Windsor cheesemonger, a self-described cheese nerd, shows how to build a better cheese board

It’s been almost four years since cheese has had a proper celebration in Sonoma County, but finally, fromage is about to take center stage once again at the California Artisan Cheese Festival next month.

The last full festival was in 2019. In 2020 it was canceled two weeks before it was due to happen, in 2021 it was virtual, and 2022 it was a smaller, one day affair in May.

When it returns the last weekend of March, for a full weekend of farm tours, tastings and seminars, Emily O’Conor will be there, cheerleading for each wedge and wheel, maker and merchant, that makes this little corner of California such a delectable slice of the cheese universe.

Cheese, she says, “Is distilled sunshine. It’s pretty magical.”

O’Conor is the volunteer coordinator for this year’s festival, and until just a few months ago, was the gourmet cheese coordinator for Oliver’s Markets, a job she loved, but as the mother of two young children she desired a more flexible schedule.

She’s just launched her own business, Merchant and Monger, a pop-up cheese shop that she’ll take on the road to wineries.

“My husband and I have always wanted to do something for ourselves,” she said. “I can do a tasting room take over for a cheese pairing program or partner with (winery tour) drivers to make cheese boards or boxes. People are here to celebrate, and I can add to that.”

Sonoma County’s food and wine scene was a big draw for O’Conor who moved here in 2013 with her husband.

“Food has always brought me a lot of joy. My grandma is Sicilian, and I remember cooking with her. Everything was about food,” said O’Conor.

The New Jersey native attended the University of Colorado to study art, but felt food was her true calling and headed to France, where she visited cheese shops daily and became enthralled with the culture.

“It’s really a women-led industry, and I really liked that,” she said. “They were always really welcoming and didn’t mind that I didn’t speak great French. They’d make recommendations and I loved that.”

While on a house hunting mission here, O’Conor went in search of cheese from Petaluma’s Andante Dairy, which led her to Oliver’s Market. That first visit to their cheese counter sealed her fate. She got a job as a cheesemonger at Oliver’s where she was mentored by, and eventually took over the role of, the late Colette Hatch, known as ‘Madame de Fromage’ and widely acknowledged as the person who introduced artisan cheese to Sonoma County.

During our interview it became clear O’Conor doesn’t just enjoy cheese. She’s a true cheese scholar, using terms like “terpenes” and “molecular chains” to describe flavors in artisan cheese. She travels with books titled “The Science of Cheese” and “The New Rules of Cheese” and taught herself everything she needed to know to pass a test offered by the American Cheese Society to become a certified cheese professional.

“Everybody who likes cheese, you get a little nerdy about it,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to know where the line is where you’re going to scare people away with your cheese nerdiness.”

O’Conor, though, is delightful in her passion for it, and understands that it can be intimidating for some to approach a counter teeming with cheeses cloaked in rinds that hide the creamy delights within. It’s sometimes easier just to pick up the same cheese time and again when you know you like it.

“Talk to your cheesemonger,” she advises. “They’re just waiting to talk to you about cheese. They love it. They’re all big nerds who want to share their knowledge with you, and now we can give samples again.”

Expanding cheese horizons

When exploring new cheese, a cheeseboard is an ideal way to do it. O’Conor offered her tips for a well-put-together board that hits all the right notes.

First, she says, to choose cheeses with different textures and be sure to include different milk types—add in some sheep or goat cheese if you typically stick to just cow’s milk cheese.

Once the cheese selection is set, think about the extras.

“(You need) something briny, like olives, and crunchy, like nuts,” said O’Conor. “You want to have a little something sweet on there to bring your palate back when you get too much into the savory.”

And don’t feel the need to overload a board with crackers.

“Not all cheese has to be eaten with a cracker. A lot of cheese can be eaten just as it is.”

Enjoying cheese all by itself is perhaps the best way to appreciate the characteristics of artisan cheese, particularly grassfed.

“When you have that grassfed milk you have that really beautiful, bright orange color. Basically it’s distilled grass,” said O’Conor. “When it’s made with winter milk (in California), it’s going to be fattier, it’s going to be richer.”

Of course, cheeseboards aren’t the only way to enjoy artisan cheese. O’Conor is running over with ideas for working cheese into her meals.

“If I had my way, I’d put cheese on everything,” said O’Conor with a laugh. “I put cheese in every salad.”

One of her favorites for salad is Estero Gold from Valley Ford Cheese Company which she uses in an Italian chopped salad with salami, hot peppers, and chickpeas.

“It’s not too hard, (so) you’re not going to chase it around the plate with your fork,” she said.

With spring on the way, it’s prime time for fresh goat cheese, which O’Conor showcases bruleéd with honey on a salad of spring vegetables.

Grilled cheese, a fast and simple lunch or dinner, is something she takes to the next level with a carefully calculated combination of cheeses, plus add-ins for extra interest like mortadella or pesto and avocado.

For something that feels decadent with little effort, O’Conor is a big fan of Pt. Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company’s Quinta, a new release that’s lush and creamy, in the style of Vacherin, a cheese from the French-Swiss border. She bakes it simply with garlic and white wine.

“It’s a fun presentation when you crack into the top of the cheese and spoon it out, it’s a wonderful experience,” she said.

As someone who eats cheese for both work and pleasure, O’Conor makes sure to point out there’s plenty of room for cheese in a healthy diet.

“I do wish people did not think cheese would make them fat,” she said. “It’s not the 1990s we’re not eating Snackwells. We know now that it’s sugar that is not great for us. Cheese is really part of a good diet.”

With the recent growth in the vegan cheese industry, she’s concerned about messages that dairy milk cheese is bad for our health and environment.

“Sure there are factory farms, but that’s not what we’re talking about in the artisan cheese industry,” she said. “These are family farmers who are very responsibly raising their animals.”

To appreciate the fringe benefits to having such a rich, artisan cheese culture in Sonoma County, O’Conor says all you have to do is drive to the coast, past verdant rolling hills of open space where dairy animals graze.

“Keeping (this kind of) agriculture going in this area, it’s not just producing beautiful food, it’s producing a beautiful place to live.”

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Graue at 707-521-5262 or jennifer.graue@pressdemocrat.com.