Looking for something quite unique for your cheese board this weekend? Well, this just might do the trick - Tomme Marc de Raisin. This is a tomme cheese that has been aged in the "marc" which is the residuals leftover from making red wine. So you ask me, what perchance is a "Tomme Cheese" Wendi? It is, I reply a pressed, unheated cheese. Let me explain a little more. We all know that pasteurized milk is milk that has been heated to 65 degrees Celsius for a period of not less than 30 minutes. At this temperature all bacteria, both good and bad are killed. Raw milk cheeses are for the most part partially heated, below the temperature for pasteurization and must be aged for at least 60 days prior to being sold, this allows the good bacteria in the cheese to survive adding a special flavour to the cheese which cannot be replicated in pasteurized cheeses. Tomme's fall into this second category. The milk is heated to approximately 31-37 degrees Celsius at which point rennet is added to the milk to hasten the separation of the curd from the whey. The curds are then hand pressed into molds. The cheese is matured in caves where the natural "micro flora" (naturally occurring good bacteria) does its thing to the cheese et Voila, Tomme. In the case of Tomme Marc de Raisin, the aging process is done under a thick coating of the marc which imparts the flavours of the wine to the cheese - a wonderful cheese to enjoy with one of those "big" reds that we hear so much about. Oh, and don't try to eat the marc (I know that you will try it!), brush it off and serve the cheese on a bed of the marc for a WOW presentation - the marc is not just the dried grapes but also includes a lot of "roughage" too - twigs, bits of grapevine - which don't lend themselves to the pleasant enjoyment of the cheese. Come into "C'est Cheese Please!" where Tomme Marc de Raisin is in stock at $8.00/100gBon Appetit!
