Buying Cheese Online

[Ilaine]

Which are your favorite sites for buying cheese online?  So far, all we have tried is Murray's, which is fine, but I would like to try others.

Thinkin about igourmet.  Anybody used them?

Others?

Bonus question - if I order burrata online, say, from iGourmet, how will that compare for freshness with, say, getting it from the cooler at Cheesetique?  It seems risky to order something that needs to be kept cold online.

[Rhone1998]

Out of curiosity, are there cheeses available online you can't find locally?

[Ilaine]

Oh, yes.  For example, iGourmet has three brands of Roquefort - Societe, Papillon, and Vernieres.  I have no idea what the differences are but am going to order some of each unless someone posts that they have had a bad experience with them.

Another example, Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse, which is made from the milk of the red cows that used to be used for this cheese before they started using the more productive black and white cows.  I have had this before at Dino and it is superb, but not lately.

Another example, blu del Moncenisi.  Again, have not seen this anywhere but Dino, but not lately.

I live in Fairfax, about 4 miles outside the Beltway.  I don't doubt that there are many, many wonderful cheeses to be found all over the Washington, D.C., metro area, and even more in New York, and that the best way to shop for cheese is to travel to a cheese store and taste samples.  But we have had very good results ordering from Murrays online, and I would like to explore more.

When you buy from Murray, you pay for overnight shipping, and the cheese comes packed with frozen blue ice.  This appears to be true for iGourmet, too.

[Rieux]

I was buying Roquefort today at the Harris Teeter on Kalorama in DC (my normal grocery store) and noticed that they had both Societe and Papillon brands now.  Just FYI in case you happen to be near there.

[Ilaine]

Rieux, I am nowhere near Kalorama, but thank you.

I just submitted my order to iGourmet, will report back when received.

If it goes well, I will consider ordering other items like olives, but obviously not paying for overnight shipping. There has to be something better than Divina.

[DonRocks]

Which are your favorite sites for buying cheese online?  So far, all we have tried is Murray's, which is fine, but I would like to try others.

Thinkin about igourmet.  Anybody used them?

Others?http://www.artisanalcheese.com

Bonus question - if I order burrata online, say, from iGourmet, how will that compare for freshness with, say, getting it from the cooler at Cheesetique?  It seems risky to order something that needs to be kept cold online.

I haven't bought cheese online since it was "Dean & DeLuca, and only Dean & DeLuca" in DC - which wasn't *that* long ago.

But when I did? Terry Theise told me about "the best place in the country," and I ordered from them for years as a happy customer: Formaggio Kitchen in Boston. They ship overnight in ice-packed containers, and the cheese would arrive the next day (if I remember correctly). As with Upton Tea Imports for teas, no other mail-order company was even a close second place at the time. I don't know if times have changed, and also I remember that Artisanal Cheese started selling mail-order a couple years afterwards, and was supposedly doing a fine job as well.

If it was me? Formaggio Kitchen has earned my next online order.

Note also there was a place in California where I used to purchase unpasteurized butter (also shipped in ice overnight) that was unlike any cow's butter I've ever eaten in America. Last I checked, they were still open and selling, but that was years ago, and I can't remember their name. Check this website for a thread called "Unpasteurized Butter" - I know I've written about it here before, and if you've never had unpasteurized butter, it's a life-changing experience. I remember now: It was Organic Pastures, and it looks like the ICC caught up with them. I'd give them a call anyway, however - they were skirting the boundaries of things before, and I joyfully supported them, but they never had such a strongly worded statement up on their website before. Our loss.

[lperry]

Di Bruno Brothers in Philly ships, and they are so close that there would be very little transit time for the ice packs to thaw.  At Christmas years ago, I would order a wheel of stilton for my Dad and a nice olive oil for Mom from Di Bruno when their area of Florida was a bit of a food wasteland. 

[MsDiPesto]

Zingerman's ships cheeses, and so do a number of Vermont cheesemakers.

[DonRocks]

Zingerman's ships cheeses, and so do a number of Vermont cheesemakers.

The problem being that I wouldn't go to Zingerman's even if I was in Ann Arbor (unless I was a marketing student).

[goldenticket]

La Tienda ships (Spanish) cheeses, along with a variety of other products. They do a great job packing perishables for shipment (in coolers with dry ice), Orders usually arrive the following day.

[MsDiPesto]

The problem being that I wouldn't go to Zingerman's even if I was in Ann Arbor (unless I was a marketing student).

Ah, I hear you. I am naive about this, but I imagine the catalogue is their primary revenue generator. I've only ever bought a flight of aged balsamic vinegars which I really liked.

It's certainly not the illustrations that attract as I find them creepy.