Nicola Gilardi, along with his son Nicola, 4, are surrounded by cheese provided by Brown Derby. Gilardi, owner of Ristorante Gilardi, says cheese is "just incredible" because is can be used in a wide variety of ways. Bob Linder / News-Leader

Caprese salad is a simple dish to prepare, made from fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil and spices. Bob Linder / News-Leader

Fresh cheese

STORAGE: • Refrigerate at 40 degrees Fahrenheit immediately after purchase. • To prevent drying and shrinkage, store in the cheese compartment or vegetable crisper of your refrigerator. • Separate cheese from foods with strong odors. • To prevent the growth of mold, wipe semi-soft, firm and hard cheese with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. Then wrap tightly in plastic wrap. • If mold begins to form, cut off 1 inch from all sides or scrape it off. • If mold has formed on soft or fresh cheeses or if it has spread throughout a firm cheese, discard the cheese. • The shelf life of cheese varies according to type, and a good guideline to use regarding the length of time they can be kept on hand is by the "best before" date recommended on the packaging. • Assuming the cheese is properly wrapped and refrigerated, soft cheeses generally can be kept for up to one week; semi-soft cheeses for two to three weeks; firm cheeses for five weeks or longer; and hard cheeses for up to 10 months. • While some cheeses can be frozen, freezing is not recommended for cheeses to be served by the slice (as they dry out and lose flavor) and should be reserved for cheeses to be used only for cooking. SERVING: • Serve cottage cheese and other fresh or soft unripened cheeses chilled. • Serve other cheeses at room temperature. • At least 30 minutes prior to serving, remove all but your fresh cheeses (such as cottage cheese) from the refrigerator. • Cover the cheese with a damp cloth or plastic wrap to prevent drying before serving time. Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Simply relax, smile — and say "cheese."

Whether your warm-weather menu is impromptu or planned, casual or gourmet, with cheeses stocked in the fridge you'll be able to pull off any dining occasion with ease and elegance.

"I adore cheese," says Italian-born Nicola Gilardi, chef and owner of Ristorante Gilardi's in Springfield.

"And the reason I love cheese is that I think it is one of the best creations of human kind — great with a glass of wine, on a picnic or as the main ingredient in some of the world's finest entrees.

"It's just incredible."

Sharing equally in this passion for cheese — one of the earliest foods prepared by humans (made from the milk of cows, goats, sheep and buffalo) — is Hemingway's executive chef Marcel Bonetti, a native of France.

"I love to cook with ... cheese," he says, "but then I also enjoy sampling a selection of cheeses accompanied by red wine or fresh fruit."

On the farm

Ken and Jennifer Muno, of Goatsbeard Farm, located about 30 minutes northwest of Columbia, are also promoters of the food.

Like Gilardi and Bonetti, the Munos have had a hand in producing this versatile dairy product.

"In the French Alps, when I was a child, 5 or 6 years old, we had our own cows and our family made the cheese," Bonetti recalls.

"We stored it in the barn in the hay and every day, we children would go and turn it until it was ready. We made our own cheese, milk and butter and it was a good time."

As a youth in the Italian Alps, Gilardi assisted in the family's cheese-making.

"This was a very special cheese called casara (a semi-soft similar to fontina) which could only be produced at a certain elevation.

"We would put the cow's milk in a big copper container lined with stainless steel and after a few days, we would place it in a natural chilled cave there to ripen."

The Munos, from their goat herd of 40 at Goatsbeard, make "farmstead cheeses"; theirs is the only commercial goat dairy in Missouri producing goat cheese.

Types of cheeses

Cheeses are available in four main categories of texture or firmness: soft, semi-soft, hard and very hard.

Depending upon the processes, milks used, and the aging periods, the flavors and aromas can widely vary within each.

• Soft cheeses are fresh and haven't been aged, such as cream, pot, cottage cheese, brie (which Bonetti combines with garlic butter for escargot wrapped in a dough of puff pastry), and mascarpone (a double- or triple-cream cheese which Gilardi incorporates into his homeland's classic dessert, tiramisu.)

There's also the chevre, the goat-milk cheese produced here in Missouri by the Munos which Eric Zachrison, chef/owner of Agrario, says is a main player in one of the restaurant's most popular salad dressings — Roasted Red Bell Goat Cheese Viniagrette.

• Semi-soft cheeses or young cheeses (aged for just a few weeks) include brick, Muenster, bleu, Monterey Jack and mozzarella. They are used in sauces, casseroles, on pizzas and a variety of entrees because of their superb melting qualities and cold-slice plate presentation.

"I like to cook with the bleu cheese," says Bonetti. "With it, you can make the very finest cream sauce for chicken."

American cheese also falls into this category. An obvious favorite for grilled cheese sandwiches, it's also ideal for serving, sliced, along with other cheeses accompanied by crackers, pretzels, fruit and spirits.

• Hard cheeses, including cheddar, fontina, Gruy˲e or Swiss, are aged for a few months or longer. While well-suited for serving on a cheese-tasting board, enhanced with thinly sliced ham, salami or other gourmet treats along with full-bodied red wine, beer or ales, they also serve well in casseroles (giving a unique lift to even the ordinary mac and cheese).

• Very hard cheeses, aged for nine months or longer, can be grated for cooking (stuffing, casserole, salad) or served in very thin slices on a cheese-tasting plate.

Among these famous cheeses, you'll find the Italian Parmesan, parmigiano-Reggiano and the grana padamo, says Gilardi. Asiago, also with Italian origins, is a favorite.

You also may discover cotija, produced in Mexico,or duro-blando from the Caribbean.

Where to start?

With at least 400 different types of cheeses created throughout the world, with more than 2,000 different names, experimenting with cheeses can be a bit overwhelming for the novice.

Just sample different varieties until you land on some you like, experts suggest, then go from there. As Gilardi says: "Cheese is so much like wine. It is an art and you have to get your palate accustomed to it.

"If you are beginning into it, anyone can find something they like the first time and the more you get used to cheese itself, you will find a yearning for something more exciting."

The possibilities are endless, Bonetti agrees.

"I love cheese, any kind of cheese. You can use some types for the cooking, have some others with the wine and then — like we do in France — you can replace the pastry for dessert and have cheese with slices of fresh fruit.

"There are so many cheeses to choose from, life is really too short to count them. Better to just enjoy them."

• Delicious cheese recipes will please. 2C

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