So I’m not entirely sure how it started.  Or where.  Or when.  Maybe Rachael Ray shrieked about it on her show one day.

No. I will not use shredded cheese or tomatillos on anything.

Or was it on a previous cover of Food & Wine Magazine?  Maybe?  Last summer?  All I know is that right now, everyone’s favorite designer cheese is the Italian classic: Burrata.  It’s sort of like this season’s French Bulldog of the cheeseworld (and when did everyone get one of those smash faced, snub tailed snorters?  Damn, they’re cute but why did everyone have to go out and get out?)  Hoardes of people come waltzing into the shop, acting like Scarlett O’Hara, waving and blowing kisses to an adoring mass of fans and stop square in front of the case and demand the product.

So, I figured I’d give the reading online masses a little brief on the history of burrata so that when you sit at home in front of your A/C, pop in “Heathers,” crack open a bottle of something sparkling and alcoholic and go about mowing down on an entire ball of burrata, you’ll know what you’re getting into.

So what is this mysterious “burrata” that everyone in Williamsburg craves?

Burrata is basically a hollowed out ball of mozzarella that has been filled with mini-mozzarella shreds and cream.  It is then wrapped in asphodel leaves, which are distant relatives to the leek.  (Also in Greek legend, it’s believed that the asphodel has a strong connection to the underworld.  It was also thought to be a remedy for poisonous snake bites, against sorcery, and as food for poor Greeks!)  The leaves are an indicator as to how fresh the cheese is.  The greener the leaves, the fresher the burrata. It’s super rich and decadent and goes great with tomatoes, prosciutto, fresh cracked pepper, and light summer wines.

So onto the history.

Burrata dates back to the dawn of time.  We are thinking mid-Mesozoic era.

Ugh. This show totally ruled.

Just kidding.  Burrata is actually one of the few cheeses that we are able to pinpoint to a particular time and place on a specific Italian farm.  It’s also a relatively new cheese – which may explain it’s recent rocket launch to the top of cheese popularity.

Burrata was first made about 90 years ago in the Italian town of Andria, which is in the Murgia area, which is part of the the Southeastern region of Apulia (this is like some Lord of the Rings shit right here).  Originally made on the Bianchini family farm, burrata was at first  just a really good local cheese made from the milk of their most cuddly and cute water buffalo.  (JK.  Water buffalo are huge. And smelly and actually kind of terrifying.  God bless anyone who has to milk these jerks.)

The heel of Italy never tasted so good.

Today, you can find burrata made from both cow and buffalo milk (the one we carry at BCS is made of cow’s milk), but originally it came from water buffalo.  Water buffalo milk is usually richer and higher in protein than cow’s milk, yielding a fattier, richer, more delicious product.  Also, buffalo milk doesn’t have carotene in it, which is a yellow pigment often found in cow’s milk.  Therefore, fresh buffalo milk cheeses will always be PURE WHITE.  How’s that for supremacy?  But, the only problem is that buffalo milk cheeses tend to be twice as expensive as any others.  Mainly because of the white thing.  I can’t make this kind of thing up, people.

Anywho, back to the legend of Burrata from the Bianchini Farm in the town of Andria in the area of Murgia in the region of Apulia.  (I’m telling you.  Lord of the Rings.)  So it was just a humble farmstead cheese.  Then, in the post WW2 factory boom where food and everything went all factory on us, a couple of factories started making burrata.  It became popular in factories that also made mozzarella, because it meant that all of the scraps of the mozzarella could be used.  Nothing would go to waste!  So these factories would fill their hollow balls of mozzarella with “ritagli” (or “rags”) that were left over from earlier mozzarella production.  Talk about SuStAiNaBlE!!!!  But even then, it didn’t really leave the ethereal plains of Apulia because it was such a fresh product.  It needed to be refrigerated from start to finish.  So, burrata didn’t make it out of Italy until the invention of really good refrigerated shipping.  And didn’t make it to the U.S. until the cocaine boom in the 90’s when everyone craved things that were only PURE WHITE.

These days, fresh burrata is flown into the country one day a week.  Usually Wednesday night or Thursday morning.  So it is literally the party boy of the cheese world.  It only shows up for the weekend and then disappears until the following Friday evening.

