Toscano with Syrah: Trader Joe’s Holiday Star

If there’s one cheese that deserves a spot on every holiday table, it’s Trader Joe’s Creamy Toscano soaked in Syrah. In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly why this wine-washed beauty has become a cult favorite—and why it might just be your new December must-have. We’ll talk about what Toscano cheese actually *is*, how Syrah transforms its flavor, and why the pairing works so shockingly well.

I’m also digging into how Trader Joe’s sources cheeses like this (yes, small makers really are involved), plus a little cheese-world lore, fun facts, and everything I’ve learned from tasting this one for years.

Then we get into the good stuff: holiday pairings that make this cheese shine on festive boards, and—because balance—my “girl dinner/rat in the kitchen” pairings for the nights when you’re eating cheese straight from the fridge while wrapping presents.

Whether you’re building a party board or sneaking a midnight snack, this is the cozy, wine-soaked cheese episode you didn’t know you needed.

References:

Cheese
Creamy Toscano Soaked in Syrah

Pairings
Meia-Dúzia spreads from Portugal
Au Honey
Blake's Chocolate

Websites
Syrah - Wine Folly
Syrah Soaked Toscano Cheese Spread & Dip - Trader Joes
Say cheese! A quick tour through Tuscan cheeses - Visit Tuscany

Transcript

Hi cheese friends, and welcome back to another episode of Curd is The Word, the podcast where I break down fancy cheese for not so fancy people. I'm your host, Brittany, and I hope you guys ate some delicious cheese over Thanksgiving. We certainly did. We had some Harbison, some aged Gouda, this, like, seasonal soft sheep's milk, uh, spreadable guy, surprisingly. I know it might rock your world, but I actually did not buy the cheese for Thanksgiving. But on the topic of the holiday season, if you haven't noticed, feeling quite festive today. Today we're unwrapping a very popular for the holidays cheese. Yet most people don't really know what it is other than that it tastes really good. It looks beautiful on a board. I've made my wonderful holiday board, um, with just one cheese, which is not my usual M.O., but for the purpose of this episode, I will break it down as to what's on it and why we chose these things. But we have the Trader Joe's creamy Toscano cheese soaked in Syrah. Look at her. She is available all you know, year round, but I feel like she makes a really big splash right around the holiday season. Um, gorgeous. Gorgeous ivory paste. Very high contrast. Purple. Maroon. Burgundy. Wine soaked. It's not a rind. It's actually part of the cheese. And yes, you can eat this as well. Fudgy. It's got a couple crystals in it. It also shows up on a number of blogs and websites magazines when it comes to like top Trader Joe's cheeses. So let's find out what, uh, creamy Toscano soaked in Syrah is all about. By the end of today's episode, you will know what Toscano cheese is, what Syrah is, why the two make an amazing couple. I'll also touch upon how Trader Joe's, um, sauces its cheese a little bit. I know I get asked that a lot in terms of, you know, they have great cheeses for such a great price. And with today's economy, isn't it just nice to be able to this piece of cheese, no joke, was less than six dollars, which pretty hard to come by when it comes to good cheese, so we'll discuss that as well. And before you know it, you'll be making your own holiday cheese board to impress your friends and family this season. So grab a wedge, loosen up your scarf, and let's talk about cheese. So let's meet. Or should I say remeet this cheese? Um, Trader Joe's does its own private labeling, so it looks great when it's all wrapped up. And then when you open it, like I mentioned, you have the nod to the wine. It's one of those cheeses where even if you have no idea what it is, because you see the purpley outside, you already know, okay, this must be soaked or coated in something. And it does look like red wine, which we have here, so we'll get into that in a bit. But it's kind of a good giveaway that this is going to be a wine cheese. And don't get confused. There are also a number of port wine cheeses which are like come in a little tub and they're like port wine spreads. Um, this is not that. So there are multiple different kinds of wine, cheese. And we are going to do like a wine coated, wine soaked type of cheese today. What else about this cheese? Two funny, I wrote in my notes that she looks modest yet refined. Also a great shape. If you're cutting it for a board, you can do those slices for the triangles. Like I've mentioned before in an earlier episode. Is it real wine? It is. It is coated, finished with Syrah and the exact details will depend on the recipe themselves. So for now, we'll just enjoy the presentation factor of it on our cheese board. What's really nice about wine soaked or finished cheeses is that the result is