KEY POINTS:
If you are a woman of a certain age, the correct reply to the question, "how old are you?" is - age only matters if you're a cheese. If you are a cheese, the only thing that matters is your age. Well, almost.
The second most important thing
is that if you ever want to develop any personality, depth or complexity, you generally have to be unpasteurised, or made from raw milk. Everybody knows rough diamonds - with their hidden secrets - are the ones to go for.
The small artisan cheese-makers are the movie stars in the land of the controlled rot we call cheese.
This nonsense of the Food Safety Authority forcing all cheese-makers to pasteurise (kill the bacteria by heating) the milk they make cheese from, is wickedness and shows a huge lack of understanding of the cheese-making process.
The big health danger with cheese is nasties such as listeria, which can live in any soft cheeses, including those that are pasteurised.
Internationally, these health authorities are shamelessly manipulated by powerful lobbyists, scientists, industrial cheese-makers and supermarkets who are furthering their own agendas.
As any cheese lover knows, beneficial microbes in raw milk are not only crucial in giving top-class cheeses their unique quality and flavour, but also make them safer by preventing the growth of harmful organisms.
I am currently in the south of France - the home of Roquefort.
The first dish I order in a restaurant when I arrive in France is foie gras terrine, and the first thing I buy is a slab of creamy, salty, pungent, blue/green streaked Roquefort cheese.
I have been to the Roquefort caves where this magical, ancient cheese matures and it is truly fabulous to descend into the depths of the land and see them all lined up in their neat rounds, being at one with the penicillin growing all around them on the rocks and walls of the caves.
I mean, this cheese is incredible - people have been making it since Roman times. It is entirely made from sheep's milk and only from those within a certain radius of the village of Roquefort.
Roquefort goes very well with figs, honey, walnuts, pears, apples, a baguette and a late harvest wine. Make sure you take it out of the fridge at least half an hour before eating it. In general, I'm not a fan of using cheese in cooking but Roquefort does lend itself to such treatment more than most cheeses.
The point of this whole story is, finally, the powers that be are allowing this magnificent cheese into New Zealand, complete with all its terrifying dangers to innocent toddlers, expectant mothers and dotty oldies.
Let's hope other raw milk cheeses, such as Dutch goudas and edams, and French bries and camemberts will crawl in behind the roquefort. The rumble is that soon we will be allowed to make raw milk cheese here - with our very own untouched milk.
Roquefort will be available from Sabato in August.
- Detours, HoS
