Food Blog:
Cook In.
Eat Out.
Miss Tenacity.
New Mexico.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Tuesday, January 4
Guten Tag, Guten Terroir
Loosely translated from its 2 languages - "good day, good place". Today is the day to talk about terroir, what is known about how to define it, or even if a definition is needed at all.
Driving in to work this morning I listened to a segment about Maytag blue cheese in which they discussed the recently rising value of terroir to food buyers (that is, we the foodnuts). I hadn't even realized that Maytag blue originated in Iowa by the family formerly best known for washing machines. Yes, that Maytag. They likely started in on cheese as a self defense mechanism against the factory farm and market pressures that tend to squeeze small farms out of business. They now make 1 million pounds of the cheese per year BY HAND and Maytag as a variety of blue is very well known. I'd say that qualifies as a success.
Reading my other favorite food blogs I found several mentions to both the timeliness of discussing terroir (via Derrick), and a set of 2 posts attempting to put some traction into the known concept (via Wine Anorak).
Derrick's post also goes into an additional component - history - which seems to be important but so difficult to define that he decides having a hard and fast rule may not be the best thing, after all. My main experience is with cheese. There is a local producer, Widmer's, near where I grew up that makes some great products. Their aged cheddars, string cheese, and farmer's cheese are good but not the best I've had - but that is not the most important part. The crux is that the cheese is MADE just a few miles from my childhood house, the proprietors are friendly, and to buy from them gives me an additional connection to my past. Bon Terroir!
Time posted: 08:24 [permalink]
|
|
| |
CONTACT ME: tenacity -at- gmail.com
|
|
|