really subtle. Um, we're talking a lot about the physical features of this cheese, but it does kind of give a little hint of, you know, the red wine itself, the Syrah, um, and not so much of, you know, when you taste it itself, it's not giving you like a mouthful of grapes or a mouthful of wine. It's just a slight, subtle hint and a subtle aroma as well. So what is Toscano cheese? I love using context clues in my day to day life, and I'm sure my husband hates that. I love context clues because every time he asks me a question, I usually say to him, well, what are the context clues here? Let's figure this out. And I'm sure a couple other wives or husbands can agree with me there. However, when I hear Toscano, the first thing that comes into my mind is Tuscany Italian. Maybe I'm thinking about dry rolling hills and thinking about pasta. I'm thinking about wine. Um, all the things. And quite frankly, those are my context clues. And the real Toscano actually refers to Pecorino Toscano, which is a sheep's milk cheese made in Tuscany. In fact, Pecorino Toscano is kind of the backbone of Tuscany when it comes to their cheese making. It is protected by the dop, which means that if it is made with the proper milk's in the proper locations, that it can be called Pecorino Toscano. Whereas the Trader Joe's creamy Toscano soaked in Syrah cannot call itself Pecorino Toscano at all because it is not following the exact same steps and location. But we'll get into protected name origins another day. However, this cheese, I mean, right off the bat, it's using a different kind of milk. And for me personally, as someone who was green in the cheese field not too long ago, I can really appreciate that. I love an entryway cheese and I think this is a great example. It's made with cow's milk. So you're getting this like parmesan cheddar taste, texture, um, maybe a little sharpness there. The fuzziness of the cheddar, which makes this cheese so palatable. I've yet to meet one person who's tried this and said that they don't like it. It is such a great cheese. If someone likes cheddar parmesan, those are the two most common cheeses I think that we eat. Um, I was just scrolling around on Instagram earlier, and my friend Sarah owns the curd nerd over in Syracuse, and she does her own Spotify Wrapped when it comes to like her cheese sales for the year. And her number one selling cheese is Prairie Breeze Cheddar, which is a very popular cheddar. It is so easy to use in a tasting class. It really just goes well with almost anything. I think this cheese is a great entry point to anyone who is into cheddar parmesan, but wants to get a little bit fancy. I mean, who doesn't? Right? It's the holiday season. My last fun fact about Pecorino Toscano, the inspo cheese to this cheese, is that there are so many different forms of it. So even though they're making it in the same way, same place, protected, so important it can actually be mild and young, or it can be firm and aged and giving different flavor profile notes for each kind of each little mark on the cheese timeline. That's how I'm going to. Yeah, each little mark on the cheese timeline, because this cheese has been finished in Syrah. It's almost like the wine aspect of this cheese is what gives it its voice. It's almost kind of giving it its elevation, its little shout out what's separating it from tasting like the two most common cheese and, you know, trailblazing itself in a way, and I feel like parmesan and cheddar are very common, but they seem pretty different. Parmesan thinking aged old cheddar can be aged now and can be old as well, but the textures are a little different. The taste is a little different. So when we combine the two together, not only are we getting a mash up of flavor, we're also getting a mash up of texture. And that's what I find here with this cheese, is that it can be crumbly, it can be flaky, but at the same time, once it hits your palate inside, it really lends its way to like a very creamy mouthfeel. But before we dive into what this cheese smells and tastes like and pairs with, let's talk about Syrah. Do we know what Syrah is? I was doing some research here and someone wrote that it's the exact. As many people know, it's the same thing as an Australian Shiraz. I have to be honest, I thought I was many people. I drink a decent amount of wine. I had no idea that they were one in the same. So bring that to your next trivia night. Siren Shiraz are the same type of grape, just in different locations. Syrah is a red wine made from a darker skinned grape, which gives it a more savoury vibe. We're getting notes of plum, blackberry, um, jams, something thicker bacco. They get meatier notes, um, some black pepper notes. And I think it'd be fun to also try a Syrah wine with the Trader Joe's creamy Toscano coated in black pepper that does exist. Also very complementary in a way. Here, depending on the climate of