We have cheese in stock at the Mustard Lady! For the love of cheese, go buy some cheese and mustard! A big shout out to Brody and Stephanie, the new owners, who are amazing people and a joy to be around!
November Cheese boxes and special orders are available to order all month. Cheese Box deliveries are scheduled for November 23rd onward.
Cheese Advent Calendar Sales are live! 24 different cheeses, one for each day leading up to December 25th. Each day gives you enough for one person to enjoy a few nibbles, or if you really love that special someone, you could share it. We have a few left, (6 as of this date). Delivery scheduled for late November.
October was a busy and exciting month. I took what felt like a massive step and joined forces with The Mustard Lady to offer more cheese to the Comox Valley. Their deli fridge has been loaded up with our current in-stock cheese and it's doing pretty good!
Transitioning to holding stock is stressful. Up to now I have been ordering cheese from my distributors based on the number of customer orders I receive each month. I haven't been carrying much in the way of inventory, so this has felt a bit like a cheese hobby. Now that I have to manage stock, and think about selling it, it's more of a business. So I guess it's good, but also scary. Because honestly, if the cheese doesn't sell, what happens to it? I eat it. That's what happens. Yes, I can eat cheese every day, but should I eat cheese every day? Again, yes, but will I eat cheese every day? Again, yes. So actually, there is no problem...right?
I put in my biggest order this month, which was exciting, but see above, also anxiety inducing. It is the fine line between having way too much cheese and not having enough cheese to satisfy the hungry crowds leading up to the holiday season. But big orders mean lots of choices, so there will be something for everyone.
MONTHLY CHEESE REVIEW
Let's talk about our October cheeses. We had an almost seamless delivery this past month and pretty much received everything we wanted. I have tried a number of them, some of them are really good and some of them are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!
The words used to describe a cheese are often lost on me. When a cheese is referred to as "lactic" or "unctuous" I don't really know what to do with that. I know what the words mean, but mostly I take it as, "well it tastes cheesy, and it sticks around in your mouth a bit.".
So, the description of Abondance AOP as a strongly fragrant cheese with a nutty aroma and an intense sweet, buttery, fruity, hazelnut, acidic flavour doesn't really lead me anywhere. That's a lot of words that mean a lot of different things, so I just went for it and ordered 5 kilos.
Thankfully this one falls into my amazing bucket. It's my favourite firm cheese this month. Flavour wise, it kind of reminds me of Morbier, but stronger. Interestingly, this is one of the few cheeses that I've read it's best to remove the rind before eating. The aroma is strong, but the taste is less so, so don't be put off when you open the package. It is full-bodied though and has a definite tang to it.
As many of you know from my social media posts, I love sheep cheese and I've been exploring a lot of them over the last 6 months. You might also have noticed that I throw around the "it's my favourite cheese" a lot. I'm not lying. Often what I am eating or just ate, is my favourite cheese. But honestly, Brebiole is at the top of the list of my favourites bloomy non-cow cheese. I might even go so far as to say I like it better than the Pavé de L'Atelier, although to be fair, I didn't take a piece of the Pavé this month, so it might just be my memory failing me. This little cheese starts out as a firm, upstanding pocket of deliciousness. But with time, it slowly slumps down as the inside becomes oozy and the chalkiness disappears. Just an absolutely outstanding cheese. Definitely a "smear on your baguette" type of cheese.
L'Origine de Charlevoix is another great one from this month. Strong aroma and strong flavour from this Quebecois washed rind, cow cheese. It has a great form, that gets kind of lumpy with time, so every time I come back to it after a couple of days, I know that the flavour is going to be just a little bit more intense. A lovely, slumpy little cheese I recommend to the cheese lovers out there!
And lastly, a shout out to the Dutch Mimolette (Commissiekaas). Delightful! My husband who is Dutch, had never tried it, and neither had I. But of all the cheeses I served him the other night, he focused in on that one as his favourite. The other bonus to having this cheese is that along with being tasty I also get a workout trying to cut it....the rind means serious business! We only brought in a small piece of this, but we have an entire round coming in for November, so for all your Dutch folk out there (of if you love the French Mimolette), this one's for you!
So many I haven't tried. Very excited to try the Cote D'Or, which is a smallish round and feels perfectly ripe when I squeeze mine. The Mustard Lady's Stephanie Abbat-Slater tells me this is her mom's favourite cheese. And she comes from a cheese eating family so obviously she knows her stuff! The Camembert Le Médaillon, a true Camembert from Normandy. I am imagining something fairly intense and earthy. And lastly, this weekend I am grabbing a fresh baguette from the market and cracking open a box of the Fondue de Drave, a mix of 1608 cheese from Fromagerie Charlevoix and Menaud distilled gin. Yum!
NOVEMBER CHEESE
Where to begin with the November cheese. There really are too many to count. We have a few cheeses that will only be making an appearance in the Cheese Boxes and Advent Calendars, but the bulk will be available to purchase via our online store and at The Mustard Lady. We have limited room in the deli cooler, so I will have some extra varieties and stock in the back throughout November and December that can be cut to order, so check out our website to see what is fully available. November Cheese
With all my excitement about the Brebiole this month, I decided to try a few other small format goat cheeses from Quebec. I ordered in a few of Le Charbonnier and Le Monsieur Emile for us to try out.
I think these wrinkly little packages of goodness will be a unique addition to any holiday-ish cheese plate.
There are a couple of new Brie's coming our way from France. Brie de Nangis, and Brie Lancelot along with the Grand Fromage D'Affinois. Based on our store sales, people are drawn to the Brie type cheese, so I'm listening. But just as a reminder, while yes, it's true, we do offer a number of stronger cheeses, we have many cheeses that may look a little "scary" but are really nice and well behaved, milder types. Just send me a message or ask one of the lovely folks in the store. I am working on a system to make it easy to identify cheese by aroma and intensity, so stay tuned.
Coming back is the Le Bercail, my favourite "stinky" sheep cheese from Quebec. Salty and strong with the typical washed-rind aroma and flavour, this one is for the adventurous cheese lover.
And so many more...most of our cheeses are up on the website, with a few stranglers that I have yet to add.
That's all for this month. Thanks for all the social media follows lately! And thanks to everyone who has checked out the deli at The Mustard Lady and walked away with a piece of cheese. That place is developing into a pretty awesome little store, offering some pretty tasty nibbles. Keep an eye out for our upcoming cheese and mustard pairing suggestions, because it's a thing!
Keep it Cheesy!
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