Sometimes, I daydream about the trips that wheels of cheese have made to get to our shop. The farthest travelling ones come on boats or planes across oceans, hang out for a while to get through customs, and hitch a ride on a refrigerated truck up to our local distributors. There, they might chill out for a bit longer, take a break, get comfy, before they take another truck ride to their final destination in our case. It’s quite a journey! And the one that has the longest trip (over 10,600 miles!) is the cow’s milk blue cheese, Roaring Forties.

Roaring Forties, named for the winds that tear around the world below latitude 40°S, comes to us from King Island Dairy on King Island, a small landmass located between mainland Australia and the state of Tasmania. Cheesemaker Ueli Berger, the grandson of a cheesemaker and the son of a dairy farmer, moved from Switzerland to King Island in 1998 to make this strong, creamy blue. He coats the cheese in wax to protect it from oxygen and help the cheese retain moisture, which makes for a rich, smooth texture and sweet, slightly nutty flavors. Crumble chunks of Roaring Forties onto steak, mix it with butter and spread it on cornbread, or just dive into a piece with a cracker and generous drizzle of honey. This blue took such a long journey to come to us, so I like to dream about adventuring along with it as I enjoy each bite!

For the love of cheese and well-travelled wheels,

Kiri

P.S. Here’s a really interesting article about one of the prettiest ingredients around, hibiscus, and the African Diaspora.

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