How do you feel about flavored cheese?

[Jenise]

You know the type: cheddar, gouda or some other workhorse of a cheese that has had jalapenos, garlic, onions, herbs, chipotles or some other adulteration added to it and which is usually made to be enjoyed as a young cheese.

Personally? I've always detested them, regarding them mostly as cheeses too dull to survive as a cheese on its own that's been purdied up to appeal to novice cheese eaters who would turn up their noses at the runny, stinky, moldy cheeses I adore. Even when they taste good--like pepper jack, say--i'm loathe to admit the planet is better off because they're here, and that one really only gets by me because I like the sour flavor of monterey jack anyway.

But yesterday I was at Costco and the one of those adorably frumpy women in the red apron and the shower cap was whacking off slivers of a locally famous Washington state cheese called Beechers for anyone who passed by. Prior to this, I've tasted their impressive flagship cheddar in similar circumstances at my local grocer and am aware that they also make a variety of flavored cheeses, in which the flavoring has a marbled effect much like England's sage derbyshire which I like and have managed to not condemn along with the others of their ilk, though by rights I should, and which I've declined to taste since I look down on such things or pay attention to beyond noting that they are red and brown.

It was the brown one the lady was handing out yesterday. And I was very hungry so I took a piece. And it was good. Surprisingly so, so I asked for a second piece and upgraded my opinion to 'real good'. A third piece, and I was prepared to admit: it was excellent. What a dunce I've been!

I bought a piece large enough to feed Milwaukee.

Called No Woman, this lovely piece of dairy heaven is possibly the kitschiest of all flavors, one that doesn't even occur in nature: Jamaican Jerk. But oh my is it tasty! The assertive flavoring matches well to the sharpness of the very very good sharp cheddar underneath it all and leaves a bit of heat in your mouth. It's so robust that it blends especially well with other strong, assertive flavors: last night I grated it into a bowl of spinach greens and chopped walnuts which I tossed with just lime juice, salt and walnut oil. Perfect! And tonight I'm going to plate it with some cured meats on a charcuterie first course.

So, I guess you can say I'm officially over my bias. I have seen the light, flavors can work delightfully. Now this will not replace the cheeses I love to see on a cheese plate after dinner, but it's going to be a real nice break from the usual sharp Tillamook we sometimes nibble before meals or put on our tacos.

Jenise
My general feelings match your (pre-tasting) feelings.

However to be more detailed... The vast majority that I've tasted have the added ingredient in for a reason - the cheese itself is dull. It might "jazz it up" but not enough to make it interesting. Even worse, many such cheeses choose the added ingredient badly as well.

However I am prepared to accept that with care and thought, interesting cheeses can come out of playing with flavours. Historically this has been most common with washes or wrapping for cheeses (e.g. ash, nettles, etc). These are often subtle and on the whole the base cheese is a fine one to start with.

I see it as similar to chocolate, with the fad in some parts to add herbs & spices. Maybe 3/4 of those I've tried have either been over-"seasoned" or the combination just didn't work (white chocolate is especially tough to play with flavours IMO). That said the minority that work well contain some that impressed me massively. My favourite remain the Italian chocolates with fennel, but have enjoyed a good Hungarian chocolate with Peach and biscuit which just works well because there is a fine balance in the ingredients.

regards

Ian

Trader Joe's has two we like, an English Cheddar with Caramelized onions and a Truffle Cheese. I've always loved the flavor of a good cheddar combined with fresh raw onion, and this combo is the main ingredient in a layered enchilada I learned to make when we lived outside of San Diego. It is fried corn tortillas, dipped in home made red sauce, topped with cheddar and then raw onion. You build as many layers as the people want to eat, then heat in the oven. Some like a fried egg on top.
Pepper Jack has never thrilled me, and when a recipe calls for it, I use a good Monterey Jack and add fresh jalapeños.

Keep in mind that there are some classic cheeses that are in the "flavored cheese" category. Sage Derby from England, for example.

-Paul W.

I detest hazelnuts in my coffee, and my immediate impulse on reading your post was that I like my cheese pure.

But on reflection the exceptions are numerous, notably pepper jack, which is kind of an important cheese for me. Frequently for breakfast I melt some (Costco) pepper jack on a tortilla and scramble up some (fake) eggs and eat with salsa. Yum, hot and spicy and low in Calories!

