Conveniently located on Route 1 in Scarborough just off Interstate 295, The Cheese Iron is a great place to sample the best of Maine's gourmet foods, along with products from elsewhere in New England, Canada, and abroad.
The store is the creation of Vincent Maniaci, 36, and his wife, Jill Dutton, 33. Maniaci oversaw the display and care of cheeses at Whole Foods' flagship store in Austin, Texas, which some consider the most beautiful grocery in the world. At their shop, he and Dutton use their palates and their patience to cultivate the best in edible art. Their website quotes filmmaker Luis Buñuel: "Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you're a cheese."
They practice the art of affinage, letting the cheeses rest in a climate-controlled cave until they are perfectly ripe. To determine when the flavors have fully matured, they use a cheese iron - a beveled metal half tube that removes a small plug from a whole cheese.
"When you cut into a cheese that's too young, it dies. It will never reach its peak," Maniaci says. "But a cheese iron lets you take a core sample without disrupting the maturing process." Dutton adds, "You can put the plug back in and seal it without damaging the development of the cheese."
Unlike most grocery store cheese, which is precut in small industrial slabs, all the cheeses here are cut to order. Staff members encourage patrons to try a sample first, to make sure they're satisfied.
On recent visits, we sampled some of the owners' favorites from New England and Quebec. From Oak Leaf Creamery in Kennebunkport, we tried Cimarron, a creamy cow's milk round with a pink, brine-washed rind and a silky texture with just a touch of grit. From Fern Hill Farm in Naples, Maine, came a fresh goat's milk chèvre. "With such a light texture, it makes really fluffy gnocchi or great little ravioli pillows," Maniaci said.
