Tried a Humboldt Fog, St Andre and Port Salut

[DeejayDebi]

I had to go to the big city yesterday (West Hardford) so I stopped by an place called Whole Foods Market. I like that store has great produce and lots of goodies. They have a pretty good cheese section with really fancy cheese from all over the world. Not like the local grocery stores here. Well I tried a few cheeses I have never had and heard so much about. Humboldt Fog, St Andre and Port Salut.

The Humboldt Fog has a funny tart yet soapy after taste I didn't like and I still don't like the texture of those skins. I think it would have gone better with a nice ale instead of coffee.

The St Andre was very creamy and I liked it alot - very mild flavored cheese. I may try to make this one. The skin was still weird textured and I don't know why but I can't eat it. I tried but I just don't like the texture. I don't like these mold riped skins.

The Port Salut was my favorite I think soft, rich and creamy and melted in your mouth reminiscent of a good piece of expensive chocolate. Almost like a really thick solid pudding or something. This I will definitely try to make sometime I think Alex made it before and it caught my eye.

Not much detail on the labels but I'll post it anyway.

[FRANCOIS]

Did you purchase them from the wheel or were they already shrink wrapped?  Wrapping a humboldt Fog like that is sacrelage.  No wonder the taste was funky, any ripened cheese hsold be paper wrap only.  It really only takes a few hours in plastic like that before the cheese starts to go south.

I think I am the opposite of you, the Port Salut would be my last choice.  we make a similar cheese here and I loath having to sample it.

[DeejayDebi]

Francous they cut it there and wrapped in plastic. Not sure why they do that. I did not see any paper in the whole place except the camemberts that were wrapped at manufacture - which I thought odd for such pricey cheeses.

I did notice that the humboldt Fog was developing an almost gel like substance right below the rind by the time I got home and cut it. It reminded my of the layer below the slip skin on my first crottins. Maybe that was the soapy flavor? I was very disappointed - I was so excited to find this stuff.

Perhaps the Port Salut was the only one that survived the trip in plastic? With traffic it was about 1.5 hours in the car with the heat on. Although I did keep the cheese in the backseat with the window cracked wrapped with frozen veggeis so they would stay cold.

[MrsKK]

Aw, how disappointing!

[DeejayDebi]

I certainly was. 

[Sailor Con Queso]

I personally don't care for Humboldt Fog.

[DeejayDebi]

I definately seem to like the harder cheeses best and the ones with a sharper flavo.

[Cheese Head]

Humboldt Fog, free on Valentine's Day!

Well here in Houston at our local store they were giving away free samples (bowl is normally full at beginning of day), so I had 6 (circled back twice)!

Very nice salty almost Feta-ish Chevre, but like Debi's picture, retail portions were wrapped in plastic (wheel is paper covered) and just below rind is a gelatinous layer that I didn't really like. is this layer normal?

[Majoofi]

Yeah, but it doesn't look ripe in the sample tray. It needs a few hours at room temp. When I put Humbolt Fog on a cheese buffet the area under the rind starts to ooze out like a super ripe brie. Some people scoop up the ooze and some go for the more crumbly center, and a few (like me) even eat the rind.

[SueVT]

Debi, they wrap the camembert and brie in a special paper... is this the paper you're talking about?  That is the *expensive* paper that I don't want to buy, that preserves the moisture level of the cheese perfectly....

I can't believe the price of the best papers, the multi-layer permeable kind...

[DeejayDebi]

Sue I think that is what I mean.  Glad I not a bif fan of the soft cheeses the paper prices alone will kill ya!