Anne-Marie Pietersma for culture: the word on cheese https://culturecheesemag.com Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese. Fri, 21 Nov 2025 23:47:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://culturecheesemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/cropped-Culture-Logo-32x32.jpg Anne-Marie Pietersma for culture: the word on cheese https://culturecheesemag.com 32 32 The Best Cheeses to Pair with Beaujolais Nouveau https://culturecheesemag.com/cheese-pairings/drinks-with-cheese/beaujolais-nouveau-pairings/ https://culturecheesemag.com/cheese-pairings/drinks-with-cheese/beaujolais-nouveau-pairings/#respond Fri, 21 Nov 2025 21:47:11 +0000 https://culturecheesemag.com/?p=49993 Every November, France raises a glass to one of its most playful wine traditions: Beaujolais Nouveau Day. Made from the gamay grape in the rolling hills north of Lyon, this vino defies any expectation or stereotype of French wine. Instead of spending years aging, Beaujolais nouveau is bottled and sold just weeks after harvest thanks to a winemaking technique called carbonic maceration. This method speeds up fermentation, producing fresh, fruity flavors with soft tannins. Bursting with notes of cherry, strawberry, and even hints of banana (to me, specifically banana Laffy Taffy candy), it is meant to be enjoyed immediately. But not too soon.

By French law, Beaujolais nouveau cannot be released until 12:01 a.m. on the third Thursday of November. But that moment transforms what might otherwise be a humble village wine into a nationwide fete. And it just so happens, I found myself in Paris on this day last year.

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]]> https://culturecheesemag.com/cheese-pairings/drinks-with-cheese/beaujolais-nouveau-pairings/feed/ 0 The Silicon Valley of Dairying: Chino’s Brief, Brilliant Dairy Legacy https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/the-silicon-valley-of-dairy-chino-california-history/ https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/the-silicon-valley-of-dairy-chino-california-history/#respond Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:06:28 +0000 https://culturecheesemag.com/?p=49948 The Chino Valley sits about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. In the 1970s, Chino, California, was home to more cows per square mile than anywhere else on earth. Today, not a single dairy remains. The skyline of silos and barns has been replaced by warehouses, tract homes, and distribution centers. But Chino’s story isn’t […]

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]]> https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/the-silicon-valley-of-dairy-chino-california-history/feed/ 0 culture’s 2025 Annual List of the Best Award-winning Cheeses https://culturecheesemag.com/awards/best-cheese-2025/ https://culturecheesemag.com/awards/best-cheese-2025/#respond Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:46:01 +0000 https://culturecheesemag.com/?p=48722 At culture, we eat a lot of cheese—funky cheeses, flavored cheeses, ones with bloomy rinds and ones sans rinds, cheeses made of several animal milks, cheeses made from plants, so on. We also attend national and international competitions each year alongside makers and folks in the biz so that we can add award-winning cheeses to […]

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]]> https://culturecheesemag.com/awards/best-cheese-2025/feed/ 0 How Cheese Unlocks Personal Myths and Memoirs https://culturecheesemag.com/stories/ruminations/cheese-memories-holidays-thanksgiving/ https://culturecheesemag.com/stories/ruminations/cheese-memories-holidays-thanksgiving/#respond Fri, 15 Nov 2024 05:27:11 +0000 https://culturecheesemag.com/?p=48540 Humans are innate storytellers, and cheese is an edible story. When we actually slow down and commune with ourselves, each other, and, yes, the cheese itself, parts of our own world can be opened up to us.

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]]> https://culturecheesemag.com/stories/ruminations/cheese-memories-holidays-thanksgiving/feed/ 0 Ruminations: Taste Transformation https://culturecheesemag.com/stories/ruminations/ruminations-taste-transformation/ https://culturecheesemag.com/stories/ruminations/ruminations-taste-transformation/#respond Fri, 18 Sep 2020 16:01:08 +0000 https://culturecheesemag.com/?p=38783 How exploring the unfamiliar can lead to unexpected discoveries in cheese, and in life.

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