where the Syrah is made, it can either be a little fresher and peppery, or in warmer climates, it can actually be jammy and plush. I think it's so much fun to describe food and really unique ways, you know, jammy and plush. Jammy and plush. To me it's like, what does that mean? But then if you visualize yourself taking a sip of wine and it coating your mouth, I'm like, oh, right away, I know exactly what Jammy and Plush mean. Whereas, you know, plush can also be used to describe your comforter because Syrah is a tannic wine and it brings, you know, some fruit and some spice. It pairs incredibly well with things that are salty and savory, and in this case, it's the perfect complement for this kind of savory and salty, almost nutty cheese. So why do Toscano and Syrah pair so well together? Well, we've got a couple of reasons. Right off the bat, the textures really play into each other. We have a plush wine, we have a creamy cheese, and together it feels like a little Christmas luxury, you know, in your in your palate. Um, also to the wine can be a little bit peppery, while the cheese is nuttier a little bit more salty at the same time. This cheese does feel very savory, which goes really well in a nice kind of balance with the highly, uh, fruity parts of the wine, like the plum and the you know, some people say they get hints of like, cherry, um, blackberry, as I mentioned before, and it's also cutting into the sharpness of the cheddar notes of the cheese itself. This cheese is kind of just like one big push and pull a yin yang. Think about salt and pepper. They obviously go together. They're, you know, staple staple spices. So this cheese is a lot going on. And at the same time it's just so incredibly approachable. I also feel like to Italy seems very parallel with red wine. I know there's white wine made in Italy. It is delicious and I know every culture drinks, every culture, has wine, drinks. You know, any wine doesn't matter. However, we've been watching The Sopranos again as a rewatch, and it's just every single meal. There's a bottle or a glass of red wine, and to me, red wine just screams Italy and Toscano cheese also screams Italy. So what do I always say? What grows together goes together. So yeah, this cheese is quite the combo. On that topic, I actually wrote in my notes when you all about how like, you know, what's going with what. And I wrote, if you taste them together and close your eyes, you might as well just say Bongiorno. I am physically salivating to try this cheese with all these fun accoutrements in front of me. However, let's just talk a little bit about how Trader Joe's sources its cheese, because I definitely get asked this a lot, and I'm sure it's top of mind when you're standing there looking at forty two different kinds of fantastic cheese, wondering why they're all so inexpensive and pretty good, right? It's funny, I find myself pretty often in the middle of the consumer who enjoys eating cheese, as well as someone who works in cheese, understands the makings of cheese making and how important you know terroir is and how much physical labor goes into it. So, you know, we want to support artisan cheese makers and at the same time, no comment on the state of the economy. me. So what is Trader Joe's doing? Are they importing huge wheels from Italian cheese makers or small artisanal cheese makers bidding on becoming, you know, part of the Trader Joe's family? Trader Joe's tends to work with third party suppliers to keep their costs down, so they work with both external manufacturers and importers, sometimes small producers, sometimes large scale manufacturers. Trader Joe's does keep its procurement details pretty private, which is part of their business model. So while smaller artisanal cheese makers could end up behind your favorite Trader Joe's cheese, the exact mechanics are not publicly discussed. So the good news is, with this creamy Toscano soaked in Syrah, chances are, whether it's coming from a large scale importer or a smaller scale cheese maker, the same techniques are being used passed down from the Pecorino Toscano, which is pretty cool. They're just, you know, being altered. Different kind of milk. And I will say, too, when it comes to more commercial cheeses, it's really important that you pay attention to where the cheeses are made or where the milk is being sourced. I had the opportunity to check out a dairy farm that produces milk for a much larger food manufacturer, and the way they take care of these cows is truly just mind blowing. They're wearing Fitbits to make sure they get lots of steps in. Next time you see a commercial cheese, I think pay attention to the ingredients because there's definitely a difference between commercial and processed cheese, so bear that in mind. I definitely used to think they were a little more one and the same, but they're not. Which is really nice to know that, you know, if