Literally. Party boy.

Ok, that’s all I can really say about burrata. I filled up a lot of space about this one cheese, but it has literally been on my BRAINZ for like 2 months now. Seriously people. Let’s ditch the burrata and let’s talk some Tomme de Bordeaux because OH MY GAWD that would be good with some sparkling rose. Ok. That is all.

BOOMSHAKALAKA-SHAKALAKA-SHAKABOOM.

Two blog posts in one week!?  What?  That’s like.  Crazy people talk!

Well guess what.  You can finally rest at ease because I feel like blogging TWICE this week.  And it’s more cheesepinions.  Awwwwww yeahhhhhh sonnnnnnn.

New York is ungodly hot right now.  Yesterday, it got up to 108. (Well…by the Target at Atlantic Center.  But things are always a tad sPicIer over there…)  So there isn’t a whole lot of cheesin’ going on.  But, hopefully when things cool down we can go to farms and play with farm animals and take lots of pretty photos.

But until then you’ll just have to take our favorite farm animal: Dylan.  And he’s got a couple things to say about sheep.

This week, Dylan is so into Pecorino di Parco.

Pecorino di Parco CLONES.

“This is the perfect young pecorino.  With an amazing balance of slightly sour, tangy flavor and a slightly dry and airy texture, this is an excellent pressed cheese for the summer.  Plus the two dudes from Jersey whose family own the farm in Abruzzo, where this cheese comes from, are just about the most delightful people you can hope to meet.  Great cheese.  Great people.  Perfect.”  Dylan!  I didn’t even have to edit this at all.  I just copied and pasted because even though Dylan may smell like a goat, he has the brain of a human boy.  A real human boy.

Here is where Abruzzo is! It's so pretty and mountainous and has like 12 people in it. Sheep cheese heaven!!!!!

To pair with this cheese, Dylan would pick up some of the Marcelli Formaggi Miele di Tiglio (Lime Flower Honey – arguably the best honey I’ve ever had.  Literally.) to spread on a crusty baguette.  Perhaps from Il Forno bakery in the Bronx?  Grab a moussamousettes (this totally awesome small production sparkling field blend rose for the Loire in FRAAAAHNCE made by a husband and wife team.  Rene and Agnes Mosse.  Cute.  I wonder if these guys know that they are making wine that is specifically designed to get you laid.)  You can buy this little gem at our favorite neighborhood wine shop Uva!  And guess what?  You put all these things together and yer bout ta have a good time.

Can you guys tell that I just learned how to insert hyperlinks?  Because I’m real excited about it.

Oh snap!  Dylan!  All this time we thought you were going through the motions but it turns out you be a real CHEESEMONGERRRRRRRRRRRR.  Way to be.  We love you.  Hooray.  Too much ice tea.

Ok, that’s all!  And since things are slowing down for summer time, expect some totally fun blog posts!  Hooray!

XOXO, Me.

Hi.  It’s me.  Your flaky blog buddy who decided to take a summer vacation.  Remember me?  Of course you do.

Well guess what.  I snuck inside from my serious summer of sunbathing and white wine spritzers to write something on the blog.  Because the internet doesn’t take vacations.  No sir.

So I thought I’d get back into the swing of things with everyone’s favorite: CHEESEPINIONS!  Huzzahhhhhhh.  And we are back with everyone’s most bespectacled cheesemonger, STEPHANIE!  And the crowd goes wild…

So this week, Stephanie is all tingly over Appalachian from Meadow Creek Dairy in south eastern Virginia.

Meadow Creek's Appalachian

We haven’t had any of the Meadow Creek cheeses for MONTHS now.  Literally forever.  I mean, get it together Virginia.

At BCS we have been waiting so patiently for ANYTHING from the Feete Family’s farm and finally, Virginia Cheese Season is upon us.  (So put down your PBR and time to waddle over to the shop for some real AMURRRRICAN flavor).

Stephanie says that the Appalachian right now has a “lovely, satiny smooth rind, dotted with yellow flowers.”  And that delicious interior pate?  Totally “laden with tang and minerality – not too hot to eat in the summer!”  And let me tell you – it’s been so hot that I’ve been schvitzing cheese curds for about a week.  Oy….

