Cheese and Carr’s Table Water Crackers

What cheese blog would be complete without a little attention to cheese’s best friend … the cracker? It is common to find bread or crackers to accompany the serving of cheese. If you are serving a soft cheese, then a cracker, or piece of bread, is almost a necessity to carry the cheese to your mouth.

Honestly, I think that fresh bread, such as a french baguette, is the ultimate cheese carrier with crackers being a close second. Some crackers are better to pair with cheese than others. If you have a mild cheese, you might try marrying it with an exciting cracker full of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried onion … you get the idea. But there is a tipping point when cheese looses the stage to such a cracker. At that point why not just spread butter?

A delicate cheese needs a delicate cracker. And that is why I suggest Carr’s Table Water Crackers. They have a nice consistency. They won’t break under the pressure of a knife unless the cheese is atypically stiff. They are a nice size, perfect for two or three bites, unless you have a big appetite, or a big mouth. They are a perfect cracker for brie.

A problem with some crackers is that they have surface salt. The Carr’s crackers do not. I find the baked in salt balance just about perfect. The Carr’s Table Water Crackers can also carry stronger cheeses competently. It is my cracker of choice for Cambozola and other blue cheeses. In fact, it is a great all around cracker for most cheeses.

A box contains about 35 crackers. Carr’s crackers are well distributed and should be widely available. Carr’s Table Water Crackers have my endorsement.

Disclosure: I don’t work for Carr’s or any affiliate. I have not been compensated in any way for this post. I just like ’em.

Cambozola Gourmet Cream Spread

It was about a week ago when I tried Cambozola for the first time and I really liked it. I saw this Cambozola spread in the supermarket over the weekend. Gourmet Cream Spread … how enticing. I thought this might be perfect on crackers or a bagel. I had to give it a try.

The Cambozola spread is packaged in a small plastic resealable container. When I peeled away the plastic seal the cheese container was filled to the very top. It looked like there was another layer of plastic to remove but it was just the smoothed out texture of the spread. It looked artificial and not particularly appealing. I took a knife and stirred it up trying to give it life. The cheese quickly separated from the sides of the container like it was blue cheese jello. I stirred a few more times then spread some onto a Carr’s Table Water cracker and a small piece of flatbread.

I gave it the taste test. There wasn’t much taste, it was disappointing. The spread had hardly any character. If I closed my eyes I’m not sure I could even taste the blue cheese. This is nothing like the Cambozola that I had enjoyed before. I gave my kids a try and they told me it tasted like The Laughing Cow. Personally I wasn’t a big fan of The Laughing Cow but I actually preferred it over this.

The Cambozola spread on the Carr’s Tablewater Cracker was just a mouthful of bland. Absolutely nothing to get excited about here. I would not serve that combination to guests.

The Cambozola spread on the flatbread was still not very exciting. The flatbread had sesame seed, poppy seeds and dried onion. The flavor of the flatbread carried the combination. The Cambozola spread just added some texture and moisture.

I thought further about the plastic container. I was attracted to the idea at first, but after thinking it through the plastic is something that must be disposed of in a landfill or recycling center. That is not nearly as environmentally responsible as the small piece of plastic wrap protecting the Cambozola that I had purchased before. I’m not going to get on my Save the Earth bandstand here. Let’s just say I would rather go with the packaging that results in the least waste.

The bottom line – I won’t be buying the Cambozola spread again and I can’t recommend it. It’s back to the real Cambozola for me.