September 2026 Monthly Cheese Club - The Daily Grate: A Slice of Italy
The Daily Grate: A Slice of Italy! 🧀
Welcome back to your favorite monthly cheese delivery! Get ready to pack your virtual bags because this month, we are heading straight to the sunny hills of Italy. We wanted to surprise your taste buds with something truly special. So, we picked three incredible cheeses that show off the amazing history and flavors of the Italian countryside. These are not your everyday supermarket cheeses. They are crafted by expert cheesemakers using old family secrets passed down through many generations. Grab your favorite crackers, slice up some fresh fruit, and pour a nice beverage. Let us dive into this month's delicious, gooey, and flavor-packed adventure!
Quadrello di Bufala
Origin: Lombardy, Italy
Milk Type: Water Buffalo Milk
The Scoop: Do not let the strong smell of this unique square cheese fool you! It belongs to a family of cheeses called "washed-rind," which means it gets bathed in saltwater while it grows. This special bath creates a sticky, orange-pink crust on the outside that smells very bold. But once you cut inside, the paste is incredibly smooth, creamy, and white. The flavor is a perfect mix of sweet cream, salty butter, and a tiny bit of tanginess that lingers on your tongue.
Fun Fact: Water buffalo milk is much richer and thicker than regular cow milk. It actually contains twice as much fat! This high fat content is the magic secret that makes the cheese melt in your mouth just like warm butter.
Sottocenere al Tartufo
Origin: Veneto, Italy
Milk Type: Cow Milk
The Scoop: Sottocenere is a beautiful, semi-soft cheese that hides a wonderful surprise inside. The cheesemakers mix real pieces of Italian black truffles right into the curd, giving it a rich and earthy taste. To make it even more special, the outside of the cheese is rubbed with a fragrant blend of sweet baking spices. When you take a sniff, you will smell hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves, making the whole experience feel like a cozy autumn day.
Fun Fact: The beautiful name Sottocenere literally translates to "under ash" in Italian. In the old days, farmers buried this cheese in beechwood ash to preserve it and protect it from bugs before refrigerators were invented. Today, they still coat the outside in gray ash to keep the tradition alive and to lock in those yummy spices!
Fontina with Tuscan Herbs
Origin: Northern Italy
Milk Type: Cow Milk
The Scoop: Fontina is a classic, multi-purpose Italian cheese known for being soft, bouncy, and deeply comforting. It has a mild, nutty, and buttery flavor that almost everyone loves on the very first bite. For this month's box, we found a version that is rolled in a beautiful mix of dried herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano. The herbs coat the outside edge, so every single slice you cut brings a burst of garden-fresh aroma and savory Italian flavor.
Fun Fact: True Fontina cheese has a super long history and has been made in the Italian Alps since the year 1270! It is famous worldwide for being the ultimate melting cheese. Because of the way it is made, it can get hot and gooey without separating into an oily or stringy mess, making it perfect for fondues and grilled cheeses.
Featured Accoutrement: Amarena Cherries 🍒
Origin: Emilia-Romagna, Italy
The Scoop: To tie this entire Italian feast together, we have included a jar of authentic Amarena cherries! These are not your average bright-red ice cream sundae cherries. Amarena cherries are small, dark, and wild cherries that grow in the northern part of Italy. They are gently cooked and preserved in a rich, thick sugar syrup that highlights their natural tart flavor. They provide a spectacular pop of deep red color and a luxurious, glossy shine to your serving board.
Fun Fact: These sweet treats were invented over 100 years ago by a woman named Rachele Fabbri! She loved them so much that her husband bought her a beautiful, custom white-and-blue ceramic jar to thank her for the recipe. Today, those same blue and white jars are famous all over Italy as a symbol of these delicious gourmet cherries. They are the perfect match for this month's box because their sweet-and-sour glaze perfectly cuts through the rich creaminess of the Quadrello and the earthy truffles in the Sottocenere!
Thank you so much for being a valued part of our cheese-loving family! We hope you have a blast slicing, snacking, and sharing these authentic Italian treasures with your favorite people. Be sure to snap a picture of your beautiful cheese boards and tag us on social media so we can see how you celebrate. Until next month, enjoy the journey and keep it cheesy!