And as I think about other cheeses, like Boursin with garlic mixed in, and truffled pecorino, and even occasionally some weird cheese with cranberries or something -- I like them more often than not.

SO it IS NOT like coffee, I think I am pretty flexible here...

Not one bit flexible with coffee though. WHY do so many people push this flavored stuff!?!?!? Well, even then -- chocolate! Sigh.

F

We have an excellent coffee station at work, run by the employees. We buy mostly vacuum packed beans from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in Vermont (I highly recommend them). They also buy pre-ground flavored decaf for those who go in for that sort of thing. My own opinion is that the aroma of most of the flavored decaf doesn't meet EPA emission standards for air pollution. I find the hazelnut decaf to be particularly toxic. But worst of all was one of their seasonal specials--raspberry decaf. The really bad thing about this one (and to a lesser extent the hazelnut) is that the flavor contaminates everything it touches. If you brew up a pot of normal coffee using a brewing basket or flask that previously had the raspberry decaf in it, that awful raspberry flavor is in the new pot of coffee, too. It seems to persist even in parts-per-million amounts. You have to VERY thoroughly clean any equipment that has been used for the raspberry decaf before making any other kind of coffee.

Back to flavored cheese. Wispride port wine cheddar spread is one of my guilty pleasures.

-Paul W.

If you see Balderson's Smoked Cheddar (I get it at Costco) it's fabulous. And I don't really like most smoked foods.

Those fruity Stiltons, apricot, pineapple etc. that appear at this time of the year are good, too.

That's the difference -- they tend to add REAL stuff to cheese, which often tastes good.

The flavored coffees are a science experiment, hideous artificial flavors and scents polluting good coffee.

F

[David M. Bueker]

I absolutely detest those fruit-studded stiltons.

I can deal with truffled cheese, but almost any other flavored cheese makes me want to hurl.

I love it spread on blueberry bagels, washed down with a cup of hazelnut coffee.

Lots of good comments here. I think the conclusion is that some cheeses good fine with some flavoring, and some things don't work at all. I like garlic flavored spreads like Boursin, and like Paul am hooked on Port/chedder spread.

I agree with Frank and Paul about the coffee. I like coffee--just coffee. The worst flavor I've ever tasted was an amaretto-flavored coffee (and I've had chocolate, hazelnut, pine nut and raspberry). It was so strong and chemical-tasting that I spit it out. >gag<

I enjoy a pepperjack and occasionally eat a cheddar with green chile. I'm also a fan of the port-cheddar cheese product (and I don't care if it's not a hoity-toity cheese). And peppered Brie--my fave.

How about cheeseballs? They're flavored, and I certainly like some of them.

Fun thread Jenise.
It's funny, we never buy Pepper-Jack, but for some reason if it's on a buffet table (and it's ALWAYS on a buffet table) it's the first thing I go for. Not much on other flavored cheeses. That said, here's a weird one...I detest dill, but at our wine group a few years back, someone put a Dill-Havarti on a cheese platter. I found it to be delicious. Perhaps it was the perfect match with whatever we were drinking (too long ago, can't remember) but I really loved it.

Larry, I like some cheeseballs and cheese spreads. In fact, there is one spread I occassionally make with sharp cheddar, beer and onion powder (believe it or not) that is extremely good.

i'm with most of the others - and i'll see your flavored cheese and coffee and raise you a flavored bread. can we all say "lets guild the lily".

Won't touch the stuff. If a cheese is good enough to eat, it doesn't need adulterants.

That said, I do have membrillo with Manchego and honey with Humboldt Fog...

Adding to the comments...

You're actually talking about a long and storied tradition---or series of traditions---here. The local cheese makers weren't all that concerned with pleasing the puristas hundreds of years later: they were more interested in making cheese for themselves that used local ingredients and tasted good.

Keeping in mind that Sturgeon's Law definitely applies here...and I'd say to about a 98% level...and that producer/marketers will make anything that they think people will buy, if you go for the selective quality stuff, you'll find a few choice delights out there.

The good Stiltons---like the one I had recently with little nuggets of lemon zest in it...can be rich and tasty. Smoked cheeses can be great too, from smoked Italian cheeses to one I had recently, a Rogue River blue cold-smoked over hazelnut shells. Yowza!

