The following is an online extra from the October 2019 issue of Dine, heading to newsstands soon.
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Falynne Couron, 23, recently received news that she passed the exam to become a Certified Cheese Professional.
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Couron has been working at the Murray's Cheese counter at the Carytown Kroger for three years.
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The Murray's Cheese counter at the Carytown Kroger
You can find Falynne Couron, 23, behind the Murray’s Cheese counter at Kroger’s Carytown location, a job she’s held for three years but got by happenstance. Within six months of her hire, the Hampton native became infatuated with cheese and decided she wanted to become a Certified Cheese Professional (CCP), a connoisseur status that only around 1,000 cheese experts in the country have achieved. Couron took the CCP exam during August’s American Cheese Society Conference in Richmond and recently received the news that she had become one of the youngest individuals to pass the grueling, three-hour-long assessment that tests knowledge of everything from the cheesemaking process to different bacterias, storing and handling cheese, and regulations.
Richmond magazine: How did you end up working at the Murray’s Cheese counter?
Falynne Couron: It was completely by accident. When I was 20, I moved up here and was actually at VCU for printmaking and ended up at Kroger. I applied to the floral department, but there was an opening at the Murray’s Cheese section. They offered me the cheese shop job, and I needed a job, so I said yes. But I had never seen a cheese shop in my entire life, and we didn’t even have Krogers back in Hampton yet.
RM: Were you familiar with cheese at all?
Couron: To be honest, I had only had American cheese until I started working at the cheese shop. Never in my life did I think I would fall in love with a food like that. I was kind of poor growing up, and cheese seemed very distant and unreachable and like a fancy thing to me, but it turns out it’s super accessible and super tasty and my favorite thing in the world.
RM: Where did you gain your knowledge of cheese?
Couron: It was basically all from Kroger. So, I have now visited other cheese shops in the area, but at first that was my only intro into that immense cheese world. When I decided to take the CCP [exam] and got the scholarship, Murray’s offers a great curriculum they put together to lead you through everything. They really help you and provide textbooks, and [they’re] definitely the ones that facilitate all of that learning.
RM: When did you decide you wanted to become a Certified Cheese Professional?
Couron: Very soon after I started working there. I met our Murray’s cheese specialist at the time, and I remember him talking about it, and I knew I wanted to take it, but you need 4,000 hours of documented work in the cheese industry, so it took time. I said, "That’s something I want to do." I was really liking cheese and am kind of a nerd, so it seemed like a perfect fit.
RM: What was the hardest part about preparing for the exam?
Couron: The hardest part was learning about cheeses I’ve never interacted with. So much of my memory comes from working with it every day and being able to taste it, but [there were also] all these cheeses I have never encountered, and unless I go to Europe, may never encounter. Another part that’s difficult is that it’s such a wide breadth of information. They can’t physically cram it in with 150 questions. They do give a blueprint, though, and this year was really heavy on safety regulations and helped me focus a lot. They’ll basically tell you which areas are going to be more prevalent, but it doesn’t get so specific or hammer down one area, but [the blueprint] did help guide.
RM: How did you end up receiving a scholarship to take the CCP exam?
Couron: Murray’s and Kroger offer it, and so basically you have to apply through them first. They make a mock exam with similar sort of questions to the CCP exam, and based upon score and hours, they decide. The test is not inexpensive. [Murray’s and Kroger] are investing in you, and they want to make sure before you start [that] you are committed.
RM: How did you feel prior to the test, and what was it like?
Couron: I was so nervous. So, we had sort of a review session beforehand, and that gave me a bit more confidence. I talked to other people taking it within Murray’s — only one other person in my division — and met other cheese masters and people taking the test from across the country. It’s 150 multiple-choice questions. I remember taking it, and the first few questions I wasn’t sure of any of the answers, and then there was a streak of ones I definitely knew. Some of the questions were really out of left field. There was a lot of food safety and temp regulations and a ton of bacteria-related questions. I finished in two and a half hours, and [I was] just kind of sitting there. I was afraid to leave. [Laughs]
RM: Did you attend the American Cheese Society Conference? And if so, what was a beneficial seminar?
Couron: Yeah, I did. So, I attended “The Ethos of Cheesemongering,” and it talked about emotional value and the commodity chain and how cheesemongers sell and relate emotional experiences of themselves or the cheesemaker’s life to the sale itself, and how that adds value. Technically, no one needs to buy specialty cheese, or would die if they didn’t, but we’re here to make people realize it’s worth it to them, and that was one of the coolest things.
RM: What are your favorite types of cheeses?
Couron: I really like washed rind cheeses, typically your stinkier cheeses that almost smell like feet, but inside are buttery and delicious and tasty.
RM: Do you have a plan for your cheese future?
Couron: I thought I kind of had a plan before I went into this, and now every aspect of the cheese process is interesting me, but originally I wanted to be a divisional cheese specialist for Kroger. My former boss got promoted to that, and she oversees all the cheese shops in our division, also a Murray’s Cheese specialist, or even working for the curriculum and training department at Murray’s — they are the reason I know everything I know.