all you can get to, you know, if your local grocery store doesn't carry any specialty cheeses or small batch artisanal cheeses, there's still a chance you can be able to support local farmers by buying something a little bit more commercially made. All right, enough of me babbling. Let's see what the holiday hoopla is all about here. First things first. When I am cutting a cheese of this texture, what I like to do is something I like to call like the flick. Kind of, you know, you stick your knife down. This isn't my favorite knife to use, but I do love the gold knives for the holidays and just in general. Um, but what I like to do with this cheese is take the corner off and you're just going to stab a corner piece about halfway through, and then just flick it and you get this imperfect size crumble. It's adorable. And I like to crumble about half the wedge, and I'll probably leave the purple part in place a little bit. However, with this cheese, like I said, you could do the triangles too. You could also cut it into matchsticks. I think it's important to also make sure you have some pieces that offer both the cheese and the wine. Look at that. She's so cute. Mhm mhm. Mhm mhm. Okay. Mhm. Right off the bat I am getting notes of cheddar right away. Cheddar and wine almost like a white cheddar and a glass of wine got together. That is what I'm smelling. And I think that's a large part due to the cow's milk smell. Cow's milk tends to be very creamy. Very high dairy milk. Mhm. Very good. Right off the bat it's incredibly creamy. As I've said before, it's just a little bit sharp. And towards the back end not almost like the aftertaste in a way is where I think the parmesan type of flavor really comes into play. I'm getting notes of different kinds of nuts a little bit on the sweeter side, maybe a teensy bit of like a candied almond. No, that's too sweet. Maybe something along the lines of like a cashew as well. Let's try a piece with a little bit more wine on it and see if we can tell a difference there. I'm getting a teensy bit of that pepper flavor. I'm getting a little bit more of the dark cherry ness, but it's really kind of like, you know, an Oreo. The outside cookies are the actual paste of the cheese. On the inside is more of that wine flavor that I'm getting in there. And, you know, it finishes in like a salty way. Like now I'm like, oh, I could really use a drink to wash that down. This cheese is fantastic. It is so easy. It is so elegant looking. Um, I'm ninety nine percent sure that when people ask me what my favorite Trader Joe's cheese is, it is this one. I usually almost always recommend it. I'll get into a little story later about why this cheese brings me a lot of nostalgia when it comes to me following my passion for cheese. But let's keep going and talk about what beverages taste great with this because I am in desperate need of one. So for our beverage pairings, we are going to go with three beverages. We have a wine, a cider and also a sparkling pomegranate punch. As you know, I love using the what grows together goes together all the time. It's just such an easy, fun way to have a really well rounded pairing. So we are doing a Chianti Reserva from Guess Italy. Also, I say this all the time, but just to reiterate, this is a twenty twenty one wine. We love to let our wine sit for five minutes for every year difference from the current year. So we've got four years times five twenty minutes. We're ready to go. We're already almost twenty minutes in. This wine's been sitting here for a bit. So what I want to do first is do my pairing and then discuss why this works. Oh, Wow. Okay, this one feels strong to me in terms of flavour and fruitiness, and I feel like it's almost taking the cheese aspect down and cranking the wine taste up with this wine. I guess I should also give it a little sniff too. I am definitely getting dark fruits, a little bit of herbs, and it's definitely a little bit earthy, which is why I think too, it's doing such a great job at cutting through the sharpness of the cheese and balancing out with the wine rind. Or it's not a it's not real rind, but it looks like a rind. So let's call it the wine rind. It's really just kind of uplifting. Like I said, the the wine soaked outside of this cheese. I think this is really fun for a holiday gathering. B this is also, I don't know about you guys, but I have a terrible habit. Although I should say my husband and I have a terrible habit because he has joined me on this, but have you ever been cooking something and you're just like, let's just have a snack while this cooks? This to me, would be like the perfect fall winter pre-cooking snack. Just this cheese. A nice, bold, fruity wine. I'm also feeling like even though this wine is bold, it's also still bright. It's not very like heavy. I guess more jammy than plush would be a thing. This to me just feels like a classic combination. And