Meet the Big Cheese

At a first-of-its-kind facility in the U.S., great cheese isn't born--it's molded

You must smell this one!" exclaims maitre fromager and affineur Daphne Zepos, inhaling deeply from a pungent wheel of Tomme au Marc cheese. "It smells like a walk in the forest in October."

After getting her exotic-scent fix, her face lights up as she evaluates the flowerlike molds developing nicely on the washed rind, noting that it reminds her of "Brancusi, like sculpture, not cheese," before moving on to observe that the crocks of St. Felicien, a creamy, nutty cheese, are ready for optimal eating. This is the chief goal of the newly opened Artisanal Cheese Center in New York City:...

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