For our first Meet Your Monger feature, we spoke with Sarah Simiele, who has been having a pretty good year - as the owner of The Curd Nerd cheese shop in Syracuse NY, she is also the newest Cheesemonger Invitational champion after taking home the trophy at this year's New York City competition. Sarah was the recipient of the Comte Association scholarship to attend this year American Cheese Society Conference to sit for the Certified Cheese Professional exam, and recently the Mayor of Syracuse declared August 28th, 2023 as The Curd Nerd Day in celebration of her continued accomplishments. She also creates some of our favorite cheese education content on her popular TikTok account!

Sarah and her husband provide an exceptional experience for all of their customers, and Sarah works hard to curate one of the most impressive artisan cheese counters we've ever seen. Her commitment to collaborating with local distributors to source the highest quality products, both local and imported, is a testament to her passion for her work and her desire to honor the hard work of the producers and serve her community. As an experienced cheesemonger and a respected member of the cheese community, it's no surprise that she chose Formaticum products for her shop. Read our interview with Sarah below!

Sarah: Oh, this is a BIG question. My story into cheese is not that dissimilar than most - I was planning a very different career, stumbled upon cheese and never looked back.

I was in college on a pre-med track with my major being in Cellular & Molecular Biology. There was a group of students who were trying to start a cheese club, mostly as a fun way to learn about food & get our university to pay for snacks. I immediately reached out and offered to help get the club chartered on our campus. To me, cheese club was supposed to be a break from the constant science & burn out I was feeling. Through getting the cheese club started, I started researching everything I could about cheese, which led me to finding the multitude of potential careers in cheese. Something about being a cheesemonger was really calling to me, so when I went home from school I applied to every cheese shop within about an hour plus radius of my parents house. I started working at a shop in Brooklyn and by the end of my first week in cheese I knew it was what I was going to do with my life.

I opened The Curd Nerd sort of out of desperation. My now-husband, Matt, and I moved to Syracuse in 2020 because he received a job offer up here. When we were planning our move I was hoping to potentially work with a cheesemaker for a few years, but with the pandemic starting right as we moved, hiring was extremely limited. I tried working at some local grocery stores, hoping to stay connected to cheese in some way. While I was still working in cheese, it didn't feel quite right & I just wasn't satisfied. I wanted the bustle of counter service, the excitement of learning about new cheese, the joy of educating consumers. Matt and I decided to open The Curd Nerd mostly to give me those feelings back, but also to give Syracuse and Central New York better access to artisan cheese. Since we've opened, I have had nothing but love for the job, and the joy of helping my customers find the perfect cheese for them!

S: That it's for everyone. We truly believe artisan cheese should be enjoyed by everyone. At The Curd Nerd we try our best to offer something for every budget, we will cut as much or as little cheese as you want. We know artisan products come with a higher price tag (and they should!), but we know not everyone has the extra budget to spend on cheese. So whether you have have $5 or $500 for cheese, we've got you covered. 

Cheese is a common man's food and should not be reserved for only the most well-off individuals. 

I also wish more consumers knew that cheesemongers don't expect you to know everything about cheese when you come up to our counter. We're here to help! 

S: How don't we use Formaticum products? We use the Formaticum Professional Cheese Knives for cutting and prepping cheese, then we wrap our cheese in the 13.75" One-Ply Roll for counter sale. We use the 20" One-Ply Roll to wrap our wholesale or bulk orders. We use the Cheese Signs on catering trays to help customers identify what's on their board. We sell the new Reusable Cheese Storage Bags & Paper for our customers to better care for their cheese at home. Plus, we sell the Cheese Log Books so they can better keep track of their purchases. 

We are currently expanding to add the plant-based Cellophane to our Formaticum toolkit to better wrap our grab and go cheese options! And on a personal level, I use the Formaticum Mini 4-Knife set at home for when I serve cheese for friends & family. 

S: I think I have to say my favorite product is the One-Ply Roll. I have used a lot of different papers throughout my career and I really find the Formaticum paper to be the easiest to work with. Not only is it easy to work with, but it looks great for customers as well. 

S: Hmm, maybe that regular plastics & plastic wraps are essentially suffocating your cheese, because cheese is alive! Always store your cheese in cheese paper or ask your monger how best to store what you purchased! 

F: If you were a cheese, which one would you be and why?

S: This is so hard, because I think I'd be a lot of different cheeses. Cheesemonger Sarah is like Old Chatham Creamery Nancy’s Camembert, always a great option, crowd pleasing, and a good combo of sweet & salty. Outside of work Sarah is more like Ameribella from Jacobs&Brichford: funky but plays well with others (flavors for cheese, people for me) haha. Also, definitely influenced by Italian classics (my entire NYC Italian family).

Follow The Curd Nerd & Formaticum on Instagram and TikTok and be sure to stop by the shop for some cheese or to attend an event if you're in the Syracuse area!

To nominate your favorite cheesemonger or shop for an upcoming feature, email emilia@formaticum.com. 

