describe expensive cheese
25:21is that you're having a sense of place.
25:24This cheese has transported me to France.
25:27All the cheeses we've eaten today
25:28are superb examples of craftsmanship.
25:32You're tasting generations of families
25:35perfecting recipes and crafting terroir
25:38that I promise you is gonna blow your mind.