Cheese: Munster Gerome

Munster Gerome comes under the category of “Stinky cheese”. I like stinky cheese. I fell in love with Munster Gerome little over a year ago and became frustrated when I could no longer purchase it over the internet.

I made a special trip to Whole Foods only to find they sold the last one a few days earlier, so said the clerk. I bought a package of Limburger cheese and left. It was a wasted trip into D.C. and I had not been a happy shopper.

I Later decided to go to a store closer to where I live. I had heard about Wegman’s but had never gone there before the day I went searching for my beloved Munster Gerome. No luck, but a heartbreak instead: The clerk at the expansive cheese counter told me, “America stopped importing Munster Gerome because it is not a pasteurized cheese”.

- What??

- Yes sir, all cheese made and sold in America has to be pasteurized.

- But, but it was the best cheese I ever had. Much better than Limburger or any other stinky cheese I’ve ever eaten!

- I know but that is the situation, sir. Sorry.

- I guess that’s three cheers for the French.

- Yes sir, three cheers for the French.

During our conversation, the very attentive clerk confessed to also liking stinky cheese and suggested I sample one her favorites, St. Albray. It was OK but my taste buds had already made a mile-wide leap from Limburger to Munster Gerome. What a difference a really good cheese can make in your life!

Here I now fantasize sitting on the French Rivera in straw hat with neatly arranged ascot tie and a plateful of steroid free roasted lamb before me, accompanied by a side dish of tiny white potatoes, a salad and a nice glass of French wine toasting my new love, a huge mound of un-pasteurized Munster Gerome cheese. (Gosh!)
As always,
BB