Editor’s note: Earlier this year we shared the 9 Cheeses You’ll Want to Buy at Whole Foods Market. Under the guidance of the acclaimed Cathy Strange, the annual 12 days of Cheese is also not to be missed. Along with favorites like Gruyere, Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Keen’s Cheddar from Neal’s Yard Dairy, Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog, Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt Tam are some cheeses that are a little less common but well worth seeking out.
Beginning December 10, Whole Foods Market blesses us again this year with its 12 Days of Cheese promotion. A yearly phenomenon since about 2016, the 12 Days of Cheese features deep discounts on 12 holiday-worthy cheeses for 12 days through December 21. It’s basically a 12 Days of Christmas celebration where all of the days feature maids-a-milking, without involving the other cast of characters or all those infernal birds. (But if goose, chicken, or partridge pâté has a spot on your cheese plate, more power to you.)
All 12 Cheeses Available on All days
Because we’ve been extra good and survived not just one, but two entire pandemic years, Whole Foods has made it even easier this year to amass a swoon-worthy cheese plate for your family and friends, or self-care needs. All 12 cheeses will be discounted from the very beginning of the promotion throughout the 12 days. In previous years, the massive discount applied to only one cheese per day, advent calendar-style. As that many consecutive trips to Whole Foods during the holiday shopping frenzy would doubtlessly result in 12 days of necessary therapy, this is indeed a tremendous gift for a weary country.
Discounts on Cheese up to 40%
The 2021 12 Days of Cheese discount is 30% on the designated cheeses, with an additional 10% available to Amazon Prime members. (To receive the Amazon Prime bonus, members must download the Whole Foods app and sync to their Prime account to receive a barcode to use at checkout.) Again for the back row: every cheese in the promotional lineup is discounted the minimum 30% for all 12 days of the promotion. Get thee to a Whole Foods!
A Broad Range of Styles
The 12 cheeses in the 12 Days of Cheese promotion represent the full spectrum of animal milks and styles, with old and new world cheesemakers in the mix, perfect for being able to curate a diverse spread and satisfy a broad range of preferences. What else in your holiday lineup has the ability to act as such a unifier for your family?
Some familiar favorites from Christmases past are again on the 2021 list, including Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve, (America’s most awarded cheese,) Neal’s Yard Keen’s Cheddar, Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog, and Kaltbach Cave-Aged Le Gruyère AOP.
New to the 12 Days of Cheese lineup this year—but not necessarily new to our hearts—are Quadrello di Bufala, Corcuera Campo de Montalban, Cowgirl Creamery Organic Mt Tam, and Agour Ossau-Iraty PDO, a Basque, sheep’s milk cheese with the distinction of having been awarded Best Cheese at the World Cheese Awards not only once, but twice, in 2006 and 2011. (It also landed the 2nd place spot in the Best Cheese of All Time distinction voted upon in 2016.)
Cheeses Exclusive to Whole Foods Market
Each year the 12 Days of Cheese selection includes several cheeses that can only be acquired at Whole Foods, including ones from both East and West Coast cheesemaking superstars Jasper Hill and Rogue Creamery. Here’s a more in-depth look at the 4 cheeses that comprise this year’s Whole Foods exclusive lineup:
● Klare Melk Truffle Gouda
A longtime selection in the 12 Days cheeses, Whole Foods understands that it wouldn’t be the holidays without a little seasonal truffle decadence. Klare Melk Truffle Gouda is a Dutch-made, raw milk gouda. The paste is supple and buttery; a perfect host for a generous inclusion of heady black truffle bits.
● Cellars at Jasper Hill Gin Washed Harbison
Harbison itself is a beloved Jasper Hill selection, a soft-ripened, bloomy rind cheese with a rich texture and lightly mushroomy quality. Jasper Hill has partnered with Whole Foods to offer a holiday-washed version of Harbison for its 12 Days of Cheese list. 2020 saw a prosecco-washed Harbison, this year a spruce-wrapped and gin-washed beauty brings a festive, woodsy note to Harbison’s already delectable profile.
● Mons Mary dans les Étoiles
The name alone here makes for a perfect Christmas cheese: Mary among the stars. Bright, earthy, and dramatic—and styled in the manner of Chabichou—this zesty, goat milk’s cheese features both an intricately textured, geotrichum candidum rind, and a coating of black ash.
● Rogue Creamery Enraptured Cherries Jubilee
Rogue has well earned its right to hyperbole in my book, so if they say those cherries are enraptured, then they definitely are. The only blue on the 12 Days list, a coating of wine-soaked cherries brings a rich, deep, and sweet element to a fudgy and sharp base.
It is worth mentioning that even the 4, Whole Foods exclusive cheeses alone would make for an exceptional, balanced, and interesting cheese plate, though the Whole Foods 12 Days of Cheese promotion allows for limitless possibilities to make the cheesin’ bright this year.