CHEESE NOTES

High-res Appalachian, from Meadow Creek Dairy in Virginia. Meadow Creek is one of the cheese makers that has really put the South on the cheese map (along with Sweetgrass Dairy and others). Best known for Grayson, a pungent washed-rind delight, they also make this wonderful semi-soft cow’s milk Tomme. Appalachian is buttery and smooth in the mouth with a bright, mild, lightly tangy flavor with hints of mushrooms, citrus and nuts.  This is an excellent melter for grilled cheeses.  Purchased at Stinky Brooklyn.

Appalachian, from Meadow Creek Dairy in Virginia. Meadow Creek is one of the cheese makers that has really put the South on the cheese map (along with Sweetgrass Dairy and others). Best known for Grayson, a pungent washed-rind delight, they also make this wonderful semi-soft cow’s milk Tomme. Appalachian is buttery and smooth in the mouth with a bright, mild, lightly tangy flavor with hints of mushrooms, citrus and nuts.  This is an excellent melter for grilled cheeses. 

Purchased at Stinky Brooklyn.

High-res Jersey Blue, from Willi Schmid, a relatively new award-winning blue from Willi Schmid. The last time I had it was at Fromagerie La Grenette in Sion in the Valais canton of Switzerland over the summer. Despite it’s American-sounding nomenclature it’s actually a Swiss cheese, named after the breed of cow whose milk goes into it.  This is a beautiful blue, the buttery, fudgy pale yellow paste woven through with some of the densest lodes of blue I’ve ever seen. Often blues will have more of a geode structure to their bluing, little air pockets whose walls are lined with mold, but this is almost leafy in its density and firmness, like cheese with kale leaves running through it, thick strands that can be plucked out with a knife intact. In flavor, it is sweet, complex, vegetal and fruity, with a fiery bite and high sapidity. Switzerland is not often mentioned in the same breath as blue cheese, but Herr Schmid could well change that. Purchased at Stinky Brooklyn.

Jersey Blue, from Willi Schmid, a relatively new award-winning blue from Willi Schmid. The last time I had it was at Fromagerie La Grenette in Sion in the Valais canton of Switzerland over the summer. Despite it’s American-sounding nomenclature it’s actually a Swiss cheese, named after the breed of cow whose milk goes into it. 

This is a beautiful blue, the buttery, fudgy pale yellow paste woven through with some of the densest lodes of blue I’ve ever seen. Often blues will have more of a geode structure to their bluing, little air pockets whose walls are lined with mold, but this is almost leafy in its density and firmness, like cheese with kale leaves running through it, thick strands that can be plucked out with a knife intact. In flavor, it is sweet, complex, vegetal and fruity, with a fiery bite and high sapidity. Switzerland is not often mentioned in the same breath as blue cheese, but Herr Schmid could well change that.

Purchased at Stinky Brooklyn.

Jersey Blue

The Cheese plate of the day. On the plate, from 4:00 clockwise: Grimisuat (Goat), La Bouse (Cow), Valais Alpage Gomser (Cow), A Filetta (Sheep, see my separate entry on this stinker), Petit Gaugry (Cow, basically an Epoisses), and Jersey Blue.

The Jersey Blue is a relatively new award-winning blue from Willi Schmid. I’d had it stateside previously, purchased at Stinky’s, and it was interesting to see it in the case at Fromagerie La Grenette. Despite it’s American-sounding nomenclature it’s actually a German cheese, named after the breed of cow whose milk goes into it.