Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
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Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 770 Many (alas, not all) of the questioned imports have returned, and domestic chee- semakers keep debuting creations cloaked or ribboned with fine dark ash. Consumers, chefs, and food stylists appreciate the visual appeal of these cheeses, assuring their con- tinued popularity. Has any cheese ever been more photographed than Cypress Grove's Humboldt Fog? To capitalize on this interest, cheese- mongers should be prepared to explain the purpose of ash to curious customers. Then they can introduce them to the growing uni- verse of ashed cheeses. Some Necessary Education Retailers say many shoppers still mistake ash for mold. "It's the most common misper- ception," says Jessica Lawrenz, store man- ager for Venissimo Cheese in Mission Hills, Calif. "'Oh, do you have that Something Fog with the blue in it?'" Ash is carbon, made from charred veg- etable matter. In times past, especially in the Loire Valley, cheesemakers probably used burned grapevine prunings. According to Morbier lore, the ash was used for protection. After curd from the evening milk was ladled into forms, ash was sprinkled on top to keep insects and other contaminants at bay until the morning curd could be scooped on top. Over time, Loire Valley cheesemakers discovered that ash would neutralize the acidic surface of their fresh goat cheeses, creating a more hospitable environment for desirable molds, like Penicillium candi- dum and Geotrichum candidum, to bloom. These molds will grow on a bare goat cheese, but they grow faster if the cheese is ashed. Even cow's milk cheeses can ben- efit from ash's de-acidification. At Boxcarr Handmade Cheese in North Carolina, the cow's milk robiola was developing unwanted blue mold until cheesemaker Samantha Genke began ashing the surface. "Now the Geotrichum gets established maybe two days before it would have otherwise," Genke says. "That's pretty major when you're try- ing to fight blue." Retailers say that many shoppers still mistake ash for mold. "It's the most common misperception," says Jessica Lawrenz, store manager for Venissimo Cheese in Mission Hills, Calif. (continued on p. 52) 48 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com cheese focus