Hello and Happy New Year from Formaticum!

We’d like to thank you for being a part of our cheese loving community and hope that 2022 is filled with good health, happiness and all the great cheese one could ever want. To that end, over the next several months we will be featuring some pretty special cheese shops from around the country with the hopes of sharing their stories and love for cheese with you and with some luck…inspiring you to reach out and try some new cheeses in 2022. 

Today, we are highlighting Fromagination in Madison, Wisconsin.  For those who do not know, Wisconsin produces more cheese than any other state in the US.  In fact, Wisconsin cheese makers account for 26% of TOTAL US cheese production.  In 2020, Wisconsin cheese makers produced 3.39 Billion (with a “B”!) pounds of cheese.  Doesn’t that sound lovely?

While Fromagination carries cheese from all over the US and from around the globe, it’s no wonder that their primary focus is on Wisconsin’s artisan cheese producers.  Read below to learn more about Fromagination,  what makes their shop so special and unique and why they choose Formaticum cheese paper for their store.

Formaticum: How long have you been in business?

Fromagination: We began in 2007 when Founder and Creative Director Ken Monteleone, who believed that Wisconsin’s cheese-making heritage, and its growing artisan food movement deserved a proper showcase. 

Formaticum: What inspired you to open a cheese shop?

Fromagination: Wisconsin is the Capital of Cheese accounting for over $43 billion of our state's economy. We thought it was fitting to have a cheese shop located on the Capitol Square. We opened in 2007 and our goal is to leave each customer loving cheese more. Expand your imagination into the world of cheese at Fromagination.

Formaticum: How many cheeses does your shop carry at any given time?

Fromagination: We specialize in small batch cheeses that are traditionally made by artisans throughout Wisconsin and outside of our state.  We have a curated assortment of around 80 cheeses.  Taste and explore some of your favorites and our cheesemonger will introduce you to some new favorites.

Formaticum: What are some of the regional cheeses people can purchase at your shop?

Fromagination: Too many to mention from soft ripened goat cheese to cave aged cheddar and cheddars aged up to 20 years.  We have a great relationship with Wisconsin cheesemakers and we're always the first to get Wisconsin cheeses in development.

Formaticum: Tell us why you love your Fromagination branded cheese paper from Formaticum?

Fromagination: We love our Formaticum branded cheese paper. Not only does it protect the cheese and allows it to breathe, it also is a great reminder every time you open your cheese drawer.

Formaticum: What is one thing you wish all of your customers knew?

Fromagination: Our cheesemongers are experts at what they do.  You can taste your way through our cases and we can pair your cheese with everything from beer, spirits, wine and the hundreds of other cheese companions we carry in our shop.

Formaticum: Anything else you’d like to share?

 Fromagination: Wisconsin's rich tradition of cheesemaking goes back 185 years, we have Master Cheesemakers and win more awards than any other state. We are very proud of Wisconsin’s rich tradition of cheesemaking and are lucky to be a small part of this tradition.

To learn more about Fromagination, their story and to access their online shop (yes, they ship all over the US!) please visit fromagination.com

Running a cheese shop or being a cheesemonger bears a tremendous amount of responsibility.  Whether it’s a freshly made, local chevre that is barely a few days old, a stunning geotrichum rinded beauty from the Loire Valley, a pungent and meaty washed rind from Lombardy or Burgundy, a perfect example of Alpine style from Vermont, or a world class blue cheese from the Pacific Northwest, the retail cheese counter is essentially carrying the baton for the last lap of the race.  Everyone’s hard work and passion along each and every step of the way is now riding on them.

The cheese counter can be an intimidating place for even the most passionate turophiles.  Specialty cheese is a living, breathing, and ever evolving delight that can change from one wheel to the next, or even from one day to the next.  It’s the cheesemonger’s responsibility to guide and educate their customer base, while working tirelessly to present each example of cheese in its best light.  What is even harder is that once the cheese leaves their shop, their responsibility doesn’t end.  As the last point of contact, the cheesemonger is responsible for their customer’s experience until the cheese is gone.  Now, for us, cheese doesn’t last long in our fridge, but for many, cheese can linger at home for weeks.  

The best cheese shops and mongers know this and do all that they can to ensure the best possible experience for their customers until the cheese is gone.  When you buy specialty cheese, that is why it will come wrapped in Formaticum Cheese Paper.  Proper storage of your cheese preserves the purity of its flavor while extending its shelf life.  Our Premium Cheese Storage Paper simulates the environment of a cheese cave, where cheeses are traditionally aged.  While conventional plastic wrap suffocates cheese, our unique material allows cheese to breathe while maintaining optimal humidity.  The result is cheese stays fresh, longer.

That’s the reason America’s favorite cheese shops use Formaticum paper.  Over the next few months we will be taking you on a journey to these cheese shops across the country, chatting with their owners, mongers and customers.

Who should we visit? We want to know your favorite cheese shops, cheese counters or even individual cheesemongers.  Let us know.