I always think blueberries are a bit over-rated, but I found some relatively cheap ones - and they've been hiding in the fridge for a while. Desperate for a pudding, I first made them into a sauce, with sugar, orange juice, water and orange zest - thickened with a little cornflour. Then I discovered some cream that needed to be used - so whipped that and mixed it in - and a wonderful purple fool emerged... very good with the coconut cake I was making - and generally nice. It occurred to me that a fruit fool like this could make a good layer in a really wonderful trifle... maybe I'll make one in the summer.
Sunday 27 May 2012
Monday 7 May 2012
A History of Cheese Making in America
Well - this is the fantasy title of the book I will one day write - alternatively, a rather short book that will never be written. I am still trying to get to the bottom of the US cheesemaking tradition - it seems pretty clear that there isn't one. I know that there is Monterey Jack, "yellow cheese" "white cheese", Kraft, Cheese Whizz - and a number of tiny locally made artisan cheeses.
The US was primarily peopled by Italians, Germans, the English, the French (initially), the Spanish, the Dutch (initially), the Irish, Scandinavians - these are all cheese-making peoples (I am not excluding Afro-Chinese etc. americans, but they aren't great cheesemakers). So what happened when they got to America? Presumably those who farmed carried on making cheese when possible (I don't remember any cheese making scenes in Little House on the Prarie though)? Presumably mass production killed it off, and now it is being revived on an artisan basis in small isolated spots...
Recently I have tried asking Americans and Canadians about this... they don't seem to recognise that there is any sort of deficiency in not having at least a dozen decent, enjoyable domestic cheeses which are as different from each other as Stilton from Cheddar, as Aged Red Leicester is from Cornish brie, Yarg from Ashmore or Fleur Marie or Blacksticks or.... well, you get the picture, and we are not really a Great Cheesemaking Nation.
The US was primarily peopled by Italians, Germans, the English, the French (initially), the Spanish, the Dutch (initially), the Irish, Scandinavians - these are all cheese-making peoples (I am not excluding Afro-Chinese etc. americans, but they aren't great cheesemakers). So what happened when they got to America? Presumably those who farmed carried on making cheese when possible (I don't remember any cheese making scenes in Little House on the Prarie though)? Presumably mass production killed it off, and now it is being revived on an artisan basis in small isolated spots...
Recently I have tried asking Americans and Canadians about this... they don't seem to recognise that there is any sort of deficiency in not having at least a dozen decent, enjoyable domestic cheeses which are as different from each other as Stilton from Cheddar, as Aged Red Leicester is from Cornish brie, Yarg from Ashmore or Fleur Marie or Blacksticks or.... well, you get the picture, and we are not really a Great Cheesemaking Nation.
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