MontCabrer Captivates With Charcoal-Coated Rind

In my fantasy life, I have Michele Buster's job.

This New York cheese importer travels frequently to Spain and Italy to sniff out the next new and fabulous cheese we've never heard of. I'm sure her job has aggravations, like shipments held up by customs, or producers who can't deliver what they promised, or cheeses ruined in transit, but the sleuthing part sounds like fun.

Montcabrer, an aged Spanish goat cheese, is among the gems exclusive to Buster's company, Forever Cheese. Produced by Josep Cuixart, the same Catalan cheesemaker who devised the lovely Nevat, Montcabrer is a semi-firm, lightly pressed 3-pound wheel matured for two to three months.

Cuixart buys the milk for Montcabrer. The local breed is the Murciana, a brown- to black-skinned goat renowned for its adaptability to hot, dry climates and for the high quality of its milk.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: San Francisco Chronicle