Welcome back to CODY'S WORLD OF CHEESE, where our resident cheesemonger Cody Reiss explains what funky fromages you should definitely be eating.Home-pickled pig thumbs aren’t the only things in my fridge that are miniature, wrinkly, soft, fragrant, and sold individually. No, I’m talking about something even better: small-format goat cheeses. For those of you out there that like to get high and ask your cheesemonger for mad cheese samples (PSA: We know you’re high and have no intention of purchasing), these individually wrapped goat goddesses can be a little intimidating, since you often can’t try them before committing. Let me give your stoned ass that mental sample you desire, and introduce you to a few of my favorites, this week’s squishy smushables: Valençay, Coupole, and La Tur.
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“Small-format” is a general term to describe cheeses that are sold as whole, individual-wrapped units, rather than as slices off of a larger wheel. Many types of cheese are sold in the “small-format” style, from washed rinds to bloomy rinds, but the most common and—dare I say—the dankest types are the young, hyper-soft little wrinklies made from goat milk, simply referred to as “aged goat cheese” or “aged chèvre.” While these squishy tart bombs come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, most of them can be easily recognized by the edible mold they have in common: Geotrichum Candidum. As they age, this groovy mold blooms into a wavy, psychedelic, brain-like rind that softens the cheese from the outside in. Like the arts of tiny tongue kisses and tight-ass omelets, the French pioneered and mastered the art of making these small softies; the fromageries of France are packed with young raw-milk goat cheeses, their insides turned to molten radness, barely clinging to their crinkled, walnut-shell-textured skins.Due to some wack-ass laws in this country, it’s somehow legal for Kyle to make sweet love to my ex-girlfriend in the bed I helped pay for, but raw milk cheeses are illegal to sell unless they’ve been aged at least 60 days. Since these types of cheeses usually turn into structure-less goop puddles by the time they reach 60 days, most of the young goat milk cheeses you’ll find in the states are made from milk that has been pasteurized, a process that sterilizes milk by exposing it to gentle heat. Fortunately, Kyle is balding, and there are some very chill pasteurized small-format goat cheeses currently available in the States. Let’s dive in.
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Valençay
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Coupole
La Tur
Cody Reiss is a comedian, cook, and cheesemonger at Murray’s Cheese in New York City. He has made cheeses at home and on farms in Brazil and New York, and has traveled to more than 35 different countries, sampling over 350 different cheeses along the way. You can follow him on Instagram at @codyreiss.