A First Course in Cheese

Whether you are a beginner or consider yourself a connoisseur, the Bedford Cheese Shop's A First Course in Cheese provides you with everything you need to know about how to choose, taste, pair, and enjoy the rich, delicious, and varied types of cheeses from around the world. With stunning imagery throughout, you'll learn:

-The science of the cheese-making process.
-The many different and best types of cheeses available, from cheddar, gouda, mozzarella, chèvre and more
-How to best pair cheese with beverages and other foods
-The different aging environments and why they matter to a cheese lover
-Tools of the trade and proper storage notes
-Delicious recipes for hard and soft cheeses alike
-Detailed information about regions, composition, and much more

Once you've taken this first course, you will never feel intimidated by the vast selection at your local cheesemonger again, as you are armed with the knowledge that you're going to walk home with the perfect cheese in hand.

Charlotte Kamin is co-owner of the Bedford Cheese Shop. Established in 2003, the Bedford Cheese Shop has spent the last ten-plus years building a neighborhood store that welcomes both new and familiar faces. Based on old-world ideals with a loyalty to a family of local and international food producers, they are a small, independently run business dedicated to the time-honored traditions of the culinary and agricultural world. Appreciating the seasonality of cheese production, they work directly with farms in order to select cheeses at their perfect peak so as to provide a constantly evolving array of prime goodies. Committed to a small staff of knowledgeable cheesemongers, they guarantee experts in the field who are happy to teach through taste, and have been trained in the art of properly maintaining cheese so that you can be assured of receiving the highest-quality products available.

In 2012, the Bedford Cheese Shop opened a second location in the Gramercy area of lower Manhattan that includes a fifteen-foot cheese case, three aging facilities, and an education and event space-the Homestead. Proud of their focus on individualized, education-based customer service, they offer classes, cheese tastings, and more.

Nathan McElroy is a native Northern Californian who broke into the cheese business in San Francisco, where his work ran the gamut from counter service to importation and distribution. He relocated to New York City to help open Bedford Cheese Shop's Manhattan location and continues to be humbled and fascinated by the wonderful people and products he gets to work with on a daily basis. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.