Truffle studded. Pepato. Leaf wrapped and aged tomes. Beer washed goudas? Incredible!!!

Sally Jackson, the grandmother of WA state cheeses, used to produce an irreistible goat cheese, formed into a ball about like a softball, hard as hell, almost to parmigiano grating levels hard, but made with lavender, rosemary, fennel, and black pepper in alternate versions. Compulsively gorgable. Don't know if she makes those anymore, as all I see now are her tommes, but boy were those "flavored" cheeses awesome.

Sotto Cenere? Pretty good stuff.

How about Ig Vella's famous (and deservedly so) Dry Jack cheese from Sonoma? It's 'flavored' in that the round is dusted with cocoa before it ages, and that cocoa-ish rind is very much a part of its overall appeal.

Hey, take Cambazola. Frankenstein cheese from a German factory. Blend of two different types of cheese at base, then they throw in mushrooms. Should be a disaster of a cheese. But it isn't. It's good.

So, yes, I'm picky, and I'm sceptical as hell about any newfangled cheeses. But I'll try them, usually.

What's that Sheryl Crowe refrain? Let's twist it around: "If it makes you happy, what the hell do I care."

Oh, and I forgot to add: one of the great holiday traditions in Austria and parts of Germany is the making of the cheese spread every year. Oh, they don't call it that, but that's essentially what it is. Everybody has their own recipe, but basically they just make up a rich, loaded soft cheese concoction and gorge themselves on it. Again, it's not about purity; it's about good food in a festive atmosphere.

Sotto Cenere? Pretty good stuff..

Would love to eat more if it was not so expensive..

I like coffee--just coffee. The worst flavor I've ever tasted was an amaretto-flavored coffee (and I've had chocolate, hazelnut, pine nut and raspberry).

GAK! I forgot about artificial "amaretto" flavor. It smells of almonds in the same way that deadly cyanide smells of almonds.

-Paul W.

What Stuart said.

Well, except for truffles. Truffles are forgiven, because they are royalty.

And Sage Derby, because the sage is part of the cheese, right? Not an adulterant at all.

A foolish consistentcy is the hobgoblin of little minds, no?

As for No Woman, the stuff I tried was remarkably devoid of any Jamaican or Jamaicanesque flavors. Maybe quality control isn't their strong suit.

Won't touch the stuff.

Is now the time to tell everyone what cheese you topped the Brussels sprout/potato latkes with last night?

As long as you include my comments about it. ("Eh. Bland.")

[Jenise]

What Stuart said.

Well, except for truffles. Truffles are forgiven, because they are royalty.

And Sage Derby, because the sage is part of the cheese, right? Not an adulterant at all.

A foolish consistentcy is the hobgoblin of little minds, no?

As for No Woman, the stuff I tried was remarkably devoid of any Jamaican or Jamaicanesque flavors. Maybe quality control isn't their strong suit.

Sage Derby is part of the cheese in the way the No Woman Jerk is--no difference that I can see. It's a flavored slurry of sorts that mixed in with the curds and ends up with the same marbled appearance. As for the one you tried--too bad! It's not a real strong flavor--the good cheese is still primary--but it's definitely there.

Agreed about truffles. And peppercorns, too.

[Jenise]

i'm with most of the others - and i'll see your flavored cheese and coffee and raise you a flavored bread. can we all say "lets guild the lily".

Ugh, I hate flavored coffees. Anyone want to join me in another peeve? Flavored potato chips. Salt, maybe pepper--that's all a good potato needs.

Ugh, I hate flavored coffees. Anyone want to join me in another peeve? Flavored potato chips. Salt, maybe pepper--that's all a good potato needs.

Nor can I stand flavored coffees. I worked in a coffee shop a long time ago and used to go home smelling like a big hazelnut. Has it ever happened to you where you are someone's houseguest and you wake up to the smell of Amaretto, or Holiday Spice? Or the only "cream" they have is Irish Mist? Groan....It's going to be a long stay.

Regarding flavored potato chips, I often get a wicked jones for vinegar and sea salt. Other than that, I don't deviate. My favorite are actually Cape Cod "lower fat." They are perfect in my book.