In Need of a Cheese Snack
Local cheese professional Emma Harvey shares some delicious (and some unexpected) cheese pairings featuring V Smiley stone fruit preserves.
photo by Kayla Silver, owner of Salt & Bubbles Wine
Emma Harvey is a cheese professional. That’s not a turn of phrase, that’s food industry lingo for folks investing their professional lives (and probably some of their personal lives too) into all things dairy, curds and retail. Cheese professionals (or cheesemongers) are like wine professionals, interpreting an agricultural process through gustatory pleasure, asking us what we like, nudging a little, educating and telling stories about a farm in Vermont, a cheese that arrives once a year and then turning around, cutting a perfect quarter lb. off a wheel and wrapping it in a series of origami-like paper folds. A cheese professional also thinks about how cheese fits into the overall dining experience, from cheese just for cocktails to cooking with cheese.
Emma wears many hats. I met her while she cheese-mongered for Dedalus Wine in Burlington Vermont. Emma builds beautiful cheese boards and lucky for us, she put a 2oz jar of V Smiley Preserves at the center of nearly every board. Cheese is a BIG deal in our state of Vermont. The selection here is exquisite and cheese culture is a hefty part of the state’s agricultural identity. Emma now runs the cheese program at Salt & Bubble’s Wine Bar in Essex VT as well as continuing her consulting work from helping farmstead cheesemakers hone their marketing angles to advising retailers building their own cheese programs. Emma just returned from this year’s Cheesemonger Invitational in NYC.
For V Smiley, Emma focused her expertise on pairing our stone fruit preserves with easily findable cheeses, cuts and types found in most grocery stores across United States along with some unexpected recommendations (ie potato chips). Here we go!
illustration by Christine Mitchell Adams
Nectarine Plum Cherry paired with Semi-Firm to Semi-Soft Cheeses
Pair with… Edam or Colby Styles, snag a hunk of Orb Weaver Creamery Farmhouse Waxed or Cave Aged if you can! Young Gouda Styles (nothing smoked though). Or bloomy-rinded babies, a basic Brie or Camembert will do just fine, but if you can grab some Champlain Valley Creamery Triple Cream, run it up.
Best served with… A warm crusty baguette, or get this, potato chips. Yeah, that's right, potato chips. Try it, we'll discuss it later.
Bite and sip… Even though I'm an IPA/super dry Riesling kinda gal, give me a darker lager/ale (Oktoberfest? Prost! 'Tis the season?) with this jam and some young Gouda. If I'm being responsible, a Savouré Grapefruit Tarragon Soda will do just fine.
Make it into… Grilled Cheese is the Wild West of sandwiches. Jazz yours up with a schmear of Nectarine Plum Cherry preserves in between whatever cheese you're feeling at the moment. My go-to is 4 slices of Cabot White American Singles and a more than decent amount of crumbled Blue Cheese.
-Emma Harvey
Nectarine Fig Rum Meyer Lemon with BLUE CHEESE (IT'S IN CAPS BECAUSE I MEAN IT)
Pair with… Honestly, the next person that adamantly proclaims to me that they "don't like Blue Cheese", I might you give you full stink eye. I hate that Blue Cheeses are so controversial. There are so many options for Blues. If you think you hate Blue Cheese, you just haven't found the right one for you yet. Nectarine Fig Rum Meyer Lemon jam brings sweet, spice, and a lil’ booziness, and you know what? It's begging you to put it on a shortbread cookie with a fat hunk of Jasper Hill Farm Bayley Hazen Blue.
Bite and sip… What do I want to drink while I'm munching on this jam and a chubby lil’ hunk of Blue? Give me a crisp, dry cider, please. If I'm feeling a lil’ sweet, a silky dark Porter or Stout. If I'm feeling sassy, pour me a clean chilled red and talk to me in the morning.
-Emma Harvey
Nectarine Lemon Marmalade with All Things Fresh Cheese, Please
Pair with… If I'm munching on this preserve, I want everything fresh cheese. Please give me all of the Feta, Chevre, Ricotta, Burrata, Mozz, Halloumi, and sheesh, fresh local goat Skyr? Sign me up. This marmalade is bright. It's simple, yet sophisticated, and it does not need much; simply a vehicle to enjoy. Grab a locally baked baguette, a log of fresh Goat Chevre, a jar of this marm, and just like, go home and rewatch The Office for the 97th time. It'll be comforting. It'll be simple and expectations will be low, but I can promise you'll be so satisfied and comfy.
Best served with… To me, Nectarine Lemon Bee Balm & Lemongrass is summer-in-a-jar. Grasp onto those long days and long nights with a lil’ pan-fried Halloumi tossed in preserves. If you're like my dad and you gas-grill in Vermont on your porch regardless of the season, snag some pizza dough from your local shop or grocery store, dollop some jam, tear prosciutto, glob some ricotta, and finish with a lil’ fresh basil or chives.
-Emma Harvey