Anywho.  What to have with this wonderful summer time cheese?  “I would have it with a tall, ic e cold bottle of Lone Star and a jar of home made bourbon soaked cherries – cause that’s Southern y’all!  XO!”

Lone Star, everyone's favorite Texan beer!

Southern cheese party!  Whoooo!  Now if only we could get our hands on some of the cheeses from Sweet Grass Dairy we’d be set for a regular hoe down!  Cheese down?  Cheesy-hoe down.  Hose down.  I would have these two DJ, because I would be so PUMPED for what would happen.

Look at the slit in that dress! What! And that wig! Totally fly. Like. The coolest thing everrrrrrrrrrr. God. She’s so great! I can’t get over it.  Anyways.  Back to cheese.  Well, nevermind.  I don’t really have anything else to say about Appalachian except is tastes like sweet, clover butter.  From the South.  Which means it’s the real deal.  Like….block your calories with happiness type of deal.  Yeah.  Gout and diabetes HERE I COME.

And to depart, here is an image of Chris Brown at the World Cup this year:

Way to let us all down, Chris Brown. Viva Rihanna.

Ha.  Dorkus.  I bet he’d come in and ask for “Brie cheese, manchengo, and cotswold.”  HA.  Cheese jokes are always so f’ing funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. The blog has been super lame recently. Like. There is absolutely no information on this stupid website anymore. I got super disheartened by Google Analytics which says that visits to the blog are 88% DOWN from this time last month. I mean. Seriously. Dropping the ball left and right. So I’m sorry! I promise I’ll get back into it. But you guys know how it goes – summer time rolls around. You don’t want to do much but figure out how to do your job outside (cheesy bake sale on Bedford Avenue anyone?)…

Anyways. We do have something exciting to announce though. DAH DAH DAH DAH DAAAAHHHH DADA DAH DAHHHH DAHHHHHHH. (That was Vanna White music…)

What a good dad!

Father’s day is coming up!  Woaaahhhh totally radtastic.

So here at the Bedford Cheese Shop, we had a think tank, got together and figured that we should do what we do best: make some sort of gift basket in honor of DADS.  How fun!

This basket has everything in it.  Seriously everything.

1 Biellese Cacciatorini (sausage! yeah!)

1 bag of Liddabit Caramel Corn

1 tin of luscious sardines

1 package Petite Toasts

1 Michel Cluizel chocolate bar

1 Cadbury’s Milk Bar

1 Jar of awesome Colman’s English Mustard

1 small format goat’s milk cheese (go goats!)

1/3 lb. of Lincolnshire Poacher

1/3 lb. of Scharfe Maxx

All this for $55.  Sick.  And we can arrange shipping.  So get over here and get some last minute treats for good ol’ Dad.  You lazy Williamsburg tools…too busy drinking PBR and squeezing into leggings instead of pants…..thinking about ironic tattoos of Smurfs dressed up like Depeche Mode or whatever.  BUY YOUR DAD A GIFT BASKET.  He’ll be ever so happy and might pay your credit card bill….hooray!

Stephanie wants to gift all of our cheese friends with this video today. (Which she doesn’t know how to post herself).

Also, she says “You’re welcome.”

So I have a series of cheese videos and things to show all of you.  They should entertain.  The first is courtesy of Mike – our resident musician – who claims that this is a “statement about Dutch cultural stereotypes.”  OH ART.  So……dumb sometimes.

The second is about the king of cheese. Parmigiano Reggiano.  Yeah, France.  I said it.  Italian cheese rules.  So deal.

I probably should have warned you that you were going to need to be a little stoned. Or a lot stoned. Or be willing to fastforward. Now onto Parm…

Yay! Look at all that cheese! Expect a post tomorrow about Its-It. Because we have all of them at the shop. Yeah. Freak out. Ok bye.

…because they got all fancy on us.

Look at this private party we catered in Soho! We can do this for you too. Just ask nicely and we deliver.

Bedford Cheese Shop: Professional Party Cheese Animals.

OMG. This is like Gossip Girl shit!

This was the cheese table.  One of the many fun “stations” present at this penthouse party.

Nice face, Amy.

