My nephew asked me today, “How come gruyere from Wisconsin (Gruyere Surchoix) tasted different than gruyere from Switzerland?” What an excellent question! How do you explain to a 12 year old the concept of terroir? Especially when, in his world, there are only two classifications of cheese: orange and white. He did drop a great descriptive though, “briney” was his interpretation of the Surchoix.

On a similar note, his younger brother was confounded by the fresh mozzarella that we bought. He has never had such a thing in all of his 9 years.

So dear readers, I call upon you to challenge your friends and loved ones with new and exciting cheeses! Don’t settle for bland just because that’s all they’ve ever had. Broaden their horizons! Knock their socks off!