Affinage for retailers
Aug. 20th, 2007 07:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gordonzolaThis year's ACS conference may have been the best ever. Pretty much every workshop was focused and covered the material as promised. Things went off on time. The organized tastings and events were well-conceived and organized. The judging, and care for the cheese being judged, has been honed to perfection.
Which is why the one dud workshop I went to was so disappointing.
The "Affinage: A Trip Through Environmental Requirements"* workshop was half good. But one of the panelists basically answered every question about retail/distributor affinage with a variation of "We put the cheese in thecooler caaaaaaav that we bought for that kind of cheese."
Now truthfully, he seemed like a nice guy. It was also mentioned that he was new to his job so maybe he just got thrown out there with little time to prep. Who knows? All I know is that I left fairly annoyed at the waste of my time. Unfortunately, that also means I missed a cheese friend ask him in the Q&A, "So, do you have any advice for all the people here who aren't able to spend a few million on coolers?"**
The answer, after some hemming and hawing, was "no".
Now, I went to that workshop hoping to learn some tricks. Most of us who don't have cheese museums have one or two coolers at our disposal. At our store, by chance and not design, have a dry and a wet one. Sometimes cheese doesn't come in in perfect condition. Construction of improvised containers for certain types of cheese is what I wanted. Not advice to buy more coolers that we can't afford to put in the available space that doesn't exist.
Here's a trick for consumers. As a rule, if a U.S. cheese seller calls themselves an "affineur"*** or talks about their "cheese caaaav", they are probably an asshole. Retailers don't do affinage, we do harm reduction.
What I mean by that is that cheese should be in good condition when we buy it. If we get young cheese, or overly wet/sticky cheese, we should have methods for dealing with them. But nothing replaces proper aging on the production side. We try and make the best of what we have. Sometimes there are happy accidents. Sometimes there's cheese in the dumpster.
I help out with the Sonoma Cheese Conference every year, and the ACS is a great place to brainstorm new ideas for workshops. This year I am going to propose "Practical Harm Reduction Methods for Cheese Retailers." It's an industry conference. We can share our sneaky little methods.
The workshop I'm really excited about and wanting to do for two years: will be "Let's Stop Lying: Creating certified definitions for "farmstead", "hand-made/artisan", "pasture-fed",**** "cheese cave", "small production" and "cheesemonger".
*affinage = intentional cheese aging
**not exact quote, I had left remember.
***if they are certified in France that's another matter. There are exceptions to this. but most "caaaavs" are walk in coolers
****This is the next big one. Bigger entry on this soon.
Which is why the one dud workshop I went to was so disappointing.
The "Affinage: A Trip Through Environmental Requirements"* workshop was half good. But one of the panelists basically answered every question about retail/distributor affinage with a variation of "We put the cheese in the
Now truthfully, he seemed like a nice guy. It was also mentioned that he was new to his job so maybe he just got thrown out there with little time to prep. Who knows? All I know is that I left fairly annoyed at the waste of my time. Unfortunately, that also means I missed a cheese friend ask him in the Q&A, "So, do you have any advice for all the people here who aren't able to spend a few million on coolers?"**
The answer, after some hemming and hawing, was "no".
Now, I went to that workshop hoping to learn some tricks. Most of us who don't have cheese museums have one or two coolers at our disposal. At our store, by chance and not design, have a dry and a wet one. Sometimes cheese doesn't come in in perfect condition. Construction of improvised containers for certain types of cheese is what I wanted. Not advice to buy more coolers that we can't afford to put in the available space that doesn't exist.
Here's a trick for consumers. As a rule, if a U.S. cheese seller calls themselves an "affineur"*** or talks about their "cheese caaaav", they are probably an asshole. Retailers don't do affinage, we do harm reduction.
What I mean by that is that cheese should be in good condition when we buy it. If we get young cheese, or overly wet/sticky cheese, we should have methods for dealing with them. But nothing replaces proper aging on the production side. We try and make the best of what we have. Sometimes there are happy accidents. Sometimes there's cheese in the dumpster.
I help out with the Sonoma Cheese Conference every year, and the ACS is a great place to brainstorm new ideas for workshops. This year I am going to propose "Practical Harm Reduction Methods for Cheese Retailers." It's an industry conference. We can share our sneaky little methods.
The workshop I'm really excited about and wanting to do for two years: will be "Let's Stop Lying: Creating certified definitions for "farmstead", "hand-made/artisan", "pasture-fed",**** "cheese cave", "small production" and "cheesemonger".
*affinage = intentional cheese aging
**not exact quote, I had left remember.
***if they are certified in France that's another matter. There are exceptions to this. but most "caaaavs" are walk in coolers
****This is the next big one. Bigger entry on this soon.
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 03:31 pm (UTC)"Now if your cheese insists on trying heroin, remember that shooting is the most dangerous method. Suggest booty-bumping instead."
no subject
Date: 2007-08-21 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-21 05:30 pm (UTC)lying liars
Date: 2007-08-20 04:53 pm (UTC)Oh yeah.
"Made from fresh milk, not frozen curd"
"Locally produced"
"micro dairy"
GO!
Re: lying liars
Date: 2007-08-21 05:28 pm (UTC)second try. darn html.
Date: 2007-08-20 07:19 pm (UTC)Buy some caves!
The drawback for you is that they're in Saint Paul.
Re: second try. darn html.
Date: 2007-08-21 05:31 pm (UTC)Re: second try. darn html.
Date: 2007-08-21 05:41 pm (UTC)Re: second try. darn html.
Date: 2007-08-21 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-22 02:49 am (UTC)