One distillery in Cleveland has pioneered equipment that allows them to age bourbon in a handful of days instead of years. Traditionalists argue against the practice, but many consumers are happy with the product. Is cheese next for the market of extra-fast aging, or will the artisan food movement reject "fast" products?

He wouldn't let me see his machinery — "intellectual property," he says — but it sounded something like an overloaded washing machine during the spin cycle. Each beat, Lix says, is roughly the equivalent of 24 hours in a stationary barrel. The agitation squeezes the wood like a sponge and the "aging" of each batch is done within a few days.

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Photo by David Kidd

The Stilton Cheese Rolling Festival has been taking place in England for years, and it's always a colorful event. NBC collected some of the best shots from the event, check them out below.

For more than a decade, the Stilton Cheese Rolling Festival has been an annual event in Stilton, England when hundreds of villagers and visitors battle for the honor of becoming cheese rolling champions.

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Photo by Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

Ever have one too many, and start to think your mediocre jokes are actually really, really funny? So did animator Adam Patch's wife, and lucky for us, he documented the joke and turned it into an adorable (and yes, funny) video. Be warned, things get ugly near the end.

he video, titled "Two Chips" has exploded across the internet after Reddit had the good sense to make everyone pay attention to it. We knew we had to share it with you, as soon as we stopped laughing, crying and rolling around on the floor.

Disclaimer: this video contains graphic nacho on nacho violence.

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Brie plays so well with sweetness, why leave that out of a grilled cheese? Cult favorite Nutella plays a starring role in this recipe, providing hazelnutty, chocolatey goodness to an ordinary sandwich.

Nutella makes most things better. This is something most of us already know.

Another thing we can agree on: toasting things in butter makes better things even more better. So why not take her great sandwich idea, apply a bit of butter and heat to the equation, and see what we get?

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Photo by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

While famous for its agriculture and strong local food movement, Maine is not commonly heralded as a cheese mecca -- but that may soon be changing.

We keep seeing artisanal cheese displays at markets and on menus in Maine—goat, cow, and sometimes sheep's milk varieties. Even some of Maine's small towns have Euro-style cheese shops.

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Photo by Peter Frank Edwards

Cheese doesn't appear often in Asian cuisine, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily bad! Tangy, fermented Korean kimchi gives the classic grilled cheese some needed zip in this simple recipe.

Getting back to basics here. The Grilled Kimcheeze is a modern classic, playing off the whole Korean/American fusion thing. Turns out that kimchi belongs in a grilled cheese about as much as a slice of American cheese belongs in a bowl of kimchi jjigae. (That is, a lot.)

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Photo by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

When an iconic dairy farm in Vermont vacated, locals were worried the land would be snapped up by a developer. So, rather than leave it to chance, the community rallied and purchased the farm in South Woodstock. Today, it's the state's first and only community-owned dairy farm that also happens to produce award-winning farmstead cheese.

The new owners are not novices. They include seasoned farmers and food industry executives who hired experienced staff. The top cheese maker, Rick Woods, 46, has been plying his craft for 19 years. “We’re a new company, but it’s not the first time around the block for these people,” says Sharon Huntley, who is in charge of marketing.

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Ah, quesadillas. Seemingly simple, they are the source of many culinary frustrations. Your tortilla turned out soggy, the fillings tumble out, the cheese didn't melt. But no longer! Make a perfect quesadilla every time with these tips from The Kitchn.

The humble quesadilla wears many hats. It's a quick weeknight meal that can transform yesterday's leftovers into something new and tasty. It's also a fuss-free snack that will satisfy a group of hungry teenagers — or the crowd at your next cocktail party. Fill it with plain cheese and beans or with shrimp and avocado, the quesadilla is whatever you want to make it.

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Photo by Emma Christensen

Madame Fromage had some house guests recently, and they repaid her in cheese! Charloe, Sant Mateu, and Bitto made appearances, as well as a tender, leaf-wrapped goat cheese, all from Zingerman's.

I have never been to Zingerman’s, but I am intrigued by their catalogue and their books on cheese and service. I think fondly of the company as the “granola” Dean & Deluca; they are ruled by a Jerry Garcia-esque genius named Ari Weinzweig who has managed to turn the cheese retail industry into a kind of cult jam band, based on his anarchist approach to business. Cheese retailers flock to Michigan to study at his feet.

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Photo by Madame Fromage

Since the USDA has confirmed the absence swine vesicular disease in certain regions of Northern Italy, the ban on imported meats will relax. However, some American artisanal producers are concerned the USDA will only import meats from commercial-scale producers -- not the quality American will be expecting.

Since the ban, believed to have been in effect at least since the 1970s after a series of European livestock diseases, Mr. Buzzio estimated that certification for Italian producers cost as much as $100,000, a price beyond many artisanal producers, he said.

“It could open up a new world of Italian salami to the United States,” said Joseph Bastianich, an owner of the Eataly grocery stores in the United States. “Americans have been eating bad salami forever, but now the end is near.”

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