Cheese

Here is a response to the question about what kind of cheese I purchase.

First of all I look for top of the line cheeses, because they seem to have less preservatives in them and are more naturally aged. Having information on the farm or location of where the milk comes from is important. Sometimes a company will tell you the region or location of where the milk came from, or where the cow's grazed. Look for cheese with little to no additives - including added dyes. The fewer the ingredients the better.  Try to make sure milk or cream is the first ingredient. If the milk or cream is pasteurized it sometimes will be listed next to the milk. Purchasing cheese as a solid block, instead of shredded seems to me to be more fresh, or better quality.  I also find we use less cheese as a solid.

 I enjoy the strong sharp tasting Dubliner Cheese (Ireland), found at Costco, but it is very rich tasting and not something that all the kids like. I will purchased an occasional package of Feta cheese from Costco - but again I check the ingredients.   I do not remember the name of the White Cheddar I have purchased, but wow that was rich.  I find a small slice of this good quality cheese is really all we need when we do have cheese. There have been other brands, but I haven't had time to find them again.

We used to consume large quantities of cheese at every meal.   We had the traditional cheddar or mozzarella on everything we ate.  Now we hardly ever will see cheese.  I noticed the cheese I was purchasing seemed to be covered in a powder substance and I wondered if it was moldy (Kirkland brand shredded), but now after tasting good cheese I just can't go back.

Physically I can tell the difference when we eat too much cheese. My family will want to drink tons of water all night long, and seem extra tired and cranky through the next day.  A few will get tummy cramps the next day or several hours after eating too much cheese (pizza).   I can say that when we eliminated cheese (mostly) we find that we substitute other foods for cheese into the menu's, and it seems to be fine.  I make taco's and no one complains that there is no cheese.  I make avocado dips that capture my kids attention and they fight for that instead of the cheese!  I will admit that with the purchasing of several pizza's this month from Papa John's and Jets Pizza I was able to enjoy the delicious treat that cheese can be; but did I pay for it the next day -  tired and cranky!

My friend received information from  a company called Rumiano, and she and I were very impressed with their response to her. Here is what their representative wrote to my friend...


Thank you for contacting us regarding our cheese.  Yes, all of the Rumiano Cheese producers do sign an affidavit stating that they do not inject their cows with artificial hormones such as rBST/rBGH, making all of our cheese made with No Artificial Hormone Milk.  All of our dairies are small family owned dairies in Humboldt and Del Norte counties which unique climate allows year-round access to pasture.  The cows on average spend 300+ days per year on pasture, which is why our cheese is more yellow due to the high amount of beta-carotene.  When the cows aren’t on pasture they are in the barn staying out of the rain, the typical farmer says, “if it’s too rainy for me outside, then it’s too rainy for the cows.”  We also pay our producers a clean milk bonus for keeping their milk extremely clean, and process the local milk within 12-24 hours.  The difference between our conventional and organic products are the certifications.  The organic dairies have to be certified organic, which means that the fields haven’t been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides for the last 3 years, and the barns are situated a certain way to allow the cows to be close to the calves during milking, etc...  We actually went a step further and had all of our organic dairies become Humane Certified through the American Humane Association, which made Rumiano Organic Cheese the first Humane Certified cheese in the world.  We also recently became Non-GMO Verified through the Non-GMO Project for all of our organic cheese, which was a first in the world.  We use the best ingredients in all of our cheese both conventional and organic.  For example we use sea salt for all of our salt and only Non-GMO approved ingredients in all of our cheese.  Thank you for your inquiry and please let me know if you have any other questions.  Have a great week!

Regards,

Joby Rumiano

So there it is a little start on the road to eating healthier cheese, and as my husband said the other night, "Would you like some cheese with that wine?"  - No, I was not complaining, he just simply surprised me with some cheese, nicely cut up to go with my much needed Merlot for the evening - delicious.