Anne Saxelby

How did you become a cheesemonger?

I was really interested in cheese and cheese-making, but I had never done it and knew little about it. So after I graduated from college, I arranged to have an internship at a small dairy farm in Connecticut. The internship didn't start until fall and I had a whole summer to fill so I ended up getting a job at a cheese shop in New York—Murray's Cheese—and got to taste so many good cheeses. After working there and interning at the dairy farm, I just fell in love with the whole cheese world.

Why do you sell only American-made cheeses?

It's important to support local farmers for many reasons, including land use and land preservation. There's nothing worse than seeing a beautiful piece of countryside turned into track housing or another shopping mall. And if you're buying products that are farmed locally you're ensuring that the land in your community is really staying open, it's going to be beautiful, and it's not going to be overcrowded. So that's one of the biggest benefits, a quality of life for everyone—not just the farmers.

What's your hottest seller?

Probably the Constant Bliss, which looks like a little marshmallow. People just go ga-ga over this cheese. Sure, it's cute and adorable, but it also has a great creamy consistency and wonderful flavor.

Obviously cheese is meant to be aged, but how old is too old?

Cheese was invented as a way to preserve milk, so it's preserved, and as long as it's not a total puddle of goo you can definitely salvage it. Just cut off the outer edge enough so that you know it's not dry and get back to the part of the cheese that has that nice creamier texture and you're good to go. I recently found a piece of cheese in my fridge that had been there for 7 months—it was the only piece of cheese in there, shamefully. I thought, Oh, I'll go for it, and I cut the mold off and it was delicious! So it's always worth a try. If it still tastes bad then toss it but at least give it a try and chances are that it will be good.

Do cheeses really have to smell so bad to be so good?

Stinky cheese: You either love it or hate it. But some people do have a fondness for really smelly cheese. For some people, it's a badge of honor, the stinkier the better. There's a combination of that really intense smell and the flavor of the cheese which tends to be very hearty and beefy and satisfying in almost a primal way that people really can get down with. I can't explain it, but I, myself, am a victim. I love stinky cheese and I encourage people to try it because it's a very important part of a good cheese plate and should not be neglected.

Are you supposed to eat the rind or toss it?

That's up to your personal taste. Rinds can be scary looking, but some of them are totally edible and delicious. Some cheese makers wash them in salt, beer, or brandy. I always give it a little nibble just to see if I like it.

Do happy cows make better-tasting cheese?

Happy cows make delicious cheese, there is no question about that. They usually have access to pastures and they're left to roam and forage, which is what cows do naturally. And when they're eating all that grass, flowers, herbs and other natural things, of course they're more healthy, they're feeling better and the milk is also a lot tastier.

Do you have any green habits?

I ride my bike everywhere. I live in Brooklyn and my shop is on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Lucky for me, it's not that long of a trip—it's like 25 minutes door to door. I love being able to ride my bike everywhere, it just makes things a lot quicker and more efficient for me and it also cuts down on carbon emissions since I'm not driving around in a car and guzzling up gasoline.

What's your eco-sin?

Uh, Oreos? Does that count as an eco-sin? I love Oreos. You don't know what's in there, but they're really tasty.