Student John Triebsch, center, asks a question during a cheese and charcuterie-pairing class at The Cheese School of San Francisco on Feb. 24, 2023. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
“Always taste from mild to wild,” proclaims Caitlin O’Neill, a certified cheese professional with The Cheese School of San Francisco.
We scribble the edict in our tasting notes, next to “cheddar is a noun and a verb” and “don’t eat the rind, if it smells like cat box,” trying for the hundredth time not to inhale every cheese on our plates, including a lush, rare French blue with origins in Roman times.
This is