pavane wrote:

> Quite so. As is the quality of the "double Gloucester." They are both
> very young, salty and unaged crap; together they form an affinity of
> sorts for each other. It ends up being a cute little salty palate teaser,
> but it is neither Stilton nor Double Gloucester, both of which properly
> aged are delicious cheeses, full of character and flavor. Go find a good
> piece of each, and learn what you are experiencing, which is the attribution
> of the characteristics of an excellent set of cheeses to a cheap
> commercial fraud.


My experience with Huntsman at the wine and cheese shop where I work is
that Huntsman is a great introduction to blue cheeses for people who
don't like blue cheeses. Our policy is to let customers try samples of
cheeses and decide for themselves what they like and want to buy. We do
have customers with sophisticated palates who prefer the better cheeses.
We also have customers (and staff like me) who didn't start with a
great knowledge of flavors and flavor pairings but who are getting
there. A fair number of customers want something that looks great on
cheese platter. For them, there is Huntsman. This isn't necessarily a
bad thing. The blue flavor isn't overwhelming, and the cheese is
visually appealing with those nice stripes. If they want to graduate to
a variety of blue cheeses, we carry a good selection.


--Lia