Exploring the world, one cheese rind at a time

Welcome to the site of Josh Windsor, world class affineur, mold farmer, and cheese expert

"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk's leap toward immortality." - Clifton Fadiman

"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk's leap toward immortality." - Clifton Fadiman

Media Appearances
Meet the cheese experts who get paid to age, eat cheese for a living
Meet the cheese experts who get paid to age, eat cheese for a living
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Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own. – Charles Dickens During one of the more contemplative moments in Nicholas Nicklesby, the protagonist leaves London with his companion Smike to find work at sea. He is a little va
By means of the Mummy, mankind, it is said,⁠ Attests to the gods its respect for the dead.⁠ We plunder his tomb, be he sinner or saint,⁠ Distill him for physic and grind him for paint,⁠ Exhibit for money his poor, shrunken frame,⁠ And with levity flo
When dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, the person will actively avoid situations and information which would likely increase the dissonance. - Leon Festinger⁠ ⁠ In 1956, Festinger published “When Prophecy Falls”,
Per molto variante la natura è bella⁠ (Nature is beautiful for it is ever changing)⁠ -Italian proverb⁠ ⁠ This proverb, rumored to be a favorite of Elizabeth I, has been in my head since I returned from the @slow_food_events Cheese festival in
A corpse is meat gone bad. Well and what’s cheese? Corpse of milk. - James Joyce⁠ ⁠ So opines Leopold Bloom in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Bloom had just attended the funeral of Paddy Dignam at Dublin’s Glasnevin’s cemetery. He not
The last people with any ideas are young people. The age in which we live, this non-stop distraction, is making it more impossible for the young generation to ever have the curiosity or discipline... because you need to be alone to find out anything.
Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day. – Nicolas Chamforth⁠ ⁠ Chamforth was a French writer, courtier, and revolutionary known for immense strength, stunningly good looks, and a caustic
Home is where one starts from. As we grow older⁠ The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated⁠ Of dead and living. - T. S. Eliot⁠ ⁠ The poem, East Coker, takes its name from the ancestral village of the Eliots in Somerset—their fami
You see, like this Camembert, I am at my most delicious when I’m not spread too thin. - Frasier Crane⁠ ⁠ Frasier was a television show about a middle-aged man with pompous opinions about opera and cheese who despite alienating everyone around h
My favorite music is the music I haven’t yet heard - John Cage⁠ ⁠ I am not prone to New Year’s resolutions, but I do delight in an inspirational manifesto at the dawn of the new year. “An Autobiographical Statement,” is Cage&r
Repetition is the reality and the seriousness of life. - Søren Kierkegaard⁠ ⁠ In 1843, Kierkegaard published Repetition, under the pseudonym Constantine Constantius - a pun which illuminates the themes of constancy and repetition in the book.
There’s no correlation between the feeling I’m having at the time and how the piece stands up in the fullness of time. That’s the important thing. It’s learning to trust yourself. - Brian Eno⁠ ⁠ My partner scrawled this down a
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Reimagining American Cheese

"After all, we are not French and never can be, and any attempt to be so is to deny our inheritance and to try to impose upon ourselves a character that can be nothing but a veneer upon the surface."

- Edward Hopper

A macro photography image of a young clothbound cheddar rind. Community of blue-green mold undulate across the surface

UPCOMING EVENTS, CLASSES & APPEARANCES

Calendar
Understanding Affinage
Aug 9
Understanding Affinage

Presented as part of Murray’s Cheese Boot Camp, Understanding Affinage is crash course in learning how cheese matures, the environments in which cheese ages, and the tools and techniques used to ripen a beautiful wheel of cheese. Over the course of two hours students will explore four different rind types and the underlying principles of their care.

Cheese Tasting 101 | Murray's Cave Aged Edition
Aug 27
Cheese Tasting 101 | Murray's Cave Aged Edition

Slice into knowledge at Cheese 101, an introductory journey into the world of cheese. Taught by a Murray's affineur, this expert will guide you through a tasting of exceptional cheeses representing six cheese families, delving into everything from rind development to milk type. Expect a lively discussion of flavor and texture between sips of house wine. You’ll leave with a newfound understanding of cheese—how it’s made, what creates each unique variety, and why your favorites taste so good.