| |
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to 365 Cheeses in the Semi-Hard category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
Hard is the previous category.
Semi-Soft is the next category.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
© 2008 Kirk Samuels
|
Semi-Hard Archives
Yes! This Red Leicester is a beautful cheese and so far my favorite new cheese I discovered this year. Not too sharp. Perfect bite. Lingering flavors of delicious cheese. Port wine flavors. "Addictive and distinctive" says Fleming. "Not a phony cheddar, it tastes like what cheese should taste like--really great cheese!" I agree.
Seek this cheese out this holiday season. You will be hooked.
Name: Rothbury Red Leicester
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Rothbury
Date Purchased: 12/082006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.
Farmhouse cheddars are some of may favorite cheeses. "Farmhouse" typically means two things: the milk is unpasteurized and comes from the milking herd of a single farm. This kind of cheddar produces complex flavors with distinctive farmyard flavors. It is hard to really describe "farmyard flavors" if you've never set foot on a farm but if you have and try this cheese it will bring back many different sense memories. Milk, of course. Hay, straw, grass. Earthy tones. Musky, leathery cow aromas that are not unpleasant to the initiated.
The cheese I recently tasted had some onion- and chive-like flavors that are supposedly not a good sign according to the cheese books. Still I did not think it spoiled the taste and and just added to the layers of complex flavor. Fleming commented that this cheddar packed a ""one-two punch, both punches equally delicious".
I recommend this cheese though serve it in small amounts. A little goes a long way.
Name: Goulds English Farmhouse Cheddar
Type of Milk: Cow, Unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Somerset, EFJ Gould & Co.
Date Purchased: 12/08/2006
Date Eaten: 12/09/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
A smoked cheese has to be special to stand out among the other cheeses in the smoke-filled back room of the cheese shop. Carr Valley Applewood Smoked Cheddar is special. First is the paprika. Not pimenton, the Spanish smoked chile powder, or even hot paprika but a sweet and mild spice. The paprika is applied after the smoking process so it does not carry smoke flavor itself.
Next is the balance of the cheddar to the smoke. The cheddar is not sharp and the smoke is not strong. This creates a surprisingly mild cheese whose first taste sensation is an unusual blend of cheddar and smokey tastes that combine for a new taste all their own. Worth seeking out.
Name: Carr Valley Applewood Smoked Cheddar
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Calley Cheese
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
Cantal is one of the oldest cheeses of France going back to pre-Roman Gaul. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder mentions it in his Historia Naturalis. Despite its age and heritage Cantal is a deliciously simple cheese. Its flavor is subtle yet satisfying. Not too sharp. Not too strong. Not too salty. Just the right thing for a farmer's lunch or a midafternoon snack. A great value too.
An unpasteurized version is alos availalbe and supposedly has stronger flavors. I will seek it out and report back.
Name: Cantal or Fourme du Cantal or Cantal Salers
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: France, Auvergne
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $9.99/lb.
I would love to tell you that Campo de Montalban is brought to us by the same man who brought us Captain Kirk's nemesis in Star Trek II and fine Corinthian leather, but it would not be true. Instead I can tell you honestly that this cheese from central Spain is a blend of cow's, sheep's and goat's milk much in the style of its neighbor cheese, Manchego. Both cheeses have dark, waxy herringbone rinds and light butter colored centers. But the blend of milks in Campo de Montalban produces a more complex flavor that is worthy to try.
Serve it with other Spanish cheeses and wines.
Name: Campo de Montalban or Campo de Montalbán
Type of Milk: cow's, sheep's and goat's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain, La Mancha
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $12.99/lb.
From the sheep that bring us Merino wool comes a lovely ewe's milk cheese from Portugal that makes us feel as warm as a sweater. The taste is nutty and milky with the right amount of age and salt. One of my favorite Portuguese hard cheeses.
Name: Nisa
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Portugal, Alentejo
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where:United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $21.99/lb.
The name makes me think of a large Finnish bird but in fact Etorki is a cheese from France. Some versions add cow's milk to the traditional sheep's milk, but the one I sampled was pure sheepy goodness. Alongside other traditional French cheeses Etorki stands out as black sheep. Its flavor resembles cheeses of northern Italy, Switzerland and Holland. If you're serving a cheese plate of French cheeses, throw in a little Etorki for variety. You won't be disappointed.
Name: Etorki
Type of Milk: sheep's, pastuerized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $16.99/lb.
The first lady of Dutch cheeses may have an Italian name. Prima Donna belongs to the gouda family and bears enough age not to be silly yet is young enough to leave you wanting more of her. It comes at a decent price and the flavor it offers can be put to use in a variety of dishes from pizza to pasta to eggs to potatoes. I like it.
Name: Prima Donna
Type of Milk: cow's milk, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: The Netherlands
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $11.99/lb.
The folks at Carr Valley Cheese in America's Wisconsin have yet to make a cheese I do not like. Their River Bend Sheep cheese is a literal winner with prize ribbons in 2004 and 2006 from the American Cheese Society. The flavor is buttery and sharp with a nice granular bite. The texture is firm and will almost crumble when sliced. Delicious.
