{"id":215,"date":"2009-12-22T18:32:16","date_gmt":"2009-12-22T23:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cheeseloverca.wordpress.com\/?p=215"},"modified":"2009-12-22T18:32:16","modified_gmt":"2009-12-22T23:32:16","slug":"at-home-with-the-pristines-of-cheese-boutique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/2009\/12\/22\/at-home-with-the-pristines-of-cheese-boutique\/","title":{"rendered":"At home with the Pristines of Cheese Boutique"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Afrim Pristine of Cheese Boutique in Toronto.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What cheese will the Pristine family, the preeminent cheesemongers in Toronto, enjoy at home during Christmas?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to say until it\u2019s seven o\u2019clock on Christmas Eve, we\u2019ve closed the shop and I\u2019m standing at the cheese counter to see what\u2019s left\u2014and what\u2019s really ripe and ready,\u201d says Afrim Pristine, one of four brothers who operate Cheese Boutique<\/a> with their parents, Fatos and Modesta Pristine. \u201cI can tell you it will be absolutely incredible, and there might be white or black ruffles shaved on top.\u201d<\/p>\n

With close to 750 cheeses to choose from at this time of the year, Afrim has the difficulty of choice that the rest of us can only dream of.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father usually opens a big northern Italian red at home, so a Parmigiano Reggiano<\/a> that we\u2019ve aged to six years would make the table,\u201d Afrim says, noting that in his opinion it\u2019s \u201cthe best cheese in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there would be a goat cheese\u2014\u201dI just love goat\u2019s milk cheese\u201d\u2014from Quebec<\/a>, or the Loire Valley<\/a> of France which has been ripening at Cheese Boutique for 90 days to be ready for Christmas: \u201cIt will be phenomenal, so luscious, ripe, acidic.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 25 people on hand for the Pristine family Christmas, Afrim says he\u2019ll aim to have something for every palate: \u201cYou have to contrast the flavours so you offer the best of all worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quite definitely the table will include \u201ca very rich and very creamy triple creme from Burgundy<\/a> or Normandy<\/a> where all the good ripe triple cremes come from. That will be a great time to shave some white or black truffles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stilton<\/a> blue cheese and port wine is \u201ca classic combination\u201d at Christmas, say Afrim, but he might serve Cabrales<\/a>, the famed blue from Spain.<\/p>\n

How will the cheese be served? \u201cReally simply, really rustically, because cheese shouldn\u2019t be taken out of its element.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will be a happy Christmas for the Pristines as holiday business has been good this year. Unlike last year, Afrim says, shoppers \u201ccan see the beauty of a $25 piece of cheese. We can\u2019t keep the high-end stuff in the store.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with the Pristines and their influence on the cheese and gourmet food scene, there\u2019s an excellent feature in Toronto Life<\/a> that tells all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What cheese will the Pristine family, the preeminent cheesemongers in Toronto, enjoy at home during Christmas? \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to say until it\u2019s seven o\u2019clock on Christmas Eve, we\u2019ve closed the shop and I\u2019m standing at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,106,117,218],"tags":[],"brand":[],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cheese-plates","category-cheesemongers","category-christmas","category-parmigiano-reggiano"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}