That’s So Cheesy: Cheese Tasting 101 at Murray’s Cheese in NYC

Murray’s Cheese is known as being one of the best cheese shops in New York City.

According to Gothamist, a popular New York City news website that hailed Murray’s as one of the 9 Best Cheese Shops in NYC, “Murray’s has been a lifeline for the city’s cheese connoisseurs since founder Murray Greenberg opened the original Greenwich Village shop in 1940… You can find cheeses from all over here—the usual French camemberts, the Italian pecorino and rare parmiaggiano, the sheep cheeses from the British Isles, and more exotic offerings from the deeper dairy pockets of the world.”

I have always been a huge fan of cheese despite my stomach’s aversion to it. I enjoy sampling different kinds of cheeses and discovering which cheeses pair well with different kinds of foods and wines.

Living in New York City, I have become very familiar with Murray’s Cheese and I have even shopped there on a few occasions. When I found out that Murray’s offered different cheese classes, I was very interested in participating in one.

I selected Cheese 101, a class that “walk(s) you through a tasting of seven families of cheese, from fresh to bloomy to blue and everything in between, so that you leave armed with the knowledge you need to approach even the most daunting of cheese counters and create a perfect cheese course of your own.”

When I arrived to Murray’s Greenwich Village location, I was directed upstairs to one of Murray’s special cheese class rooms. When the doors to the classroom opened, my ‘classmates’ and I were greeted by our instructor, Dan, who introduced himself and told us that we would be learning about seven different cheeses: Burrata, Casatica di Bufala, Tomme du Chevre Aydius, Zimbro, Pecorini Ginepro, Challerhocker, and Arethusa Blue.

The pace of the class moved fairly quickly as we sampled each different kind of cheese and learned about their ages and origins. While the class did not focus on the smell of the cheeses or which particular wines to pair with each kind of cheese, it did focus on describing the flavor of each cheese and it gave me a sense of what kind of cheeses that I had a strong preference to, and which ones I could live without.

Murray’s #1 selling cheese, the Burrata, was one of my favorite cheeses of the night. It was white, milky, and sweet, and at an age of only one week old, it was very fresh and delicious. One thing that I really liked about the class was that it provided information on what other cheeses I might like if I had a preference toward a particular kind of cheese. Since I was such a huge fan of the Burrata, I also learned that I might also really like Mozzarella di Bufala.

Dan holding Challerhocker, a cow milk based cheese from Switzerland

The time passed very quickly as Dan told us some cheesy jokes and. provided us with an extraordinary amount of information about the cheeses. I spent a lot of time trying to juggle writing notes, eating the different cheeses, and taking a couple sips of the wine.

I found the class to be very educational and delicious. I also found the class to be very informal and the perfect for beginners that want to learn the basics about cheese to go. Finally, I believe that the class is a great place to go a date or to visit with girlfriends.

Booking Information: Cheese 101 ($70/person) – included house wine, snacks, and 7 cheeses; recommended for ages 16+

Murray’s offers a numerous cheese classes including Mozzarella Making, Grilled Cheese 101, and Beer and Cheese 101. To see the full list of classes, check out their classes page.

---

FTC Disclosure: I was provided with a complimentary Cheese 101 class at Murray’s. As always, all opinions stated in this article are my own.

Have you ever been to Murray’s Cheese or taken a cheese class? Share below!