CHEESE NOTES

High-res Chevre des Cremiers, a bloomy-rind goat’s milk cheese, double- or triple-creme (I’m not sure which but there’s definitely some extra creme goin’ on here!). Hailing from Midi-Pyrenees, France, the wheel is plump and velvety with the pillowy amber-snowy rind collapsing around the oozing paste.  A mild, milky, buttery cheese, smooth and creamy with a nice saltiness, with hints of hay, mushrooms and mustiness and just the slightest hint of goat bite and a slightly sour finish.  Purchased at Blue Apron.

Chevre des Cremiers, a bloomy-rind goat’s milk cheese, double- or triple-creme (I’m not sure which but there’s definitely some extra creme goin’ on here!). Hailing from Midi-Pyrenees, France, the wheel is plump and velvety with the pillowy amber-snowy rind collapsing around the oozing paste. 

A mild, milky, buttery cheese, smooth and creamy with a nice saltiness, with hints of hay, mushrooms and mustiness and just the slightest hint of goat bite and a slightly sour finish. 

Purchased at Blue Apron.

High-res Podda Classico, from cheese maker Ferrucio Podda, in Sardinia, is a mixed-milked “classico misto” cheese made with pasteurized sheep and cow’s milk. With a distinctive grooved rind and flying saucer shape, the firm, ivory paste is slightly open and breaks easily into crumbly shards.  Rich, sweet, nutty and sharp with briny and grassy flavors and lanolin and fruity notes. Wonderful on its own or grated over pasta as an alternative to Parmagiano.  Purchased at Murrays.

Podda Classico, from cheese maker Ferrucio Podda, in Sardinia, is a mixed-milked “classico misto” cheese made with pasteurized sheep and cow’s milk.

With a distinctive grooved rind and flying saucer shape, the firm, ivory paste is slightly open and breaks easily into crumbly shards.  Rich, sweet, nutty and sharp with briny and grassy flavors and lanolin and fruity notes. Wonderful on its own or grated over pasta as an alternative to Parmagiano. 

Purchased at Murrays.

High-res Tomme Chabrin, from the Onetik Cooperative in Macaye in the Basque region of France. A mixed-milk cheese made from goat and sheep’s milk, the Chabrin manages to marry some of the best qualities of both into one cheese. The natural rind is reddish, mold-splotched and a little bit sticky, enclosing a smooth, creamy ivory paste that hints at its sheepy half with the touch of lanolin oiliness as it warms.  In flavor it is mild but full-bodied, briny and nutty with herbaceous notes and a tangy, citric finish that lingers.  Purchased at Blue Apron. 

Tomme Chabrin, from the Onetik Cooperative in Macaye in the Basque region of France. A mixed-milk cheese made from goat and sheep’s milk, the Chabrin manages to marry some of the best qualities of both into one cheese. The natural rind is reddish, mold-splotched and a little bit sticky, enclosing a smooth, creamy ivory paste that hints at its sheepy half with the touch of lanolin oiliness as it warms. 

In flavor it is mild but full-bodied, briny and nutty with herbaceous notes and a tangy, citric finish that lingers. 

Purchased at Blue Apron. 

Swedish Farmer’s Cheese, from the Swedish Family Farmer’s in upstate New York, is a wonderful cheese in the style of a (can you guess?) Swedish farmhouse cheese. A firm, buttery cheese with a heavily eyed paste, mild in flavor but with a pleasant tangy bite and nutty and grassy hints. 

I also paired it with a geographically appropriate scandinavian bread: The Finnish-style dark rye bread with sunflower seeds from Nordic Breads, who have a stand at the Union Square farmer’s market. Check out their bread if you get the chance. 

Purchased at Beecher’s. 

(Note: I couldn’t find an online presence for the cheese makers. If you know of a site, let me know so I can add a link).