It was really hot.  I spilled tapenade all over the front of the table cloth 30 seconds before guests started showing up.  I don’t think anyone noticed because there were magnums of champagne everywhere….

Fancyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Ready for my close up.

There were assorted jams, tapenades, fruits, spreads, and HAND WRITTEN SIGNS.  With minimal typos.  Or…mis-spellings?  I don’t know which is the right word here…

Anywho, just wanted to brag that we are awesome and can cater a better party than you.  HA.  Ok.  Back to “work.”

I will miss you.

So a couple nights ago was the SERIES finale of Lost.  It will be no more.  Ever.  Never?What makes it more awkward is that now we aren’t going to have anything to talk about at the Shop since this one show has taken up a good chunk of our daily conversation.   But, because my mind is no longer occupied with the perils of the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815, I can calmly return to the world of blogging. (God, all of this sounds so terribly dorky.  ABC mini-dramas? Blogs? I promise we aren’t that nerdy.  Well….maybe.  Yeahhhhh….)

This week I thought I would add to the cheese-ipedia with some cheesemonger lingo that we throw around a lot.  Affineur, rennet, thermalized (although if you are a loyal blog fan you SHOULD know what that means), coagulate, hung over. So on and so forth. Sometimes people understand what we are talking about.  And sometimes, people have no clue what the words coming out our mouths mean.  But that’s another story.

I thought I would take a minute to explain what we are trying to say when we vocab word dump all over your cheese-loving face.  So let’s take a walk down dictionary lane with the word “Affineur.”

According to “Wiktionary.org,” the term “affineur” refers to “One who ages cheeses and purveys it.”  Wow.  Thanks wiki-whatever for being so broad and vague.  I mean, sure.  You gave me some tiny little basis to start on my quest for ultimate cheese knowledge.  But overall – NOT HELPFUL.

So what do we know about the word “affineur” already:

- It’s French (duh – those guys invented cheese and love to remind us of that every other minute of the day).

- They do something with aging cheeses and then “purvey” it.  (Purvey?  What century is this.  Where did we just go.)

Let’s venture further.  Together.  Cute.

The word “affiner” in French means “to refine or to make finer.”  And the word “affinage” means “ripening.”  So. If you add word A to word B…you get “affineur” – one who refines the ripening process to create perfect little wheels of cheese.

Look at this affineur. He has great hands. So big and strong....alright creep-o.

In other words, an affineur is an expert at aging cheese.  But why do you need an EXPERT to age cheese?  Don’t you just put a blob of crap in a mold and let it sit in the hot sun for three weeks, coagulating and getting all yummy and BUBBLY??!

No.  C’mon guys.  Why would you ever think it was that simple.

Coaxing milk into cheese is a tricky process.  Everything affects the cheese making process.  Humidity. Heat. Any sort of bacteria lurking around in the cheese cave.  (Oh yeah – that’s another thing.  Affineurs spend a lot of time in caves.  They are bats.  Yes.  They fly around the cheese with their little wings and fangs and flop around from wheel to wheel checking temperature.  But seriously – the cheese cave is simply a dark, temperature and humidity controlled room (usually around 5o to 55 degrees) designed to hold wheels of cheese that are aging.  Sometimes they are actually caves.  Sometimes basements.  Sometimes they aren’t even underground.  But that’s what we call these aging rooms – caves.)

Cheese producers are the ones who start the cheeses out – milk the cows, add the rennet, add the necessary secret blend of herbs and spices…and then they ship the cheeses off to the affineur to make sure it turns out the way they want it to be.  And good affineurs can age the cheeses in certain ways to make sure the product is totally dope and better than anything else out there.

The affineur makes sure that the humidity and temperature and bacteria present are perfect for each type of cheese.  They make sure that the rind forms in the right way.  They flip and rotate the wheels so that the butterfat in the milk gets evenly distributed.  They wash and brush certain wheels in brine or wine or beer or bat juice to give different cheeses different flavor profiles.  They decide how fast the cheese is going to age, where, on what kind of wooden plank (different types of wood draw unnecessary moisture out of cheeses) the cheese is going to sit on, and when the cheese can leave the cave and be lifted by millions of little bat wings and delicately smooshed into our cheese case.

If it wasn’t for the affineur, you could sum up the cheese making world in two words – shit show.

