Why Whole Foods 12 Days of Cheese is The Best Time of The Year
Holiday Cheeseboard photo credit Whole Foods Market
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when Whole Foods Market conspires to seriously improve the lyrics to a popular holiday tune with its 12 Days of Cheese promotion, running from December 13 to December 24. Who needs drummers drumming when you can have cheeses cheesing? Which do you think has a better possibility of actually providing holiday cheer and improving your sanity this season?
Last year all 12 cheeses were offered for all 12 days for the first time, and that continues to be the case this year, proving beyond all shadow of a doubt that there is a Santa Claus, and her name is Cathy Strange, cheese buyer for Whole Foods Market. Here’s everything you need to know about the savings and the cheeses to make the most of this year’s 12 Days of Cheese promotion.
The Savings: 30% to 40% on All 12 Cheeses
Prior to 2021, Whole Foods only offered up one cheese per day for the discount. In a post-pandemic world, Whole Foods offered us the gift of sanity, with all 12 cheeses discounted for all 12 days of the promotion, since “12 trips to Whole Foods” is about as desirable as “12 drummers drumming.” (Which is to say: it isn’t, at least not during the holiday rush.)
Whole Foods already has good prices for artisanal cheeses given its goliath buying power, but during the 12 Days of Cheese Promotion the 12 featured cheeses are discounted 30%, with an additional 10% available to Amazon Prime members. The Amazon Prime discount is available either by syncing your Prime account to the Whole Foods app to generate a barcode for purchase in store, or through Amazon directly, where you are able to purchase Whole Foods groceries for pickup or delivery in certain markets. With a 40% total discount available, depending on your cheese needs this season, those savings can amount to $100 or more!
The Cheeses
Historically, the Whole Foods 12 Days of Cheese lineup has always been a diverse and thrilling one, and this year’s lineup is no exception, including cheeses by some of our favorite newsworthy producers and styles including Jasper Hill, Rogue Creamery, Sweet Grass Dairy, Cypress Grove, Cowgirl Creamery, and Le Gruyère AOP, which holds the distinction of being the best cheese in the world right now, according to the World Cheese Awards. (Stay tuned for more info about the use of the word “gruyere” in American cheesemaking.)
Returning Favorite Cheeses
Returning cheeses photo credit Whole Foods Market
Several cheeses frequently make the nice list, and are familiar favorites in the 12 Days of Cheese lineup, such as Neal’s Yard Keen’s Cheddar, Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog, Cowgirl Creamery Organic Mt Tam, Sweet Grass Dairy Thomasville Tomme, Hervé Mons Gabietou, Istara Petit Basque and Kaltbach Cave-Aged Le Gruyère AOP, a Whole Foods exclusive selection.
In the past couple of years, both Rogue Creamery and Jasper Hill have offered a cheese exclusive to Whole Foods for the 12 Days of Cheese promotion, typically in a specialty-finished selection of one of their signature cheeses. While that isn’t the case this year, Rogue’s stalwart, sweet-savory Organic Oregon Blue is the sole blue selection among the cheeses, as well as Jasper Hill Whitney, an Alpine-style standing in for currently unavailable Pleasant Ridge Reserve this year.
3 New Cheeses
Here’s a closer look at the 3 cheeses that are completely new to the 12 Days of Cheese lineup:
Styled after France’s St. Marcellin, what’s more seasonally-inspired than a pudgy cow’s milk cheese that requires its own crock to contain the serious goo potential? Geotrichum candidum giving it the signature mottled rind, St. Albans is ready to go straight from the package to the oven for insta-fondue. Holiday self-care at its finest.
A little ash is never out of style on a holiday cheese board, especially as popular seasonal characters are known to make their entrance care of the chimney. While vegetable ash is relatively common in many cheese expressions, the “sottocenere” or “under ash” element of this Venetian cheese is composed of holiday spices and flavors such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, fennel, licorice, and anise. To further the Italian lesson and the holiday vibe, “al tartufo” refers to the generous bedecking of truffles among the semi-soft cow’s milk paste.
Gouda may be the least controversial cheese there is, which is handy when managing family gatherings this season. With a nutty sweetness even kids will like, but enough complexity to appeal to the most gastronomically inclined among you, this cow’s milk gouda with 10 months of age is a real peacemaker in a challenging world.