Okay, so technically the American Cheese Society conference has not yet started, but I'm in Seattle anyway. The weather looked grand, I needed a reason to play hooky in a mosquito-free city for a couple of days, and there's a Starbucks on every corner. What's not to love about this town?
While most conference attendees have not arrived, more than 1,460 cheeses are here somewhere. As I write this, a team of esteemed judges are preparing tomorrow to start sniffing, tasting and spitting out hundreds of wheels, wedges, blocks, discs and who-knows-what-all-shapes-and-sizes-of-cheeses, all in the quest to find blue ribbon winners, as well as the ultimate of ultimate winners: Best in Show (widely known to be the golden ticket to marketing success for one lucky cheesemaker).
However, one of my favorite cheeses, Goodhue Gouda, from the fine folks at Pastureland Cooperative, almost didn't make it to Seattle for the ACS competition. Created with PastureLand milk by Wisconsin cheesemaker Tom Torkelson, aged by Wisconsin cheesemaker Felix Thalhammer, and lovely as the day is long, Goodhue Gouda is a remarkable cheese. It's fun watching people try it: it stops them in their tracks. They slow down and you can actually see the little pop-up word balloon emerging from their mouths saying, "Oh? Oohhh…this is nice…"
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Cheese Underground.
