Best cheese source?

[knieft]

quote:

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Free shipping on orders of $150+

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Shipping: $33.00 USD
Coupon Code (FREESHIP150): -$14.00 USD

Not so free to Hawaii I guess. $14 off.

[Tink]

Hey Tom, when in San Francisco, take a small suitcase the Ferry Building and visit the Cowgirl Creamery Cheese shop to get you started on souvenirs.

Community begins with Aloha

[terracore]

quote:

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Originally posted by beejee

Thanks for the info JRW, I'll check it out.

Terracore: Makes sense. I wonder if aging hard cheeses would be more practical higher up on the mountain? Big can of worms I know, but a thought.

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Maybe somebody can pitch this idea to the Volcano Winery? Their swill is barely drinkable but I bet they could make gourmet cheeses up there.

I have a friend who has been into the craft brewing scene for a few decades and has seen the leaders of the industry evolve from just beer to micro distilling (Maui Brewing is getting into that now) and some of them even into small batches of specialty wines. He says the next "thing" is these craft businesses expanding into cheese making. The ingredients aren't similar, but the processes aren't dissimilar. And having wine, beer, and cheese all come from our kitchen, I tend to agree.

[shockwave rider]

The Belgium Monks have perfected the trifecta of amazing beer, intense dark chocolate and heavenly cheeses. Most of their yeasts and molds are "wild" strains endemic to the cellars where these things are made.

For any aspiring cheese makers out there, mozzarella and ricotta are a good place to start, but you have to find un or lightly pasteurized milk, the hyper pasteurized stuff just won't turn into cheese, even if you use tried and true cheese cultures. Barbara Kingsolver wrote a book about the year her family tried to eat only foods from within 100 miles of their home, it includes recipes for the cheeses they ended up making. I can't recall the name but it should be easy to track down if anyone is interested.

[beejee]

Shockwave: Thanks for the pointer, the title of the book is, "Animal, Vegitable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life"

[knieft]

terracore: Their swill is barely drinkable

Their mead, honey wine, is pretty cool, but has the aftertaste of most commercial mead. It gets 20 dollars a 750ml bottle at KTA, though I haven't seen it there lately. Probably doesn't sell well at that price.

Given the honey companies on the island, and the absolute simplicity of making mead (hard to go wrong in my experience) I think that would be the way to go for them--in addition to cheese, of course.

Unfortunately, most folks have no idea of, or experience with, mead (though it is theoretically the oldest form of employment, oops, I mean alcoholic beverage). Still, it could be marketed as a Hawaii thing to tourists and residents alike if it wasn't so expensive. Perhaps it needs a cool name? Hawaii Hooch Honey, or something.

shock: Most of their yeasts and molds are "wild" strains endemic to the cellars where these things are made.

This is, of course, the origin of the hunter/gatherer fermentation. You can just leave a water mixture (with whatever sugar) and see how it goes. I've heard from folks who spent time in prison that any water/sugar solution will ferment without any commercial yeasts--wild prison fermentation, eh?

I want to get a few gallons of sugar cane juice and toss in some champaign yeast and see what happens. You got the sugar/ferment/distill thing going with grapes/wine/brandy and grains/beer/whiskey and so on, but the missing piece is sugar/???/rum. That could also be a Hawaiian thing (better than ethanol ) but perhaps there is a reason "sugar wine" is so rare. Dunno.

Another thread hijack I guess...

OK, back on topic. Cheese curds?!? Good gosh almighty, good golly miss molly, they are the grossest form of anything on the planet. I spent way too much time on road trips in Wisconsin where we just had to stop for fresh curd. Slimey plastic squeaky salty pieces of android olfactory nightmares in my memory.

Cheers,
Kirt

[shockwave rider]

The best thing I ever drank was a glass from a one gallon batch of sparkling honey mead made with champagne yeast, light and dry, almost effervescent.

This thread seems to have digressed to a craft food detour. Value added local foods are an untapped source of income for Hawaii farmers. Forget shipping containers of raw ingredients and instead ship containers of Hawaii crafted gourmet foods.

[TomK]

Maybe the MK observatories can help find a good source of cheese?

https://youtu.be/T0qagA4_eVQ

I think we've already done our bit looking for a source of alcohol.

http://goo.gl/chup0V

[HiloPuna]

I know it was an "east side" question, but once again the answer is Costco.
I mean, come on, if you're into fromage it's worth the migration.
The Petite Basque rounds, full wedges of Stilton, packs of slightly stinky Tallegio, chunks of Irish cheddar, gorgozolas, camemberts, various bries, double creams, triple creams, goats, sheeps....literally hundreds of square feet of cheese!

The only other place even close to being interesting is Waimea Liquors where Alvin keeps an interesting, albeit brief, selection.

In Hilo, I agree, it's KTA or Cost U Less. But spend $20 on gas and half a day and get a months supply of cheese at a FRACTION of the price at the best source for cheese, wine, and a myriad of other necessities, Costco. It's a life changer. And if they'd ever bring back the Triple cream Bourgogne a life saver....damn I miss that cheese!

[HiloPuna]

"I've always struggled to find my favorite - authentic Stilton. Anyone with a tip? Even not-quite-authentic would better than bog-standard blue cheese."

TomK,
Costco currently stocks Cropwell Bishop Creamery of Nottingham, 1/4 rings (app. 1 lb) @ $11.99 per lb.
I'm cracking mine on Christmas, either with a '94 Dows or a '97 Rayne Vigneau, depending on the company.