Caseophile

Are you caseophile… or caseophobe ?

The aim over the years with this Caseophile website has been to present in English the most important and interesting articles published on Marie de Metz Noblat's well established on-line review of cheese and wine – Fromagium - from the gastronomic town of Nancy in Lorraine.

Looking ahead to what will be a very busy 2013, Marie is asking for feedback about the main French blog from her readers. And so it is clear that this English site, Caseophile, should also find out how to proceed in the forthcoming year. With one weekly post or none at all?

So to all our readers, let us know how much you value this site. Do you visit regularly or only occasionally when directed from other sites? Should it give up or keep going as it is? With changes? If so, how?

We look forward to hearing from you!

P for Peel

Well, as this is about cheese, we should probably translate the word "peau" in Marie's original post as "rind" since we're talking here about the crust on soft cheeses. But I try to keep the alphabet going!

Accidents during cheese manufacture and storage can lead to anomalies. The rind can become too thick, for instance, when the strains of penicillium candidum are too prevalent. Some soft cheeses are in fact said to have a "toad skin" if the rind is uneven or pitted on its surface.

While we're talking of cheese rind, I am often asked how long a cheese will keep once it's been cut open. Well it's not rocket science. Just like you do when you cut a finger or have a blister, you need a "plaster" to replace the "rind" you have cut off. Simply cover the open part of your cheese with some foil or greaseproof paper to "recreate" its protective skin and it will keep a little longer