It’s not just the toasty coziness of the image or the chill of sweater weather that makes me dream January dreams of French onion soup with a thick layer of gratinéed Gruyere. There are reasons to get excited about specifically winter cheeses.
For one thing, soft, oozy cheeses are rich with winter milk (more concentrated than voluminous spring and summer milk, it’s full of wonderful butter fat). Think glorious small wheel oozing out of its spruce-bark wrap. Meanwhile, hard Swiss-style mountain cheeses that have been aging 6-8 months are at a peak: the wheels they’re now rolling out of aging caves bear the flavors of abundant spring and summer milkings. In the Alps, in a centuries-old tradition called “alpage,” shepherds lead their flocks to follow the line of fresh earth as they walk along the slopes as the snow recedes, nibbling new grasses, spring onions, and flowers (such a lovely mental image!).
So either way, you win.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: D Magazine