Chef Anthony Bourdain once famously said, "You have to be a romantic to invest yourself, your money, and your time in cheese." Sharing a good piece of cheese with a partner, family member, good friend, or even a stranger is one of the highest acts of love, in our opinion, and Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to do so. Many customers will inevitably ask for "your most romantic cheese" in anticipation of the holiday, and we wanted to provide a few suggestions and talking points for what we here at Formaticum consider to be romantic cheeses!
The mythical origin story of Gorgonzola and many other blue cheeses is one of the most well-known pieces of cheese-related lore, but never fails to entertain a customer. According to legend, a cheesemaker who had just finished the evening milking was distracted by his lover, and came back the next morning to the milk still in the vat. In an attempt to hide his indiscretion, he added the morning milking to the vat and covered the evening milk, which of course contained some very active bacteria after its night in the vat. The result was a cheese containing blue mold, which was discovered to be very delicious, and the rest is history. In this case, an act of love actually helped invent a brand new cheese!
Soft, creamy cheeses hold a romantic place in history as well. In 774, the Emperor Charlemagne was visiting a monastery where the monks were busy making an unfamiliar soft cheese with a bloomy white rind, which would come to be known as Brie de Meaux. Charlemagne fell in love with this cheese with his first bite, and demanded that it be sent to him annually from then on. He wasn't the only royalty to fall in love with Brie - King Louis XVI's dying wish was to have one last bite of Brie!
Soft cheeses like Brie and triple creams are the perfect pairing with bubbly beverages like Champagne, Prosecco, or non-alcoholic sparkling cider. They also contain high levels of phenylethylamine, known colloquially as the "love drug," which causes the body to produce dopamine and feelings of contentment.
Cheddar itself is a universally loved cheese, but did you know that America's first cheese factory was opened in 1951 by a husband and wife team? Jesse Williams is generally credited with opening the factory, but his wife Amanda was also a well-known cheesemaker at the time, and the factory was known for producing cheddar.
There is also something very romantic about the continued preservation of centuries of cheese history. The image of farmers leading their herds of flower- and bell-adorned cows down from mountain pastures is almost synonymous with mountain or Alpine cheeses like Beaufort, Gruyère, and even Ossau Iraty, presenting a romanticized perception of the time-honored tradition of transhumance.
And sometimes, we love a cheese so much that we simply don't want to share it with anyone, For many people, this cheese is aged Gouda - these cheeses contain tyrosine crystals, which encourage the body to produce dopamine and epinephrine, creating feelings of euphoria. They're part of the reason why we love cheese so much!
Providing proper care is an important act of love towards cheese. So, whichever cheese your customers choose to share with their loved ones, remember to wrap it in Formaticum cheese paper to keep it in the best possible condition. Browse our bulk wrapping material selection or email wholesale@formaticum.com to request a wholesale account.