Name: River Bend Sheep or Sheep River Bend
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $22.99/lb.
American cheeses can be as good as any in the world and the good folks at Bellwether Farms in California's Sonoma County do their part to make sure of it. Carmody Reserve is their aged raw cow's milk cheese that lies between gouda and cheddar in the flavor profile. Produced from unpastuerized milk of true Jersey girls this cheese has the buttery, grassy notes that make the cheeses produced from it so beloved. The extra four month aging of their Reserve cheese dries the cheese slightly making it sliver when cut, crunch when bit and melt when meeting with the taste buds. A really great and fun cheese.
Name: Bellwether Farms Carmody Reserve or Carmody Reserve
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard/hard
Produced in: Date Purchased: 2/25/2007
Date Eaten: 2/27/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
Instead of washing the rind in wine or a bath of helpful bacteria, the Cistercian Trappist monks of Chimay wash certain handcrafted cow's milk cheeses in their other famous product, Chimay beer. If you want a cheese that pairs nicely with a rich, heady beer, this Chimay would be a good choice. Can you taste the beer? Not really. The rind is stronger than the center of the cheese but the notes of hops and wheat are long gone. It tastes like your standard semi-soft washed rind cheese.
Washed rind cheeses, Chimay being one of them, are not my favorite cheeses in general. I find many either too bland or, if overripe, too pungent. At their best most are pleasant but not memorable. Sure, Chimay knocks the pants off your average variety supermarket cheese but for the price I can find many other cheeses that deliver more flavor and appeal.
Name: Chimay met bier, Chimay with Beer, Chimay
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, washed rind
Produced in: Belgium
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $19.99/lb.
I have been holding off writing about Carr Valley Wildflower Cheddar for a few weeks now. A while ago I saw this cheese in my local Whole Foods, purchased it, took it home, photographed it and enjoyed it. It was a really good cheese. When time came to research it and find out more details I hit a road block. I couldn't find out anything online or in books, not even a mention on the Carr Valley Cheese web site. Was the info on the label correct? Did it really come from Carr Valley or someone else? It would not be the first time a cheese shop had printed inaccurate information on their labels. I needed to do more checking.
My sleuthing has discovered that the cheese does in fact come from Carr Valley Cheese in Wisconsin. I saw half a wheel of the cheese with the name clearly displayed. It's also clearly a pastueurized cow's milk cheese like most of this producer's other cheddars. Its rind is an azure blue wax, the color of some fresh field wild flowers.
The flavor is a departure from most typical cheddars. Lacking bite, Wildflower Cheddar is a young, mild cheese with sweet grassy notes and subtle flavors of fresh milky curds. Well worth a taste.
Name: Carr Valley Wildflower Cheddar, Carr Valley Wild Flower Cheddar
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese
Date Purchased: 5/6/2007
Date Eaten: 5/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $16.99/lb.
Mobay is an award winning American cheese from my good friends at Carr Valley Cheese in Wisconsin. I've never met them but anyone who makes cheese as good as they do are friends of mine. Inspired by the French cow's milk cheese Morbier, Mobay is a double-stacked cheese of goat cheese and sheep cheese separated by a layer of grape vine ash. Each half is distinct in flavor and a winner on its own. Taste them together and you have a phenominal flavor experience. The ash does little more than keep the two cheeses apart and does not impart much flavor but there is so much here between the goat and sheep cheeses that it doesn't really matter.
Name: Mobay or Carr Valley Mobay
Type of Milk: goat's and sheep's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese
Date Purchased: 5/18/2007
Date Eaten: 5/27/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $16.99/lb.
Of all the cheeses I tasted this week Montegrappa was one of my favorites. Not surprising since it is very similar in flavor to another of my favorite everyday cheeses, Parrano. The flavors are nutty and sweet, the colors golden and straw-like. Delcious cheese!
Fleming described it as having ""substantive flavor". "Kind of 'parmesanny' but as sharp. A very very good hard cheese."
Its rich, nutty flavors can hold up against a bolder wine like a Barolo or Cabernet.
Name: Montegrappa or Montegrappa Aged
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Italy, Montegrappa
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $10.99/lb.
Sometimes the most interesting person in a room can be overshadowed by the most beautiful. After tasting Cobb Hill Farm Ascutney Mountain Cheese among a group that included Coupole, I remembered very little of what Cobb Hill was like. When I tasted it by itself a few days later I couldn't understand how I could possibly have underappreciated it. The raw cow's milk provides the base for a host of flavors of grass and earth, milk and fungus, that remind me of some of the best cheeses of Switzerland but produced here in the U.S.. A really remarkable cheese.
Name: Cobb Hill Farm Ascutney Mountain Cheese
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semihard
Produced in: United States of America, Vermont
Date Purchased: 6/10/2007
Date Eaten: 6/12/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, http://www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $21.99/lb.
