Thursday, June 23, 2011

I saw a Big Wheel in Englewood

Emmentaler (also known as Swiss Cheese), while...Image via Wikipedia
Emmentaler cheese from Switzerland is ready for its close-up.

I stopped for a free lunch of cheese samples on Wednesday at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood, and as I munched my way around the store, I dialed a friend who lives nearby.


We're talking, and I'm eating and looking at cheese wedges and samples when I realized they were displayed on top of the biggest wheel of cheese I have ever seen.


The label said the wheel of Emmentaler cheese from Switzerland weighs 206.5 pounds. Today, I found this at epicurious.com:
"Switzerland's oldest and most important cheese, Emmentaler has a distinctively nutty-sweet, mellow flavor that makes it perfect for almost any use — from snacks to an après-dinner fruit-and-cheese plate. This cow's-milk cheese is light gold in color, with marble-size holes and a natural light brown rind. It was named for Switzerland's Emmental Valley and is exported in giant wheels weighing from 150 to 220 pounds each."

Blue crabs


After my visit to Jerry's, I stopped at the H Mart in Englewood to pick up six or seven live blue crabs ($2.99 a pound) for my wife and son, who have the patience to pick out the meat.


After she boiled the crabs with Korean red-pepper powder, my wife gave me a bit of the meat, and it was sweet.


I also bought two small, oblong Korean melons, on sale for 89 cents a pound. They are similar to honeydew, but the one I cut open at home wasn't ripe yet.


Kimchi factory


My third stop in Englewood was to pick up a large jar of handmade Arirang mak kimchi at the factory.


I bartered two Neapolitan pizzas from Jerry's for the cabbage kimchi, which I have been buying from the owner, Mrs. Oh, for years.


She has been kind to me, often giving me the kimchi for free, and now I've found food I can give her in return. She told me she loves fresh mozzarella cheese.


View a delightful video on the making of kimchi at the following link:


Two generations of kimchi makers


Three-stop food run in Englewood:


Jerry's Gourmet &  More, 410 S. Dean St.; 201-871-7108.
H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave.; 201-871-8822.
Arirang Kimchi, 191 W. Englewood Ave.; 201-503-1314.
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