"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
...
> 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.
>

Exactly. You don't pass Huntsman off as "Stilton," it is a different cheese
in
its own right. My problem was that this thread was assuming the Huntsman
to be a Stilton & Double Gloucester in flavor, which you know it isn't. But
it
does look good on a cheese platter, doesn't it?

pavane