Tuesday, November 08, 2011

My cheesy new OBSESSION!

I just have to share a delicious recommendation with you, tasteful readers. When we were downstate for Columbus Day weekend, we made a special trek to White Plains to visit Whole Foods. If you can imagine, I had never been to one. They opened one in Salt Lake City right before I moved away from there, but at the time, I was an impoverished grad student and could not afford to shop at "Whole Paycheck." I can hardly afford to shop there now! I would certainly go broke if there was one in my town. The prepared food/salad/hot bars alone are mesmerizing...like a siren's song to a foodie!

But the best discovery I made at Whole Foods by far was a Gouda cheese that they were sampling called Robusto (technically, it's Parrano Robusto by a Dutch company called UnieKaas). It is SO CRAZY DELICIOUS! It's a hard, crumbly cheese like an Italian Parmesan or Romano, but creamier in texture and nutty in flavor because it's aged ten months. It was about $15/lb., so I just bought a half pound to bring home, along with lots of other tasty tidbits from Whole Foods. But that small wedge of cheese was gone far too soon, and the nearest Whole Foods (the only U.S. distributor of the Parrano Robusto) is over four hours away in Massachusetts. :-(


So last week, I was whining about my dilemma to my dear friend Mike (who currently lives in Vegas but happened to be visiting SLC), and within the hour, he had taken himself to the Whole Foods, snapped this picture of the display, and purchased THREE POUNDS of the beloved Robusto on my behalf. Within another hour, he had the package in the mail to New York, and three days later, my special cheese delivery was on my front porch! GOD BLESS, MIKE!

For those of you lucky enough to live near a Whole Foods, RUN, DO NOT WALK there, and buy yourself some of my new favorite fromage. And while you're there, grab a few of your favorite apples (I am enjoying SweeTango of late), as this cheese and apples are M.F.E.O. You're welcome.

5 comments:

Leah said...

i just discovered this cheese yesterday at whole foods and YOU ARE RIGHT. it is SO GOOD!

Unknown said...

I'm lucky enough to live in Austin, 3 miles from WF's flagship store at 6th and Lamar. Ain't I just sooo cool??? Anyway, I tried that Robusto stuff as a sample, and wow! It's more than I like to spend on cheese, but it's just verrry good! Just a little chunk for a snack is satisfying for hours. The delicious taste lingers. As far as eating it with fresh crisp apples, comme les francais, it's super delicious, esp if you chew them together at the same time.

Lindsey C. said...

love love love this new cheese find... normally a cave aged gruyere girl, but wow, is it good. must be a name thing. ;)

Deb Robison said...

I just researched this cheese (I brought some home from WF a couple of days ago) as I was eating it for the first time and your lovely post came up as one of the top search results! You're right it has both a fabulous flavor and texture! I bought it while checking out some of the "orphans" (that was my original plan!), but this is what I ended up bringing home.

spoonlady said...

I came across this lovely cheese a few years ago at Whole Foods and never forgotten it. I splurge time to time on this nutty cheese with bursts of salt. Luckily, Whole Foods opened a store right in my hometown last year, so no more hour long drives to MA to go shopping. Worth splurging on some of the best cheeses available.