August 2026 Monthly Cheese Club - Back to School!
The Back-to-School Cheese Club Lunchbox:
Three Cheeses, Three Sandwiches, Zero Cafeteria Regrets
Sharpen your pencils, label your folders, and please do not trade your Comté for a fruit cup. This month’s cheese club theme is the lunchbox, but not the tiny carton of milk and mystery meat kind. We are packing a grown-up, cheese-forward, back-to-school spread with three very different classroom stars: Comté, Ricotta, and Barber’s Vintage Cheddar. Together they cover the full syllabus: alpine nuttiness, fresh creamy softness, and bold English cheddar crunch. Think of this as a school supply list for your appetite: bread, butter, pickles, herbs, chips, and just enough smugness to make your sandwich feel like it got accepted into honors lunch.
Period 1: Comté, the Alpine Overachiever
Comté is a French mountain cheese from the Jura region, made from raw cow’s milk and protected by strict origin rules. It is a cooked, pressed cheese, which means the curds are heated and pressed into large wheels before aging. Depending on the wheel and age, Comté can be mellow and buttery, fruity and floral, or deeply nutty with hints of caramel and toasted hazelnut. Younger Comté melts beautifully, while older Comté brings a firmer bite and those tiny, delightful crystals that make cheese people pause mid-sentence and say, “Ah yes, complexity.” It is excellent for sandwiches because it has real flavor without shouting over the rest of the lunchbox.
Sandwich Recipe: The Honor Roll Ham & Comté Melt
Spread Dijon mustard and a thin swipe of softened butter on sourdough or a crusty baguette. Layer sliced ham, thin slices of Comté, a few apple slices, and a small handful of arugula. Toast in a skillet until the bread is golden and the cheese relaxes into a glorious alpine blanket. The apple brings crunch and brightness, the ham adds savory depth, and Comté ties everything together like the student who actually read the group project instructions.
Period 2: Ricotta, the Soft-Spoken Genius
Ricotta is the fresh, fluffy Italian cheese whose name means “recooked,” a nod to the traditional process of reheating whey left over from cheesemaking. Unlike firm cheeses, ricotta is soft, moist, slightly grainy, and gently sweet. It can be made from cow, sheep, goat, or water buffalo milk whey, though many modern versions include milk for extra creaminess. Ricotta is low-drama and high-utility: it can go sweet with honey and fruit, savory with herbs and olive oil, or sneaky-smart as a sandwich spread that keeps bread from feeling dry. If Comté is the kid with a leather satchel and a fountain pen, ricotta is the one calmly acing the exam in sweatpants.
Sandwich Recipe: The Ricotta Recess Toastie
Mix ricotta with lemon zest, chopped basil or chives, black pepper, and a pinch of salt. Spread generously on toasted focaccia or ciabatta. Add roasted turkey or grilled vegetables, sliced tomato, and a drizzle of hot honey. For extra lunchbox flair, add crushed potato chips right before eating for crunch. The result is creamy, bright, and pleasantly messy—the kind of sandwich that makes napkins feel academically important.
Period 3: Barber’s Vintage Cheddar, the Class President with a Crunch
Barber’s Vintage Cheddar comes from Somerset, England, where the Barber family has been making cheddar since 1833. Their vintage styles are known for long aging, big flavor, and a balance of creamy texture, tangy sharpness, savory depth, and naturally occurring crystals that give the cheese a satisfying crunch. This is not the orange rectangle from a childhood lunchbox. This is cheddar with a résumé. It loves apples, chutney, pickles, mustard, roast beef, and cider, and it can turn a very simple sandwich into something you would willingly write an essay about—single-spaced, with enthusiasm.
Sandwich Recipe: The Detention-Worthy Cheddar Crunch
Butter two slices of seeded rye or hearty white bread. Add Barber’s Vintage Cheddar, thinly sliced roast beef or smoked turkey, a spoonful of onion jam or Branston-style pickle, and a few bread-and-butter pickles. Grill until crisp outside and molten inside. If you want to lean fully into the lunchbox theme, tuck a small layer of chips into the sandwich after grilling. Yes, it is chaotic. Yes, it is crunchy. Yes, the principal has been notified.
Extra Credit: Denver Chip Co.
To complete the lunchbox, add chips from Denver Chip Co., a local, family-owned artisan chip company based in Lakewood. Their chips are handmade in small batches from Idaho Russet potatoes, which tend to produce larger, slightly darker chips with a richer potato flavor. The company describes its chips as all-natural, lightly seasoned, and super crunchy, with flavors such as Original and Sweet & Spicy. For cheese club purposes, they are more than a side snack: they are texture insurance. Pair Original chips with Comté for a buttery, savory match; try Sweet & Spicy with ricotta for sweet heat against cool creaminess; and let Barber’s Vintage Cheddar meet any chip it wants, because cheddar is basically the hall monitor of salty snacks.
Final Bell
This month’s lunchbox lesson is simple: grown-up sandwiches deserve better cheese, and better cheese makes even back-to-school season feel like a field trip. Comté brings mountain warmth and nutty elegance, Ricotta adds fresh creamy lift, Barber’s Vintage Cheddar supplies sharpness and crunch, and Denver Chip Co. keeps the whole thing fun, local, and snackable. Pack one sandwich, share another, and remember: if anyone asks why your lunch looks better than theirs, just tell them you studied.