Cheese Tasting Party

Today we got all fancy and had a cheese tasting party, focusing our taste buds on French cheeses.

First the students looked at our cheese selection.  The cheese monger at Harmon's helped us select an assortment and some bread, honey, nut, and fruit pairings to go with.  Here the students are strategizing how to group the foods and lay them out attractively.

Brie Fromage was controversial!  Very complex, surprising, intense and strong, with a mushroom finish.  Here are the words to accompany it: 

Fetid

Musty

Musky

Dirty

Calm with a gush of bitterness

Recalcitrant

Abrasive

Earthy

Sage making the honey look pretty.

Port Salut:  the cheese monger suggested we pair it with sour dough to bring out it's citrusy notes.  This was the most unsurprising, some said "dull" cheese.  Here are the list of descriptions the students came up with for Port Salut:FamiliarMildSmoothNon-descriptCitrusyCasualRelatable

This Domaine de Vallage triple cream brie had a sweet finish.  This was  a popular cheese that was interesting, had some complexity to it, but not too crazy.  Here are our words for this cheese:

Calm with a little zing

Hundreds of baby bunnies

Silk lingerie

Creamy

Cashmere

Salty

Soft

Silky

Subtle

Melty

Gentle

Diaphanous

daphinois

Bleu D'auvergne:  

Vibrant

Bold

Bullet

Hay

Cheesy

Strong

Sharp

Nautical

Sweet aftertaste

Teacher Josh doing his cheese board thing.

Teacher Eric's favorite.  The Goat Buche had a soft, runny rind and a dry, crumbly center.  Here's how we described it: 

Subtle

Crumbly

Dry

Timid

Gentle

Strong but soft

Foggy

Cloudy

I loved how the decimated cheese board looked, and all the descriptive words scribbled around each cheese.  So beautiful!

Good times.

Gjetost:  the kids' fav, the teachers' least fave.  Unsurprising, as it tastes like caramel cheese.  Here's what everyone said:

Pleasant

Unexpected

Peanut butter

Candy

Carameled

Dairy

Caramel apple

Cloudy

Cloying

Vivacious

Changing

Jejeune

Milky

Refreshing

Savory

Overwhelming

The feasting.

The spread.

Cheese Awards

People's Choice:
Gold Medal--Gjetost
Silver Medal--Domaine de Vallage

Judges Awards:
Gold Medal--Brie Fromage
Silver Medal--Bleu d'Auvergne