Named for a county in northern Spain, Garrotxa, pronounced gah-ROATCH-ah, is a goat's milk cheese with good character. Firm but not hard, the texture has a soft bite with a milky flavor. An aged white rind protects the inner paste but was too tough to enjoy. It's a solid Spanish cheese, welcome in any Spanish cheese tray I put together but not ranking among my favorites. Good, but I can find better values of flavor for the money.
Name: Garrotxa
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $26.75/lb.
When the word "geography" comes up in conversation about cheese it usually has to do with where a cheese is produced or where it originated. But the geography of Borough Market Cheddar can be found within a wedge of this remarkable cheese. There are different continents of flavor in this cheese. Areas closer to the center have a pure, raw, sharp English Cheddar flavor, slightly complex with lingering aftertastes that continue to please. Moving closer to the dark, cloth-wrapped edges the cheese itself gets darker, more complicated in flavor but still easily enjoyable. As you almost reach the cloth binding that restrains the outer limits, rivulets of blue-green oniony mold spring up but do not flood their banks into the Hinterland and truly add a wonderfully exotic note to this cheddar's chord.
If you think you know what cheddar tastes like by only eating American supermarket version, do yourself a favor and seek out this amazing Cheddar from Neal's Yard Dairy's Borough Market shop in London. Comparing it to most American cheeses of the same name is like comparing something really sophisticated and beautiful to something plain and unimaginative.
Name: Borough Market Cheddar
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England
Date Purchased: 7/3/2007
Date Eaten:7/4/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $15.99/lb.
It can be confusing when cheeses of the same name are produced by different dairies or manufacturers. My research show there is another Doddington made by Doddington Dairy, which sounds like it may be similar to Neal's Yard Dairy Doddington. An interesting cheese with qualities of a fine gouda and also of a farmhouse cheddar. I really like this cheese's unique flavor. It is on the pricey side but worth it for a change of pace.
Name: Neal's Yard Dairy Doddington
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England
Date Purchased: 7/12/2007
Date Eaten:7/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $29.99/lb.
My wife Fleming calls Yarg one of her favorite cow's milk cheeses. "Cow's mik cheeses are not my favorite but this one has so much flavor." The cheese she is talking about is a pale yellow cheese with a distinctive green leaf wrap. Yarg wears a coat of nettle leaves, stings removed, which imparts a pleasing vegetal quality to the cheese. My first description of the taste was asparagus but I decided it was really more like celery. After trying 150 other cheese I can say that I've never tasted one like Yarg and that taste is good.
I get annoyed when people talk about food or wine producers they've never met by name so I mention Allan and Jenny Gray who make Yarg because its name comes from theirs. Yarg is Gray spelled backwards. The Grays found a 13th century recipe for a cheese that had gone extinct and brought it back to life. Michael Crichton couldn't write a better story.
Name: Cornish Yarg or Yarg
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Cornwall, Lynher Dairies
Date Purchased: 9/26/07
Date Eaten: 9/29/07
Purchased Where: online, www.artisanalcheese.com
Price: $30.00/lb.
Montgomery's Cheddar is a tradtional farmhouse cheese from southwest England's Somerset, home of the town of Cheddar. The Montgomery family are one of the last producers to still use calf's rennet to separate the curd from whey of the unpasteurized milk. Aged over 14 months the cheese has a brittle texture producing shards instead of clean slices.
This is an amazing cheddar. Fleming said this is one of her favorite cow's milk cheeses. Because of the active cultures the flavors can vary greatly from cheese to cheese and from tasting to tasting of the same cheese. Worth finding and keeping and tasting over and over again.
Name: Montgomery's Cheddar
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: England, Somerset, North Cadbury, Manor Farm
Date Purchased: 10/1/07
Date Eaten: 10/4/07
Purchased Where: online, www.artisanalcheese.com
Price: $30.00/lb.
Divas can be a handful. They can reach heights of beauty and produce outrageous joy. Divas also are demanding, tempermental, fickle, and hard to care for. Quicke's Cheddar is a diva. But so again is most any raw milk cheese worth its salt. Tasting it the day it arrived I found the flavors, oniony and chive-like. The next day after a two-hour airing, the flavors became less harsh, but still complex and brilliant. I sensed hints of celery. Quicke's required planning and attention to taste the cheese at its best. Wrapping the cheese in breathable paper, storing it and cool but not cold temperatures, and keeping it apart from other harsh flavored foods were only the start to getting this cheese at its peak. Quicke's Cheddar like most farmhouse cheeses has a labratory of microbes working on it, changing it, pushing it to evolve in the new directions. One wheel can taste different from another made with the same milk, and cheeses of different milkings and seasons can vary even more. If you want consistancy, these are not the cheeses for you. If you want the possability of greatness but are willing to deal with occasional disappointment, this cheese is worth the gamble. The texture is more moist. less brittle than Montgomery's but the same opportunity for a great experience.
Name:Quicke's Cheddar or BMF Quicke's Cheddar
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard, cheddar
Produced in: England, Devon
Date Purchased: 9/21/2007
Date Eaten: 9/22/2007, 9/23/2007, 9/28/2007
Purchased Where: online, www.artisanalcheese.com
Price: $17.25.00/lb.
|
|
|
