without refrigeration. But if you are planning to store them for several months, you should keep

even these cheeses chilled to reduce the rate of oxidation, thus rancidity.

Ripe, well-aged cheeses continue aging even in storage, though slowly at refrigerator

temperatures. Storing them too long allows them to overripen, their flavor gets unbalanced and

too intense. Often these cheeses, like brie, come in a wrapping something like waxed paper, but

if you look closely, there are tiny holes all over the wrapping (called microperforated packaging).

These tiny holes let the cheese breath while ripening. Aging produces excess moisture that you

want to release to prevent spoilage. Don’t rewrap these aged cheeses in plastic wrap. Use the

original wrapper or kitchen waxed paper.

TASTINGS Saanen and hákarl

An old custom in some regions is to keep selected, well-aged cheeses for special

occasions for years. If well-wrapped and protected from oxygen, they will remain

in good condition for a long time. The Swiss have a tradition of keeping a low-

moisture cheese called saanen to celebrate anniversaries, births, weddings and

other festivities. People in Iceland also have a curious “cheese” called hákarl.

They bury Greenland shark in the permafrost for a long time to let it slowly,

naturally decay and ferment. When it is ready, they dig it up and serve it like brie.

I haven’t heard a report on its flavor.

Don’t freeze cheese if you don’t have to. Freezing doesn’t affect flavor, but you destroy

its texture, and it turns mushy after thawing. It is perfectly fine in any cooked dish, since it still

blends well with other ingredients. If you need to freeze excess cheese or just want to have some

for cooking in the freezer, grate it first then store in labeled freezer bags. That way you can use

small amounts at a time when you need it.

UNSCRAMBLING EGGS

Egg Basics

Chicken or the egg?

Stealing eggs from bird nests had to be one of the original sins. Early food gatherers had

easy access to few ready-to-eat foods. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, honey and grubs were the

most obvious, but eggs were everywhere, too. Bird, snake, lizard, tortoise and turtle eggs, as long

as they were large enough, had the advantages of being both easy to steal and nutritious. Emu

and ostrich eggs must have been the undeniably best prize for the food gleaners.

The domestication of chickens 4000 years ago gave an added perk of having not only

meat but eggs. This built-in egg factory in every back yard made them available to most human

beings. Virtually every culture and cuisine includes eggs as food. Even most vegetarians eat

them. The only religious taboo is in Buddhism that does not believe in killing an incipient

creature even for food. A strict Buddhist only eats eggs which had cracked, thus no longer a

potential source for life. While living in Sri Lanka, I bought eggs in the pharmacy (I never

figured out why they sold eggs in the pharmacy). There were two boxes by the cash register, one

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