Although the region's artisan cheese makers aren't rushing to advertise it, a growing number of holiday party hosts have discovered the refined Pacific Northwest cheeses that anchor fancy cheese plates work just as well in cheese balls.
Cheese balls – and cheese logs, the elongated version of the formed cheese, herb and nut spread – were once a fixture of festive tables, but their stock plummeted as eaters became acquainted with the dry bulbs of port-wine cheese that grocers slid between ready-to-eat Jell-O salads and pepperoni sticks.
"Whenever you'd mention them, there would inevitably be giggling and eye rolling," Homesick Texan blogger Lisa Fain wrote in a recent pro-cheese ball post. "Heck, even the term "cheese ball" began to connote an over-the-top, slightly out-of-touch buffoon."
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