They are the guys who make sure that your Gruyere tastes like Gruyere and that Loire Valley goat cheeses taste so tangy and fresh and crumble just so on your palate!  They are like cheese artist ninjas who like to hang out in caves!  They are totally the Dungeon masters in D & D!

I actually have no idea who this little yoda thing is, but he pops up a million types if you Google search "dungeon master..."

One popular example of an affineur is the snuggly and very French, Herve Mons.

Cheese experts love to sniff things.

Herve Mons is a third-generation cheese ager and basically a P.I.M.P. in the cheese aging game.  He has caves in the Rhone-Alps and does international distribution of French cheese!  He knows cheese better than anybody and because of him we get delicious Camembert, Gabietou, and Tommette des Alpes.  Here is a video about him that a national supermarket chain that I won’t name put out (but you can give yourself a pat on the back when you figure out who put it together.  And it features one of our favorite reps, Laure!  She’s da bomb and I’m jealous of her cheese knowledge.  And her job.  Give me a job, Herve….)

Ok. Well. I think I’ve successfully covered this topic. Pretty cool, right! So now, when someone at the shop mentions the word “affineur,” you can tell us to shut our snooty mouths up and just hand over the sample. And if you say it’s because of the blog I might love you. Because I think my mom reads the blog more than anyone (hi mom!) and I wonder if any strangers out there actually do.

So until next time loverz!

And Julia – I hear your request for RECIPES! We are working on it. We are perfecting our pictoral process and deciding on what exactly to make. But I promise it’ll be DELICIOUS. And you’ll probably get to eat it. Shweet.

HEAR YE. HEAR YE.

Here marks the beginning of the end…

…of Spring time goats milk cheeses.  (GOTCHA!  I bet you thought I was going to say something about the end of the blog.  Ha!  Never.  This blog will NEVER DIE.  Just like Elizabeth Taylor.  Or Terminator…)

Anyways – I again apologize for the lag in blogging!  I am a busy little cheesy bee, running around and trying to get things done.  But, I am back for another round of everyone’s most favorite installment: CHEESEPINIONS. (And the crowd goes WILD.)

So this week Dani has got some things to say.  Even though he is in Europe right now, raging with the best of them in Barcelona and Holland, he shall be heard across the pond – right here in Brooklyn.

April is a special month for cheese.  After spending the winter months sitting inside and doing nothing but eating and getting all fat and pregnant, goats and sheep all over the world start popping out babies like Octomom.  As a result, they start producing the most delicious, nutrient rich, and decadent cheese of the entire year. (Gotta keep those babies all fat and happy, you know…)  As a result, goat cheeses in the spring time are SICK.  And I don’t mean sick in that pukey, I-ate-too-many-taquitos, kind of way.  Sick as in good.  So f’ing good.  But, come mid-May, all the babies are born, and we move onto tangier goat cheese pastures.

One of the last cheeses we are going to get from this goat baby mania is the delicious French blob – Chevrot.

Ok, so it's more of a drum...shapes aren't my "thing."

Dani is going crazy over these little midgets. (That’s right. MIDGETS.)  Dani is super excited for spring and summer and is ready to crack out his booty shorts while eating goat cheese.  These cheeses taste like grass and fresh milk and call for summer picnics and ridiculous BBQ’s.

This may or may not be an accurate portrayal of my birthday BBQ this year.

With this simple yet delicious round disc, Dani would pair it with some honey and a chilled Riesling.  Aww…sweet.  These goat milk cheeses tend to be super tangy and pair great with the sweet flavors of honey.  (Kind of like Sour Patch Kids…except only the red ones because all the others are so gross.)  He would eat all this with a Reisling.  Mainly because it gets you drunk, but the sweetness of a wine would create the perfect end to a romantic spring picnic for two.  Talk about sweet finishes…

Anyways.  That’s all from me.  Yes.  So…..any ideas for blog posts?  Recipes?  More interviews?  Does anyone have any questions about cheese I can answer?  And I know people are reading this blog – I use Google Analytics and I know what cities you are in and how long you stay on the blog for.  So…..just humor me and talk to me.  Via the internet.  Ok…it just got creepy.

This has nothing to do with cheese, but look at this cat!