Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Cheese Rinds

So you’re putting together your节日奶酪板。或者您站在杂货店的奶酪柜台上，品尝了展示柜中的一些样品。你咬了一口郁郁葱葱的楔子brie, but when you get down to therind，你停下来。你应该在周围吃饭吗？扔果皮，牺牲剩下的奶酪粘在上面？还是您应该继续前进并从中咬一口？汤姆·比文斯（Tom Bivins），执行董事佛蒙特州奶酪委员会，认为您应该深吸一口气，面对恐惧并吃掉皮。他聊天Food & Wineabout why eating the rind help will help you appreciate the cheese, plus the varieties you need to add to your cheese board thisholiday季节。

除非在果皮上有蜡，芝士塞或纸，否则比文斯说，如果您从奶酪的皮中咬一口，您就不必担心生病Food & Wine有pointed out before。

“Just taste a little bit, you’ll be fine. The cultures are good for your gut health and they aren’t going to hurt you,” he says. “No cheesemaker would put anything on the cheese that would be harmful."

Not only is the rind safe to eat, but trying it out will actually better appreciate your cheese. Bivins says that when he’s tasting cheese with people who less familiar with cheese than he is (which is most people) he always encourages them “sample a little bit of the rind,” in order to better understand what the cheesemaker was trying to accomplish with the flavors of the final product.

当然，第一类是由蜡，树皮或纸制成的不可食用品种。其他每种果皮都是安全的。

第二个是盛开的皮,你会发现cheeses like brie or camembert. It’s usually “snowy white or line colored,” according to Bivins.

第三种是洗涤后的果皮，通常具有粘稠的质地和“红色橙色”，最常见的是人们认为“臭”的奶酪。在Bivins的经验中，这是最常见的“怪异人”的果皮，但请放心，果皮只是由奶酪制造商引入的二级文化创造的，在奶酪之上。

最后，有天然的果皮，这种类型在衰老过程中自然形成在奶酪上，通常在切达干酪和帕尔玛奶酪上发现。

With a bloomy rind, expect to taste “mushroomy, woodsy” flavors.

Washed rinds, on the other hand, are created not just with bacteria, but with a salt brine as well.

“[The cheese makers] take the cheese off the shelf, and they wash it with a brine made with salt, and then if they want to flavor it, they would add that flavor to the brine,” explains Bivins. This process only happens once the cheese is set. He adds that it’s dipped into the brine, and then set back on the shelf, where the bacteria continues to grow.

Washed rinds can be flavored with “with all kinds of things, including cider, cognac, beer and wine.” The result is often a salty bite from the rind, followed by the creamy cheese.

A natural rind, on the other hand, tends to have a more bitter taste, but during the aging process, Bivins says that bitterness of the rind has an effect on the overall flavor of the finished product, often imparting the cheese with woodsy, smoky, or meaty flavors.

“I’ve found that people who shy away from those stinky cheeses are hooked once they taste them,” Bivins reveals.

He encourages people around this is the time of year to be adventurous with their choice of cheese.

他说：“我们避免全年沉迷，这是我们可以享受丰富和浓郁的奶酪的一次。”

One the best ways to impress your guests this holiday season, Bivins advises, is to add a funky cheese to your cheese board at your next cocktail party.

Bivins有一些收藏夹，包括他称之为“奶酪裂缝”和“牛奶布丁”的最爱贾斯珀山农场，一种柔软的奶酪，带有蓬松的果皮。他还建议您尝试一块包裹的切达干酪，并用洗净的果皮来尝试。一些他最喜欢的洗果奶酪来自佛蒙特州的Bardwell Farm，另一个来自Jasper Hill Farm，威洛比。The Reserve cheeses (most recently the Rush Creek Reserve, which was released on November 8), produced at Uplands Cheese Company, are also worth a try. According to Bivins, when the cheese company presented its products at a recent competition in Italy, the judges were shocked to find that such a tasty cheese was being produced in America.

“There are some amazing cheeses being produced here. Even the French are beginning to realize that some great cheeses are being made here,” Bivins quips.

With that in mind, now is the time to create the dreamy cheese board you’ve been fantasizing about since the December 1 (and here’s all our advice onhow tomake it perfect). This holiday season, go forth and serve the smelliest, creamiest, cheese you can find at your holiday party—and then when you’re finished, eat all the rinds. Go ahead, you have permission from an expert.