you know, everything's in the Italian flavor language. I'm also, I guess, too, because of what this cheese is. It's definitely giving like notes of butter. And I think the brightness of the Chianti is giving or kind of like mellowing that out a little bit. So it's making it a little bit less buttery. It's very cozy. It's definitely giving more fruit forward. Yeah, that works great. Next up we are really playing on the red fruits here. This is actually a black Cherry hard cider from Nine Pin Cider out near Albany. I love their ciders. They're so cozy. And let's cut ourselves a piece here that has the wine aspect as well so we can get a full flavor experience. This is juicy. The whole combination is so juicy. I'm getting the harmony of like, the apple from the cider with the cheddar aspect at the same time. I thought the Chianti was bright. The brightness of the cherry in this cider is so playful and so uplifting. It cuts right through the cheese itself. It really mellows it out. And at the same time, it's really playing in with the cheese's caramel and like, butterscotch undertones. This feels festive. This feels fun. Also like girl very girl dinner right here you know grab you have a couple ciders left over. I've got a great cheese. This is a good one. I'm also noticing that with the wine and the cider as well, the cheese is starting to really mellow out. Like the first couple tastes I took of this cheese. It was a lot stronger and sharper. But now that I'm starting to pair it with other, you know, high flavor beverages, I'm finding the cheese is starting to kind of calm down a little bit. I calmed down too after some wine. And here we have a sparkling pomegranate punch beverage again going along with the holiday season. And I do really enjoy bringing you guys a non-alcoholic beverage to pair with cheese, because there is so much that you can do with non-alcoholic beverages to go along with cheese. It doesn't always have to be wine and cheese. Beer and cheese can be really anything. It doesn't, you know, cheese doesn't judge. All right. I also will say, too, I know I love to use Trader Joe's. It's affordable. It's near me. You could also make this yourself with some seltzer and maybe some palm juice, maybe a little bit of palm juice, a little bit of fruit punch. Mix it together. You've got yourself a nice little holiday inspired mocktail. So let's dive in. Okay. This is delicious. This to me, just needs, like, a rosemary sprig and a couple ice cubes. And you're good to go. Um, but it's incredibly tart. So we're getting a huge push from the tartness of the pomegranate to push up this Syrah flavor of the cheese. And I have to say, I think I've said it before, but I love carbonation with cheese because the cheese is coating your whole mouth, and the carbonation of the beverage is kind of making this scrubbing Bubbles effect to make sure that you are getting everything swallowed down in one fell swoop. One clean bite. This is such a fun festive pairing to go with. I love it! That is a fun find. I was originally looking for like some kind of BlackBerry seltzer, which ironically, I did have in my refrigerator while I was out shopping and I totally forgot about and picked this up instead. And I am glad that I did because I mentioned that the pomegranate is elevating the Syrah flavor. This is making everything taste very berry forward. As we said. You know, the Syrah wine itself has notes of blackberry and raspberry really helping push that forward. This would be so much fun for like a brunch. Or maybe you just need something to sip on and snack on while you're wrapping your holiday gifts. This is a crowd pleaser, for sure. So let's get to my favorite part our pairing playground. Here. I've got a number of things I usually don't have this many, but because we are just doing one cheeseboard today, I thought it'd be fun to dress it up. I did kind of get my start in cheese by building those, you know, really crazy boards overflowing with like, Eminem's and, um, orange slices and, you know, just any kind of thing that could even remotely be good with cheese. I was stuffing it in there. Even when I was teaching charcuterie board classes. You know, people love to learn how to make those. I would say, you know, fill in all the gaps with pistachios or add a couple sprigs here because I can see part of your board. And sometimes it's nice to just kind of space everything out and give everything its own little domain, which is what I have done here. So right off the bat we are able to a we could build bites, b we can snack on things separately. And so yeah let's see what we have here. This cheese goes so well with honey. This is one of the best classic. Take your cracker, your cheese, your honey. And it is such a perfect bite. I have honey from oh Honey, which is a local honey company in kind of near the Jersey shore. I've never finished a jar of honey until I