Gordon Edgar

One of the things that has changed the most in my thirty-plus years of working a cheese counter is the size of cheese available. When I started, cheddars almost always came in forty-pound blocks and stores were expected to know how to deal with them. Gruyère came in low quality “cuts” or nicely aged seventy-pound wheels. Parmigiano Reggiano? Your choice was an eighty-pound wheel or a twenty-pound quarter, and the quarter wheel was wholesaled at about 20% more.

There is a lot of news to share this month, and, outside of some sale prices, none of it good. Sorry in advance.

When I started at Rainbow in cheese in 1994, the department wasn’t really notable. It had been shrunk at some point previously and all we had at the 15th and Mission location were three cooler doors for cheese and soy cheese. Even some of those shelves were broken and at slightly weird angles. No one came to Rainbow for cheese in those days.

It’s not really mozzarella season; it’s tomato season. The Early Girls are in. The Heirlooms are in. The cherry tomatoes are even at their best. Beecause of that, it’s the time of year where we sell about five times as much fresh cheese as we do the rest of the year: ciliegini, ovolini, burrata, stacciatela, mozzarella di bufala … fresh cheese at its best. So, what are the differences? Here’s a guide to summer cheese.