With that in mind, The Culinary Institute of America has created a brilliantly informative online course to help chefs and restaurant staff learn more about eating, serving, and cooking with cheese.

The 6-part course features streaming video instruction, visits with artisan and farmstead cheese makers, recipes and techniques to download, and references and links to a wealth of information about cheese.

But perhaps best of all, it's absolutely free and conveniently available 24 hours a day.

So whether you have a quick question, or want to learn all there is to know, log on to www.prochef.com and enroll in The Professional Chef Meets California Cheese.