High-res Bohemian Blue, from Hidden Springs Creamery in Wisconsin. A wonderful blue in the style of Roquefort, and with an interesting provenance (see below).  With a white, moist blue paste streaked with blue-green streaks of mold and speckles of yellow, this cheese has a bright, sweet, milky flavor with briny and grassy notes and the spicy bite of a traditional roquefort.  The old chestnut about necessity being the mother of invention applies to cheese as well, and Boho Blue arose out of unusual geopolitical circumstances, as Elena, head cheesemonger at Beecher’s, informed me. Here’s the story from the Hidden Springs site:  An amiable tale of two cheese-making families: Brenda and Dean Jensen and Tony and Julie Hook, both makers of world-famous blue-cheeses and aged cheddar in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The Jensens and Hooks teamed up to save cheese-loving US citizens from a potential cheese embargo. Bohemian Blue was born when a nasty tussle between America and France threatened to add a 300% tariff on Roquefort, the world’s most famous French-made sheep’s milk blue. The threat of soul-crushing tariffs subsided, but the partnership produced an amazing, cave-aged, rindless blue made from milk from Hidden Springs, crafted by Hook’s Creamery in Mineral Point, WI.  Purchased at Beecher’s.

Bohemian Blue, from Hidden Springs Creamery in Wisconsin. A wonderful blue in the style of Roquefort, and with an interesting provenance (see below). 

With a white, moist blue paste streaked with blue-green streaks of mold and speckles of yellow, this cheese has a bright, sweet, milky flavor with briny and grassy notes and the spicy bite of a traditional roquefort. 

The old chestnut about necessity being the mother of invention applies to cheese as well, and Boho Blue arose out of unusual geopolitical circumstances, as Elena, head cheesemonger at Beecher’s, informed me. Here’s the story from the Hidden Springs site: 

An amiable tale of two cheese-making families: Brenda and Dean Jensen and Tony and Julie Hook, both makers of world-famous blue-cheeses and aged cheddar in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. The Jensens and Hooks teamed up to save cheese-loving US citizens from a potential cheese embargo. Bohemian Blue was born when a nasty tussle between America and France threatened to add a 300% tariff on Roquefort, the world’s most famous French-made sheep’s milk blue. The threat of soul-crushing tariffs subsided, but the partnership produced an amazing, cave-aged, rindless blue made from milk from Hidden Springs, crafted by Hook’s Creamery in Mineral Point, WI. 

Purchased at Beecher’s.

Wanna get sozzled? Then try Sozzled Pearl, a unique marriage of cheese and bourbon from the tippled minds of Saxelby Cheesemongers. 

Pearl, a Chaource-style, mixed-milk goat and cow’s milk cheese from Seal Cove Farm in Maine, is wrapped in bourbon-soaked grape leaves and affinaged at the Saxelby facilities in Red Hook, Brooklyn. 

With a strong vegetal flavor at  the rind, the musty notes of the grape leaves are distinctly in evidence, with a tinge of bourbon bite and flavor and a pleasantly bitter undertone. The paste itself is creamy and fudgy with a delicate mouthfeel, with tangy, fruity and grassy notes and a lovely mild finish. 

One of the most common defects I encounter in cheeses made in this way — sometimes referred to as Banon-style, after the French cheese that is wrapped in eau-de-vie soaked grape leaves — is a rancid, sour flavor, akin to the smell one gets from an apple that has gone bad and is starting to ferment. Sozzled Pearl had none of that, and it seems like the Saxelby folks were able to nail the right balance of alcohol to cheese to produce this splendid — and aesthetically striking — experiment.

A definite winner for any cheese plate of dinner party.

Purchased at Saxelby Cheesemonger’s. 

High-res Dirt Lover, from Green Dirt Farm in Weston, Missouri, is a bloomy rind cheese similar to a Valencay, but made with sheep’s milk instead of goat. Fairly firm and dense, with a mild, salty, grassy flavor and hints of lanolin. I’d be curious to try it later in the season as the wheel was a bit hard, and lacked the oozing creamline and buttery flavors described on the cheese maker’ site, but it was still a nice little wheel and the first ash-coated sheep’s milk cheese I’ve had. 

Dirt Lover, from Green Dirt Farm in Weston, Missouri, is a bloomy rind cheese similar to a Valencay, but made with sheep’s milk instead of goat. Fairly firm and dense, with a mild, salty, grassy flavor and hints of lanolin.

