Cheese ~ Storytelling ~ Authenticity ~ Creativity

Something Tasty: A cheese pairing to try

Sunny Ridge

I just taught a wine and cheese class at Murray’s for International Women’s Day, and this was one of the cheeses I chose to highlight cheesemaker Veronica Pedraza. Here are the stats:

Pasteurized Goat’s Milk ~ Washed Rind ~ Vegetarian Rennet ~ Aged 30 Days ~ Farmstead ~ WI. USA

I featured another Blakesville Creamery cheese, Shabby Shoe (which just placed in the World Cheese Awards a few days ago!) in one of the first newsletters.

Like a few of Blakesville’s cheeses Sunny Ridge is inspired by a French cheese- St. Nectaire. a washed cow’s milk cheese. It’s similar…but also veryyy different.

Sunny Ridge is washed in beer from Chicago’s Is/Was Brewing and is made with goat’s milk instead. The beers are slightly different each time, which is a kismet pairing to the dynamic nature of cheesemaking.

The goat milk adds a fresh and tangy note to the paste, making it one of the most unique washed rinds I’ve had in a long time.

I always love to pair washed rinds with beer, but especially this one!

Something True: A truth about myself

Taste Laboratory!

Here’s the truth.

Before Trust Your Taste, there was The Cheese Basement.

It was my last business that was running private events and classes in my in-home tasting studio in my awesome decked out Brooklyn Basement.

It was AMAZING for a few months- and then Covid hit. And I haven’t really hosted many events in The Cheese Basement since then.

…until now!

Introducing: The Trust Your Taste Laboratory.

I have wanted to put together a much more informal “class” for a while that really exemplifies the values of Trust Your Taste.

So instead of everyone sitting down with set pairings listening to me talk for an hour (which is also awesome). the Lab will offer an opportunity for people to create their own pairings, and experiment to find out what they do and don’t like.

Of course you won’t be left on your own, we will talk about the beauty of pairing principles to help you in your tasting adventures, and the thrill of throwing the rules away for a taste you love that makes no “sense”.

I’ve never really been to an event like this, and think it should happen, so…I’m just going to do it!

This is an exclusive invitation to newsletter subscribers only, and space is limited! If you wanna come along for the ride, reply to this e-mail for location, payment, and other details.

THIS IS GOING TO BE SO COOL.

Farm to Fable: How food shows up in storytelling 

The Wonders of Pairings and Music in Ratatouille

I’m actually not joking. This is exactly how you will feel if you come to the lab.

Ratatouille is an iconic food movie for lots of reasons, but in my opinion- there is no scene more remarkable than this.

The brilliance of these scenes (is comes back a few times), is it uses movement and shapes to visually describe the sensation of taste AS WELL AS MUSIC to paint an aural picture of pairings.

It’s the best depiction of sensory experience I know. If you haven’t watched it please please do.

Until next time,

Anne-Marie

P.S. - Sunday Scaries

A terrifying AI image to help us all rest knowing AI bots could never replace a real human artist:

This week the prompt was “Remy the rat at a cheese laboratory.”

I’m underwhelmed. Ours will be much more exciting.

But also, without rats.

www.annemariepietersma.com