bought one of theirs. I thankfully was able to just get a new one this week. I went to a farmer's market. Their honey is just chef's kiss. I also have some Castellano olives which again are from Italy. What grows together goes together. Sensing a vibe here, I also have some Chianti hard salami. This salami has been soaked in Chianti and I thought that would be great, because I'm already telling you that Chianti wine is going well with this cheese. So chances are the Chianti salami will also pair well with this cheese. We have some Di Bruno Brothers Rosemary crisps. Rosemary to me is you can eat it twenty four seven. You want it in the summer in your lemonade. Perfect. You want it in your pumpkin soup in the fall. Perfect. And then when it comes to the winter time holidays, it is absolutely delightful in a berry mocktail with your cheese. I also have some rosemary Marcona almonds left over from another episode. I did herbs in this cheese just paired together incredibly well. I also have some red grapes. Again, Syrah wine is incredibly grape based. It's the darker, savory grape. So we've got some red grapes. I also have here some dark chocolate sea salt caramels from a company called Blake's Chocolate outside of, uh, Trenton, new Jersey. They are a dream team to work with. I've met them at a number of different farmers markets and food events, and they're doing an amazing job. They do amazing things with chocolate. I highly recommend their dark chocolate covered gummy bears. That is a must in our house. But to me, I love the. I think chocolate and cheese goes together incredibly well. The caramel is bringing out will bring out the notes of caramel within the cheese, so you're not just shoving things on your board to make it look pretty. And finally, one of my favorite things that I discovered a couple of years ago is called traffic jam. I say that because it's the first time I saw it, I was like, what on earth? Like, what is this? And it's fantastic. A b it's actually just like a mish mash of fun red fruits. We have cherries, cranberries, strawberries, rhubarb and of course, you know, sugar and pectin. And to me, it feels like the holiday season. It feels like Manischewitz wine. It feels like tuscano soaked in Syrah combo. There are so many mix and match things here on this board. You could do the salami, a little jam, a piece of cheese, boom! You could do the caramel with the cheese, maybe a drizzle of honey, maybe not a couple grapes as a palate cleanser. I also have here this is something totally unique. I went to Portugal over the summer and I went shopping by myself, which is kind of I feel like, cue the angels singing, right? I have a husband and a toddler, so to be able to go shopping by yourself in an awesome country is, well, it was awesome. Uh, but one of the things I wanted to do was obviously buy clothes and shoes and what all that fun stuff. But I stumbled upon a spread shop and they just have all these different kinds of spreads. And it was basically you walk in and you tell them what, like your favorite food categories are are you a meat person, a fish person, a cheese person, a sweets person? And of course, I walked in there and I was like, I am all of the above, but mainly the cheese. So like, what do you got? And I ended up picking up a couple tubes of just random little spreads. And this one is actually dark chocolate with blueberry and vanilla liqueur. I will link this company in my show notes they ship worldwide. It's a great gift to give. It almost kind of comes out like toothpaste, but it's a cross between a spread and a jam. It's very chocolate forward. Again, I think this cheese pairs really well with sweet things. I mean, I might as well just, like, make something and eat it, right? I think what I like to do, we'll do some salami because it looks so good. We will do some cheese. A little dish of honey. And what better way to wash that down? That is delightful. You are getting the salami, which is salty. Bringing up the saltiness of the cheese. The chianti of the salami is so faint. But I think the Syrah in the cheese brings it out. And then the sweetness of the honey, which I think because it's like raw, local honey, it's not super, super sweet is really kind of like the rubber band that brings it all together and gives it this sweet and salty, which is an amazing combo. One of my favorites. It really brings it to light. That was good. And since it's the holiday season and you are building a cheese board, maybe. Maybe not. But if you are, here are just a couple serving tips just to get you started on the right foot. My favorite thing is let your cheese sit out for a little bit. I actually have a cheese tasting tonight through the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, and I actually set my alarm to take all the cheese out forty five minutes before the time, because you want to make sure the flavor profile is exactly