Cheese

Cheese-and-spinach phyllo rolls Total time: About 1 hour Servings: About 3 dozen pieces Note: Phyllo pastry sheets come in various sizes; the size of the pastry sheets are given on the box. Phyllo dough tends to dry out quickly; keep the sheets covered with a slightly damp towel until ready to use. The rolls can be frozen prior to baking. Cover the rolls carefully with plastic wrap and foil, then uncover and bake the rolls frozen (increase the baking time by a few minutes to compensate)

For years, relatives of Zeferino Garcia in Mexico's Oaxaca state routinely sent him a cargo of quesillo cheese by airplane. From Tijuana, the bulk of unpasteurized cheese would be brought to his restaurant and two stores in Los Angeles. Life was good, he thought, and tasty. "If you don't have quesillo from Oaxaca, you practically can't have a Oaxacan restaurant," said Garcia, 43. Then three months ago, a health inspector first came to his store and told him he was breaking the law by selling unlicensed, unpasteurized cheese.

Woven zucchini with fresh goat cheese Total time: 20 minutes, plus draining time for the zucchini Servings: 4 3 to 4 (6- to 7-inch) zucchini Salt Olive oil 1/2 clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon lemon juice 10 to 12 cherry tomatoes 8 ounces fresh goat cheese 1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Sicilian) 6 leaves fresh basil 1. Trim the ends of the zucchini to make them a uniform length.

Think your children will snack only on chips? Researchers found otherwise - and kids who were served vegetables and cheese ate 72% fewer calories than the kids offered chips. Moreover, the effects were more pronounced among overweight or obese children, according to the study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers from Cornell University randomly sorted 201 children from the Chicago area in grades three to six into four groups: just chips, just cheese, just vegetables, cheese and vegetables.

Whole Foods Market Inc. joined a cheese recall Friday, pulling seven types of cheddar cheese over the risk of listeria or E. coli . The cheeses ? Sage Cheddar, Silver Mountain Cheddar, Chipotle Cheddar, Premium Block Cheddar, Premium White Chunk Cheddar, Chipotle Chunk Cheddar and White Black Wax Cheddar ? were sold in its stores in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona. Packaged in clear plastic wrap bearing a sticker that reads "Distributed by Whole Foods Market," the cheeses are part of a factorywide recall announced by Bravo Farms of California.

Health officials have recalled more than a ton of Greenbank Farms raw-milk cheese, which they said was contaminated with a potentially life-threatening bacteria. Food and Drug Administration officials said the recall of Greenbank Farms sharp cheddar cheese distributed in California and Washington has been given the department's highest priority because of the life-threatening potential of the bacteria, listeria monocytogenes.

THE plate with five different cheeses seems such an elegant thing. But leave it to restaurants and food photographers. At home, there is nothing better than one cheese in perfect condition served with just the right drink. The cheese course: The late British cheese monger Patrick Rance used to urge his customers to buy "little and often."

While I enjoyed reading Jonathan Gold's Counter Intelligence review of Cassell's (May 21), it is unfortunate that, distracted by the deservedly renown hamburgers, Mr. Gold apparently has never tried the excellent grilled cheese sandwiches. They are probably the best on the continent and certainly the largest. A very generous portion of cheese is perfectly melted on the largest imaginable slices of of first-rate, thinly sliced, fresh rye (or egg) bread. A business acquaintance who kept kosher introduced them to me in 1979.

Here, from the judging room of the American Cheese Society, are the Best American Cheeses of 2003. For a list of winners in all categories, go to www.cheesesociety.org. Best of Show Red Hawk A relatively new, triple cream cheese made by Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes, Calif., from organic milk from the neighboring Straus Family Creamery in Marin. One of the few cheeses in the competition that was ripened with B.