I have passed Maytag, Iowa and the Maytag Blue Cheese office several times. This time, I pulled off I-80 and drove a few miles through town. I found this attractive modernist office building at the edge of a cornfield. Wikipedia explains that this cheese is based on an Iowa State-developed process to make blue cheese from pasteurized cow's milk; the cheese operation was founded by grandsons of the founder of Maytag. It doesn't mention that the blue is a play on the accent color used on Maytag washers.
This display of cheese was tempting. And when I got my slice home, I found it was wonderful. The cheese was rich in flavor and firm in texture. The blue gave sharp notes that perfectly complemented the smoothness of the cheese without being overly aggressive. Wow, what a cheese. You can find it in select stores but the office also ships.
And check out this great tractor.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...



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