where it should be, and that all the flavor molecules are able to move around. And when things are cold, they're also tightly packed in there that it's hard to get every single nuance of the cheese or honestly, whatever kind of foods you're eating. I personally love lots of little knives. I try really, really hard to not cross-contaminate knives. If I have a spreadable knife for Brie, I'm going to have a different, sharper knife for my cheddar. If I'm going to have a blue cheese that gets its own knife, I don't want to have a knife covered in four different cheeses by the end of the night. Also, you're kind of infiltrating each cheese if you have a, you know, more mild cheese and you're using a knife that the blue cheese was on, guess what? You're going to get tastes of that blue cheese whether or not you like it. I also think it's important to label your cheeses. I know you can find either at like a home decor store, or you could do it yourself just like little pieces of paper and just write. right. You know each thing on it. You can scotch tape a toothpick to it and stick it right in there. I know you can buy the little flags, but I also think it's really important to just include the name of the cheese, the type of milk, and maybe one or the location that it was made, and maybe one or two little notes of like what you're usually getting. So for this cheese, I'd put creamy, nutty wine. Boom. Done. People know right away what it is. No one's looking for you to flag you down to say, hey, what is that cheese? I loved it, blah blah blah. I also feel like it's fun to get a little extra. I'm an extra person. I love being extra. I love eating extra. What do I mean by that? Well, if you have the option between regular honey or like a honeycomb. The honeycomb could look so cool and beautiful on your board. And just like a wow. Martha Stewart moment. So anytime you can see. I mean, I think the dark chocolate sea salt caramels kind of have that look, too. They've got salt sprinkled on the top of them. There's absolutely beautiful. This little container for my olives. Guess what? This was a chocolate pudding container that my friend was eating, and gave me a couple of them before she instead of recycling them. And now I use them for jam. I use them for olives. I use them for almost anything I need. I like to keep the wet stuff in its own little container, as you can see. As you can see, I keep jam separate. I like to keep the honey separate. I don't like when anything wet kind of infiltrates it really kind of. We don't need the whole piece of cheese to taste like olives, you know? And then what else? Your leftovers. You can leave your cheese out for a couple hours. Not a big deal. And then when you're done, guess what? Your cheese can be graded into pasta. Your salami can be fried with your eggs. The next day, your crackers can go right back in the box, and you can eat them over and over again. You can crush them up on your soup. There's so many things you can do when you are able to salvage some of your leftovers. So if you've been watching this whole time, thank you. I did mention that this cheese was very nostalgic to me when I first got started in cheese. I was making these like overabundant boards and I would almost always grab this cheese. And the one thing that really stands out to me was a couple years ago, I officiated a wedding for my coworker, and I was also in charge of making the cheese boards. And I find that, like any event I got invited to and I was asked to bring a cheese board, I would always put this cheese on there. So I do feel like this cheese to me always reminds me of some kind of good time with friends, good time with family. I love, love so like I love, I love a wedding. I was so happy to officiate it. And this cheese always reminds me of just love. A good time. People gathering around the table for my own personal wedding. One of my best friends made a grazing table before grazing tables, you know, completely infiltrated Instagram and this cheese was on there, so I've never had a bad memory associated to this cheese, and I'd like to keep that going. Although I have to be honest, I think I don't have a bad memory with any cheese. However, this one specifically just really gives me the warm fuzzies inside. If you try this cheese during the holidays, please, please let me know. Either leave me a comment and tell me what you had it with. Send me a picture of your holiday cheese boards I would love to reshare, repost, tag me in whatever. If you love learning about fancy cheese and you like knowing a couple random facts here and there, definitely hit the subscribe button. I personally love talking about cheese and breaking it down for you guys, so I really appreciate all of the support. Next week I think we're working with something local or something loco. Haven't decided yet, but until then, stay cultured, stay cheesy and stay curious.