The Most Wonderful Type of Mould
When I was little, my grandma would always receive a ball of gouda as a present on her birthday. I specifically remember one year the ball of delicious mouldy goodness was wrapped in pink Barbie wrapping paper. The look of joy that came across her face when she saw the cheese left me dumbfounded. I couldn’t understand why someone would be so happy over something so strange, like cheese. Yet, as I get older, I can appreciate why she was so excited over a ball of gouda. Cheese is not cheap, but as Dutch as my family is, we always have at least three types in our fridge.
It may seem slightly strange but most of my best memories somehow involve cheese. Thank God I’m not lactose intolerant. I remember watching cheese being made at Village Cheese in Armstrong when I was younger; my cousins and I would eat ice cream and watch the cheese makers separate the curds from the whey. When I was in the Netherlands last summer, I found my newest love: spiced gouda. Throw that on a croissant with some prosciutto and lettuce and you have got yourself an insanely mouthwatering sandwich.
Cheese is a magical food. Not literally (unless of course it’s served in the Great Hall of Hogwarts), but it sure seems like it. It serves as a great addition to already wonderful dishes, it can provide a sense of bonding, and who knows where would wine be without it’s best friend. Whenever you are predicting some sort of kitchen catastrophe, as long as you have cheese the problem can be averted. I have yet to come across anything (with the exception of rice, ichiban, and popcorn) that does not taste better with cheese. When my friend from Japan and I made sushi, we even added some chunks of cheddar and it was more than delicious!
Cheese is a food that is appreciated worldwide and by millions of people, for obvious reasons. There are cheeses that are delicious and then there are those that are, umm… not so. Since I live in Canada, I first came across aerosol cheese when my grandpa came back from Arizona. I was flabbergasted that someone would ruin cheeses integrity by forcing it into a can. Already appalled by the likes of Cheez Whiz, I felt somewhat heartbroken. How could someone destroy such an incredible dairy product?
It might be seemingly mundane type of food, but the way it can improve your food is incalculable. Think about trying to have a pizza, basically naked, without cheese on top.
Below is a list what I perceive to be the top 5 cheeses, followed by some foods that will only be enhanced by adding cheese.
Top 5 Cheeses
- Aged Cheddar
- Spiced Gouda
- Jalapeno Havarti
- Gouda
- Feta
– Put a slice of gouda or cheddar cheese on the top of your apple pie (cheese with apples is also great),
– Add any type of spicy cheese to your scrambled eggs.
– Instead of using only parmesan cheese on your spaghetti, also use an aged cheddar.
– As I mentioned earlier, small chunks of cheddar cheese rolled into sushi is delicious!!
– Add goldfish (I realize that these aren’t actually cheese but they’re cheddar flavoured) to tomato soup.
– Sprinkling feta onto cucumbers (it’s like Greek salad sans all the other veggies).
– Anything that you might burn, slap a piece of cheese on top and *bam* you have edible food once more!
– Add cheese curds to gravy and fries to recreate a delicious Quebecois dish… Poutine!!!!
P.S. Dear whoever comes up with the concepts for the allyouneedischeese.ca commercials, you are one of my favourite people ever. Mainly because of this commercial.
Do you have any other dishes that you add cheese to for an extra hint of yum? Share below ↓