I’d be curious to try it later in the season as the wheel was a bit hard, and lacked the oozing creamline and buttery flavors described on the cheese maker’ site, but it was still a nice little wheel and the first ash-coated sheep’s milk cheese I’ve had. 

High-res Cottage cheese gets a bad rap: most of us know it only from the supermarket tubs, usually in some low- or non-fat version, to be eaten by suffering dieters with some pineapple or peaches from a can plopped on top.  It’s a shame, because the real thing can be delicious and more complex than the spackle-like substance most frequently encountered. This one is Ben’s Cottage Cheese, made on the Lower East Side of New York. With large, irregular curds that hold their shape but give gently in the mouth, it has a wonderfully milky, tangy flavor, with just the right balance of sweet and salty.  Purchased at Murray’s Cheese.  (Note: Brighton Beach is another great source of cottage cheese. The Russian groceries down there will often have multiple vats of cottage cheese, in different curd sizes and styles, that you can purchase by the pound.)

Cottage cheese gets a bad rap: most of us know it only from the supermarket tubs, usually in some low- or non-fat version, to be eaten by suffering dieters with some pineapple or peaches from a can plopped on top. 

It’s a shame, because the real thing can be delicious and more complex than the spackle-like substance most frequently encountered. This one is Ben’s Cottage Cheese, made on the Lower East Side of New York. With large, irregular curds that hold their shape but give gently in the mouth, it has a wonderfully milky, tangy flavor, with just the right balance of sweet and salty. 

Purchased at Murray’s Cheese. 

(Note: Brighton Beach is another great source of cottage cheese. The Russian groceries down there will often have multiple vats of cottage cheese, in different curd sizes and styles, that you can purchase by the pound.)

High-res Another Rolf Beeler-affinaged cheese: Aarauer Bierdeckel, also known as Beermat, a washed-rind raw cow’s milk cheese from Canton Aargau in Switzerland. Washed in unfermented wheat beer, it brings the elements of a traditional French washed rind together with the flavors and character of a trappist beer-washed cheese.  The amber-pink B.Linens rind, spotted with dark reddish-brown patches, is thin and lightly sticky covering a yellow paste, lightly eyed, firm at first and sagging softly as the cheese warms. A musty, yeasty aroma gives way to a pleasantly yeasty-sour, nutty, rich flavor with toasted undertones and a lingering finish.  Wonderful paired with beer (naturally). 

Another Rolf Beeler-affinaged cheese: Aarauer Bierdeckel, also known as Beermat, a washed-rind raw cow’s milk cheese from Canton Aargau in Switzerland. Washed in unfermented wheat beer, it brings the elements of a traditional French washed rind together with the flavors and character of a trappist beer-washed cheese. 

The amber-pink B.Linens rind, spotted with dark reddish-brown patches, is thin and lightly sticky covering a yellow paste, lightly eyed, firm at first and sagging softly as the cheese warms. A musty, yeasty aroma gives way to a pleasantly yeasty-sour, nutty, rich flavor with toasted undertones and a lingering finish. 

Wonderful paired with beer (naturally). 

High-res Bleu du Bocage, from the Vendée in the Loire Region of France, and one of the cheeses lovingly aged in the caves of Murray’s. One’s mind might go to the assertive and biting Spanish Cabrales when goat and blue are mentioned in the same breath, but the Bleu du Bocage is surprisingly mellow, with just enough spice. With a smooth, buttery body lightly veined with greenish-blue and yellow mold, the sweet and grassy paste contrasts nicely with the spice and subtle barnyard bite of the bluing, with undertones of fruitiness, nuts and minerality.  Purchased at Murray’s. 

Bleu du Bocage, from the Vendée in the Loire Region of France, and one of the cheeses lovingly aged in the caves of Murray’s. One’s mind might go to the assertive and biting Spanish Cabrales when goat and blue are mentioned in the same breath, but the Bleu du Bocage is surprisingly mellow, with just enough spice.

With a smooth, buttery body lightly veined with greenish-blue and yellow mold, the sweet and grassy paste contrasts nicely with the spice and subtle barnyard bite of the bluing, with undertones of fruitiness, nuts and minerality. 

Purchased at Murray’s.