Cheese, Time Travel, and other such things…

Dear Cheese Enthusiasts,

Photo courtesy of Kiri Fisher

Today I learned that the cheese industry lost one of our own...Kiri Fisher.

I first met Kiri at her place of business, The Cheese School of San Francisco. It was a wonderful venue in the heart of Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. There they taught cheese classes and courses, had a nice selection of cheeses and specialty food, and it was also a great place to have a good cheesy meal and a glass of wine.

I guess I loved it so much because there was nothing like it in my town. It was truly unique, just like Kiri.

I visited on July 18, 2019 - It was a cold overcast day…and was probably they kind of day that Mark Twain was writing about when he coined the saying “The coldest Winter I ever spent, was a Summer in San Francisco.” As I sat enjoying my lunch and looking out over Aquatic Park, Kiri shared with me her future plans of selling off the business so that she could spend more time closer to home. Boy, if I had the money, I probably would have offered to buy it myself.

Kiri showed me around the place, as they were getting ready to teach a cheese making course. She offered for me to stay, but I had a long drive home. So, I looked through the shop, found a favorite piece of cheese…It was the inspiration for my Cheese Traveler post of July 29, 2019.

To honor Kiri and her memory, I would like to reshare that post:

Cheese is magical. A mere uttering of the word makes one smile; it has the power to transform a dish; and it has the power of time travel…Let me explain.

Recently, I had the opportunity to stop by and visit my friends at the Cheese School of San Francisco, if you have not had the chance of visiting, I highly recommending stopping by. It is part cheese/wine shop, part cheese education center, and part restaurant (did I leave out ‘part heaven’?). In all my travels, I have never found anything close to it.

For today’s visit, I was focusing in on their cheese case, as they tend to carry some unique ones from around the U.S. and the world. Then I noticed a small, dry cheese that was wrapped in cloth with a yellow ribbon, just one sniff, and I found myself half way up the Swiss Alps, sitting in a small chalet with no electricity, about to enjoy a green salad topped with this magical cheese known as Belper Knolle.

No hallucinogenic properties going on here, just my senses taking me back to my last visit to Switzerland. Strange how a sight, a sound, or a smell from our past has the power to recall memories, down to the slightest details, and yet we can’t find our house keys that we had in our hands not five minutes earlier. This was one of those experiences.

Belper Knolle is a raw, Cow’s Milk Cheese that is infused with garlic and pepper that have been aged in a small ball shape that is aged for 90 days.

It is very hard and must be ‘shaved’ like a truffle partially due to its hardness, but also due to its intensity in flavor.

The shavings are so fine that they are like flower petals. The cheese is dry, and yet has a creamy, garlicy, and peppery flavor to whatever it is paired with. In Switzerland, I had it shaved over a green salad, drizzled with a fine extra virgin olive oil.

Mr. Peabody may have had his WABAC Machine, but I need only visit my nearest cheese case to be transported to another time and place.

Until next time,

Your Cheese Traveler,

Trevor

In closing, I am grateful that I had a chance to meet Kiri and spend some time in her school. I was pleased to see that the American Cheese Society today created a Kiri Fisher Memorial Scholarship. The ACS wrote: We honor Kiri Fisher's memory and legacy and invite you to join us in supporting the continued creativity, growth and excellence of the cheese industry she left in her wake. Your contributions will preserve Kiri's legacy and ensure her vision for a vibrant and inclusive cheese community lives on. Donations will fund an annual membership to the American Cheese Society as well as travel and registration to the annual conference for the recipient. Scholarships will be awarded to independent entrepreneurs in the cheese industry.

Thank you Kiri for your time, your creativity, and your kindness. Our cheese family mourns for loss, but grateful we were able to meet you.

In January 2023, The Cheese School of San Francisco moved to its new home at 2535 3rd Street in San Francisco https://thecheeseschool.com/