Cheese #7: Swedish Greves (it's just Swiss)

Loyal Pondering Cheese readers..... I'm back! I wish I could tell you I was off wondering the world in search of the best cheeses to review but I wasn't. I have just been caught up in the parts of life that are far less interesting than cheese. With that said, I will share one April adventure that I took where I had the opportunity to experience a cheese based sandwich with tradition. In early April I was privileged to accompany a friend at The Masters in Augusta, Georgia (A tradition unlike any other). Before our trip to The Masters I had no idea that this classic golf tournament is known for a delicious Pimento cheese sandwich. The sandwich itself was simple, two pieces of the whitest bread you can buy with a thick layer of the most wonderful Pimento cheese spread in between. Wrapped in a thin green plastic with a sticker on the front with The Masters logo, this sandwich was dense. In fact it was so dense that when you picked it up you could already feel the rock it was about to leave in your gut. I had two of these wonderfully heavy and delightful sandwiches within a few hours and was sure I would never need to eat again. The actual cheese in the spread was a perfectly shredded cheddar held together with a mixture of creamy greatness. Growing up in a NASCAR family, I worried about being shunned for attending a professional golf tournament but the risk was worth it because of these traditional Pimento cheese sandwiches that were unlike any other.

And now on to this weeks (or months) cheese. When I bought this cheese a couple weeks back I was ready to scoff at it. I was ready to make several comments about how its appearance makes it look like the perfect cheese for a cartoon mouse. The cheese itself was a long skinny wedge with appropriately placed holes through the entire wedge. This large wedge of Swedish Greves was just a wedge of Swiss Cheese with a fancy name. I wanted so badly to come back strong with negative feelings about a stupidly stereotypical looking cheese, but I can't. This hunk of Swiss was fantastic! It was not overpowering like some Swiss cheese. This Swiss was mild and smooth. It cut with ease right out of the refrigerator and was so perfectly snackable that I almost finished the entire wedge in one sitting. I ate this cheese on crackers and feel this was probably the best use for it as mixing it with other tastes might have hidden the mild taste of Swedish Greves (Swiss). For this reason Swedish Greves was not the most versatile of cheese but I would give this fancy Swiss cheese a 4 out of 5 when compared to the most wonderful cheese of all times, Colby Jack.

Peace, Love, and Cheese

Cheese #6: Cotswald/Cotswold from England

Lets get down to business quick on this week's cheese. Cotswald or Cotswold cheese from England is really, really good. I bought a small wedge of Cotswald at our local market thinking it looked like a hearty yellow cheese that I would probably enjoy and boy was I right. I am unsure of the exact spelling of the cheese as it said "Cotswald" on the package that I bought but most other research has lead me to the spelling "Cotswold". Either way, this is a fantastic cheese. If you have never had the pleasure of tasting Cotswold, let me take a minute to help you imagine what it tastes like. Close your eyes and think for a second about what the toppings on a baked potato should taste like when the sour cream, cheddar, and chives are mixed perfectly. If you are reading this that means you have opened your eyes again, which is good because I want you to read the rest of my thoughts. When I eat a baked potato, I do not eat it for the potato, I eat it for the toppings and to save money the next time I think baked potatoes sound like a nice dinner option I am not going to buy all of those things, I am simply going to buy a wedge of Cotswold (an English cheese) and melt it generously over the top of my potato.

Cotswald was rich and creamy and it had perfect cut-ablity for cheese snacking which I am always looking for. It also had a wonderful kick with the chives added right into the cheese. If I were looking for a cheddar with some class to serve with any zesty meal, I would choose Cotswold (an English cheese) to help complete the meal. Cotswald gets a nine on a scale from one to ten with Colby Jack as an eleven and there is not much that is better than that.

We had a friend visiting this weekend who has been one of my most avid Pondering Cheese followers and she bought a nice herb and garlic goat cheese that also had chives. I would say that this goat cheese was the cousin of Cotswald with how delicious it was even though it lacked the amazing cheddar taste and did not come from cows milk, as my new beloved Cotswold.

Peace, Love, and Cheese.