Is Blogging about Cheese Worth the Effort?

The short answer is – yes, so far.

I am really enjoying this blogging thing. Since I started my cheese adventure I’ve been motivated to try many cheeses for the first time. Two of those are now personal favorites; Ovinsardo and Niagara Gold.

Ovinsardo Cheese

Niagara Gold Cheese

It takes a little work to research each cheese that I am writing about. But the information that I am discovering has its rewards. I like that there is a story behind each cheese. It adds a dimension of pleasure in the same way that my University Art History class gave me an understanding and appreciation of art. It made viewing art … well … more pleasurable.

The same goes for the cheeses that I have tried. Most of them taste good, but somehow they taste better when I understand where they came from, who makes them and what makes each cheese special.

I also find it interesting to review the statistics from my blog and see what search terms people are keying that bring them to the blog. The top three search terms that people have used to find my blog so far are Poutine, Cheese and Kinder Egg.

The top 5 most popular topics so far are:

#1 – Chevre Noir – Canadian Goat Cheddar

# 2 – Mac’s and Cheese – Cheese Boards

#3 – Devil’s Rock Creamy Blue Cheese

#4 – Oka is Okay by Me

#5 – Sao Jorges Cheese from a Small Island in the Atlantic Ocean

The most popular click through on my blog so far is the link to fellow cheese blogger Madame Fromage.

My purpose for starting the blog was to keep an online journal and share it with anybody that might be looking for similar information. The reward for sharing is that I am getting the benefit of useful comments and emails from many people. Most appreciated are the ones recommending more cheeses to try or pairings.

One reader familiar with the Sao Jorges cheese suggested pairing it with banana. Evidently they do that in Portugal. It never came up in my research. Who knew?

I have not been doing this for very long, so I don’t have much point of reference. So far my blog has enjoyed well over 1,000 visitors with page views increasing steadily. I would never get to interact with so many cheese lovers in person which makes that statistic pretty amazing.

I’m sharing this information assuming that you might find it interesting. I’ll be back to cheese tasting, researching, photographing and writing real soon.

Ovinsardo is Over the Top Delicious

I picked up this cheese at the Gouda for You specialty cheese shop in Barrie, Ontario. The owner, Deb Marrow, told me that this was one of her favorites.

Ovinsardo is a blue cheese that is made from sheep’s milk. It is pale white with blue and green veining. It is produced in Sardinia.

Where is Sardinia?

No it is not a Province of Canada. Sardinia is an Italian island in the Mediterranean. In fact, it is the second largest of all Mediterranean islands. Supposedly, there are more sheep than people on the island which may explain why they are making blue cheese from sheep’s milk.

Sardina, Italy - image from Wikipedia

I attempted my usual internet research to learn as much as possible about this cheese, but Ovinsard (or Ovinsardo, or Ovin Sard) all came up with very scant information. When I Googled it, most of the references came from it being featured on cheese flights, or cheese boards, from several swanky restaurants. It also popped up in a few recipes, again from swanky restaurants.

I came across a reference to Ovinsardo by Kang Leong who writes the London Eater Blog. Buried in his restaurant review is his reaction to the Ovinsardo.

“That cheese, oh that cheese. Ovinsardo. What a brilliant little f*cker. The gorgeous stink of stilton, the strength of ten gorgonzolas, the hardness of a well-aged parmesan. On its own, the beef was bland but tender (which is why I assumed it was a fillet) , but with that superb Sardinian cheese, it became ethereal.” – Kang Leong

I agree with him with the exception of the “hardness of Parmesian”. The piece that I tried was semi-firm but not hard. Perhaps his was affected by the preparation.

I have to admit that this one took me by surprise. Sheep’s milk blue? I squinted my eyes and prepared myself for a suffering as I placed a small sample in my mouth. But OMG (that’s Oh My God for you non-texters) this one delivered and how. It’s creamy, milky and it packs a wallop of a blue cheese flavor. I loved it.

Thank you to the Sardinian sheep milkers and cheese makers, whoever you are.