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When cooking with cheese, there's nothing much worse than choosing the wrong cheese for the wrong application. Mozzarella's not great as a finisher atop pasta in the same way that parmesan is, for example, because it becomes clumpy and stringy, while a harder cheese like parmesan can become a more cohesive element of the dish. Understanding why cheeses melt in different manners can help keep your fontina on your paninis and your fetas in your salads.

It seemed nearly impossible, looking at all our past posts, that we haven't covered this cheese before. When I worked at a cheese store with hundreds of choices, it was consistently one of the only cheeses that I'd actually buy and bring home. (And if you have trouble remembering the name, just think of one of a pretty easy-to-remember movie star. The cheese's name is pronounced Tom Cray-oooze.)

From Consider Bardwell Farm in West Pawlet, Vermont, comes one of the best cheeses around.... and right now it's at particular peak, perhaps because it's most definitely the season for a cheese of this nature: made with the raw milk from Vermontese (if you will) goats who were grazing on fresh spring grasses and foliage just a couple of months ago.

With so many cheese lovers out there sharing their enthusiasm for cheese trends, news, and stories, there's almost no reason for the rest of us not to become more cheese obsessed. It's partly sites like these that maintain our own admiration for the subject, not that it's really all that hard to stay inspired when it comes to cheese.

Below, a few of our favorite sites, including some links to recipes, photos, and articles.

What's been largely a dairy belt phenomenon is now steadily making its way to a wider audience of eager eaters. The humble cheese curd is gaining in popularity, with culinary applications that go way beyond the deep fryer.

Never had them? Now's a good a time as any, especially considering their price...

It's one of the first tenets of cheese etiquette: don't eat cheese straight from the fridge. Ever.

Cold cheese doesn't taste like much. But how long should you leave a cheese out? And what's the one thing not to do when bringing your cheese up to room temperature?

Understanding how cheeses age is about as important as being aware of the difference between a perfectly ripened peach and one that is as hard as a softball. Knowing what's right is most definitely to your gustatory advantage, no?

With just a few tips and facts about how to tell a ripe cheese from one that's not, you'll be better equipped to pick out the perfect piece-- all by yourself.

A small creamy cheese called La Tur has been gaining a hefty number of groupies in recent years. If you're one of its followers, we bet you may not know that it belongs to the robiola family, a small subset of cheeses that come out of the north of Italy. They're all oozing and unctuous, and all consistently worthy of your next cheese purchase.

Although it's not a cheese in the strict understanding of the word, mascarpone often falls within the realm of cheese scholarship. So perhaps no better than a Cheesemonger report to give it some air time and sing its praise: it's creamier than cream, silkier than ricotta, and richer than your favorite triple creme. Click through for a brief primer and a roundup of some delicious, make-worthy recipes.

There are innumerable cheeses that deserve a singular spotlight, the strong, oh-so-uniquely flavored cheeses that don't like to share the stage with others, so formidable that they're best enjoyed on their own, without unnecessary, condimental fanfare. But what about a cheese whose merit, more than anything else, lies in its ability to complement other foods?

Here, an intro to ricotta salata, the saltier, aged version of its fresher cohort.

We've known for a long time that adding cheese rinds to soups and stews adds depth to your dish. But have you thought of making a stock with your rinds? You can use it in place of chicken or vegetable stock or broth and we guarantee you'll love the results.

A friend came over for dinner the other night and brought a wedge of Rogue River Blue, the formidable, and sometimes elusive blue from Rogue Creamery in Oregon. If you've been lucky enough to try it, especially as of late, you'd want to write about it, too.

Let this post serve as warning for one of the more disturbing phenomena we've heard in awhile: MPC. It may sound like an acronym for the newest in digital music technology, but it actually translates to "milk protein concentrate." It's a powdered, manufactured product with a super-high protein content that increases yield in dairy production. It was originally developed to be a key component of glue and other non-digestible products.

For years, it's gone largely unnoticed, sneaking its way into all kinds of foods, from baby formula to snack foods. And what's more is that your tax dollars are supporting its existence.

Cheese-wise, this is significant because foods that are made with MPC can still be sold as dairy products. But thanks to New York State Senator Darrell J. Aubertine, a former dairy farmer, this practice may finally change.

I've always been partial to white pizzas. It may be the cheesemonger in me.

And just last week, I tasted a pie that could make any tomato sauce devotee a believer in the power of the white pie. What struck me, I realized, was not the pizza —although the dough itself was quite tasty — but the alliance of cheeses: an inspired trio of cow, sheep, and buffalo.

What's best is that the cheeses aren't hard to find, making it that much easier to taste the power of this combination yourself. Mirepoix, watch out, there's a new holy trinity in town.