Cutting the Curd

This week on Cutting the Curd , host Greg Blais is talking drunken cheese stories with guests Charlotte Kamin and Nate McEllroy of Bedford Cheese Shop, and Matt Rubiner of Rubiner’s Cheesemongers & Grocers. Kicking off the show trying to pry some crazy stories from the guests, Greg recalls a few times working slightly hungover and successfully encourages tales from there. Tune in for a fun epi...

Continuing the discussion about the importance of cheese importers and distributers to the cheese chain, host Greg Blais chats with Stephanie Ciano and Shelli Morton of Crystal Food Import/World’s Best Cheese. Stephanie and Shelli talk about the history of Crystal Food, and how the company has changed the industry and adapted to changes in American cheese culture. During the busy holiday season, c...

This week on Cutting the Curd, co-hosts Greg Blais and Anne Saxelby talk with Adam Moskowitz of Larkin Cold Storage and Debra Dickerson of Tomales Bay Foods. During the busy holiday season, cheese shops around the country stock their walk-ins and cheese cases to the brim. But how does all of this fragile cheese get from the farm to the cheese counter in perfect condition? Tune in to hear all of th...

This week on Cutting the Curd , host Diane Stemple is talking Kickstarter campaigns with Sue Miller of Birchrun Hills Farm and Jessica Sennett of Cheese Grotto. First up, Sue Miller talks about her cheese history before delving into the goal of Birchrun Hills’ Kickstarter campaign. As a family-run dairy, they are seeking support in order to build a cheese-making facility (a.k.a. “a cave”) on the f...

This week on Cutting the Curd , host Greg Blais is talking cheese hacks! Similar to the popular life hacks, which solve everyday problems using everyday items in an unconventional way, Greg and guest Nadjeeb Chouaf of Flora Artisanal Cheese in Charlottesville, VA chat about shortcuts in cheese. Nadjeeb also opens up about how he became involved in the cheesemongering world and how he came to open...

This week on Cutting the Curd , host Greg Blais is wrapping up the series on cheese and art discussion cheese in the visual medium, whether that be in photography or painting. Welcoming guest co-host Cara Warren, Cheese Manager and Buyer at Greene Grape Provisions, to the show as well as Mike Geno and Carol Bobolts. Mike Geno is a fine artist from Philadelphia who specializes in realistic painting...

Continuing the ongoing series on cheese and art, this week host Greg Blais is talking film on Cutting the Curd! Welcoming co-host Matt Spiegler, a writer, documentarian, and creator of the blog Cheese Notes , the duo kick off the show talking about their recent viewing of the movie, “The Boxtrolls,” and how cheese in general is beginning to become more visible in film but still has a way to go to...

This week on Cutting the Curd , host Diane Stemple welcomes Lou Di Palo of Italian Selects based in Little Italy, NYC and author of the new book, “Di Palo’s Guide to the Essential Foods of Italy.” Talking to Diane about his family’s prominent background in the food industry (Lou’s great-grandfather started their business in 1903!) as well as why he decided to take on writing a book, Lou talks in g...

This week Cutting the Curd is continuing its series on cheese and art. Host Greg Blais and co-host Emily Acosta delve into the interesting topic of breast milk cheese with artist Miriam Simun, who has personal experience in this realm. Having started the human cheese project in order to provoke a space for discourse around norms and practices with regard to human exceptionalism, food production, e...

This week on Cutting the Curd , host Greg Blais and guest co-host Anne Saxelby begin a series talking about cheese and art – how cheese tends to intersect across all platforms. This week in particular, tune in to hear guests Soyoung Scanlan of Andante Dairy and Andy Hatch of Uplands Cheese Company talk about their experiences with cheese and music. Soyoung kicks off the conversation sharing how sh...

What’s in a name? This week on Cutting the Curd , host Greg Blais is talking cheese names with guests Rachel Perez and David Grotenstein. Rachel is the French Cheese Ambassador for The French Cheese Club and is on the Judging and Competition Committee with the American Cheese Society, while David is an industry veteran having been in the business for over 30 years. Rachel kicks off the show with e...

This week on a brand new Cutting the Curd , host Diane Stemple is kicking off the show’s monthly book review, welcoming chef and cheesemonger Chester Hastings, author of The Cheesemonger’s Seasons to talk about his beautifully photographed volume. Complete with his favorite cheese recipes, Chester shares with Diane how to match peak-season produce with fine cheeses. Also chatting with Diane about...

This week on a brand new Cutting the Curd , host Greg Blais takes on current events in the cheese realm and welcomes Susan Sturman and Stephanie Ciano to the program to shed light on what’s going on. A Cutting the Curd veteran, Susan Sturman is the Director of the Anglophone Program at Academie Opus Caseus and is a Co-Chair of the 2015 Annual Conference at the American Cheese Society. Stephanie Ci...

Cheese royalty is in the house this week on Cutting the Curd ! Join Greg Blais as he chats with Peter Dixon and Benton Brown on a candid and insightful episode of the world’s best cheese radio show. Peter Dixon is a dairy foods consultant and artisan cheesemaker. His work with people engaged in or interested in making cheese and other dairy products draws on 30 years of cheesemaking and 15 years o...

This week on Cutting the Curd , guest host Greg Blais and co-host Diane Stemple kick off the new radio season with a very special guest, none other than Anne Saxelby! Catching up with Anne, Greg and Diane start the show off discussing the culinary perks of Brooklyn as well as putting the guest on the spot asking about her journey with cheese. Though growing up in the midwest and going to college a...

Tune in for a fun and insightful episode of Cutting the Curd as Greg Blais is joined by friend and cheese expert Max McCalman. Max is a highly visible advocate for artisanal cheese production, and is renowned as one of the cheese world’s living legends for his expertise, insight and passion. Max is a dedicated scholar of cheese, where he acts as consultant to the trade, judges at cheese competitio...

This week on Cutting the Curd , Diane Stemple chats with Michael Paternity, author of The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and the World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese . In the fall of 1991, while working at a gourmet deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Michael Paterniti encountered a piece of cheese. Not just any cheese. This was Paramo de Guzman, a rare Spanish queso reputed to be the finest...

On a new episode of Cutting the Curd , hear from last year and this year’s recipients of the Daphne Zepos Teaching Award . The Daphne Zepos Teaching Award is an annual scholarship awarded to a USA-based cheese professional who uses the funds to travel, learn and further their education on cheese. First, hear from Jess Perrie of Beehive Cheese Company who won the award last year. She recounts her t...

Re-live the 2014 American Cheese Society Conference, held this year in Sacramento, California, on a brand new episode of Cutting the Curd ! Hosts Greg Blais and Diane Stemple are joined by Debra Dickerson, co-chair of The Festival of Cheese at the ACS, and Jeremy Stephenson, a cheesemaker who’s Tarentaise Reserve took home best in show at the ACS. Find out what makes the cheese world such a vibran...

Re-live the 2014 Cheesemonger Invitational on this week’s episode of Cutting the Curd . Greg Blais, Sophie Slessinger and Andrew SiIskind were at the event and recorded some great interviews that they are sharing with listeners today. Hear from Matt Spiegler of CheeseNotes.com, Adam Smith of Jasper Hill, Jeremy Stephenson of Springbrook Farms and Veronica Pedraza of Meadowood Farms. This program w...

Re-live the Vermont Cheesemaker’s Festival on a special episode of Cutting the Curd, as host Greg Blais is joined by Lisa Battilana, the Executive Chef of the Woodstock Farmer’s Market in Vermont and cheesemonger Perry Soulos for a re-cap. The 6th Annual Vermont Cheesemaker’s Festival, sponsored by the Vermont Cheese Council took place July 20th at the Coach Barn at Shelbourne Farm in Vermont and...

What happens when a punk kid figures out how to handle cheese? The Bedford Cheese Shop is born! Get some insight into running a cheese shop as Greg Blais and guest co-host Matt Rubiner chat with Charlotte Kamin, owner of Bedford Cheese Shop- an old-fashioned cheese shop dedicated to providing the finest quality cheeses from around the world. Tune in to find out what the day to day life of a cheese...

Andy Hatch is responsible for one of the most ubiquitous cheeses on counters and menus across the country – Pleasant Ridge Reserve. He’s the guy behind Uplands Cheese Company, a seasonal grass-based dairy farm. Uplands is unique in a number of ways: it follows the “Alpine pattern” of milking, and its a place where cows harvest their own feed, spread their own manure, and give the farmer a bit of a...

Jason Hinds of Neal’s Yard Dairy has damn-near seen it all when it comes to cheese. This week he joins Greg Blais and Emily Acosta on Cutting the Curd to discuss his work at Neal’s Yard Dairy, his cheese travels and his experiences in the Jura region of France. Tune in and hear Jason recount trips to the cheese fortresses of Jura, the seasonality and terroir of the area and what makes the cheeses...

In the last of the Old School vs New School series, Greg Blais is joined by two talented cheesemongers – Emily Acosta of Eataly and Matt Rubiner of Rubiner’s Cheesemongers and Grocers. Hear them both explain how they found cheese as a career, what the world of cheese means to them and what makes a “real” cheesemonger. Find out how the cheese industry has changed over the years and what tools make...