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This page contains an archive of all entries posted to 365 Cheeses in the Semi-Soft category. They are listed from oldest to newest.
Semi-Hard is the previous category.
Soft is the next category.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
© 2008 Kirk Samuels
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Semi-Soft Archives
"Ow, we want the funk.
Give up the funk.
Ow, we need the funk.
We gotta have that funk."
-George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic
Here is a cheese with funk. You will either love it or ask that it be removed from the room while you have the whole house fumigated to remove its foul stench. I lean toward the love side. My fiancée Fleming leans toward the hazmat suit.
Petit Munster Géromé, "little Gerry" to his friends, is a complex cheese with complex flavors. Others have described it as “earthy” “with a strong farmyard aroma”. That is a polite way to put it. I can do little to fully describe it other than say it is reminiscent of certain bodily fluids.
The outer rind is an orangey slick paste that surrounds a four-inch disk. Inside is the pale yellow cheese that packs a wicked punch. I have found that many of the ripened cheeses have a noxious odor immediately after unwrapping them. Let them sit unwrapped for 10 to 15 minutes and let them breathe out this unpleasantness. Little Gerry still holds on to other odors but these can be your friends if you don't mind having French friends who smell like they never shower. Cut out a small wedge and spread it on some fresh bread. I enjoyed the complexity of flavors. Fleming said it started out good but had an evil finish.
Be bold and give it a try!
Name: Petit Munster Géromé
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: Soft
Produced in: France, Jean Rousset Fromager
Date Produced: Unknown
Date Purchased: 11/17/2006
Date Eaten: 11/18/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $17.99/lb.
The United States produces some amazing cheeses. Award-winning Humboldt Fog is one of them. Named for the morning vapor rising from the ocean in Humboldt county of Northern California where the cheese is produced, Humboldt Fog is first and foremost a chevre or goat's cheese, with the distinct characteristics of a dry, chalky, ghost-white young curd and slightly acidic goat milk tang. Immediately identifiable by its medium-sized wheel, center vein and outer rind of ash, and ripening white goat curd from the outside in, Humbodlt Fog can be quickly picked out of a line up (at least I am yet to see its Doppelgänger). The riper this chese gets, the more the drier inside becomes soft, creamy and runny. Ripe is good. Ripe is more flavorful, more complex, more pungent. Humboldt Fog is one of my favorite goat cheeses and one of my favorite cheeses, period.
Name: Humboldt Fog
Type of Milk: Goat, Pasteurized
Type: soft ripened
Produced in: United States of America, California, McKinleyville, Cypress Grove Chevre
Date Purchased: 12/22/2006
Date Eaten: 12/23/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $19.99/lb.
After a bite Fleming said, "Wow! This is now my favorite blue cheese!" I can't say Rogue Creamery's Smokey Blue cheese knocked off my title holder but it is a strong young contender. Last week I heard Steve Jenkins mention this cheese on the radio so I put it on my shopping list and sought it out.
The first bite for me was wonderful but ambivalent. "Is it smoked blue cheese or a blue smoked cheese?" Smoked cheeses are particular favorites of mine since the flavor is usually a single note--smoke. Smokey Blue is different. The blueness, the tang of piquant blue mold and the rich creamy cheese create a harmonic of powerful flavors. Smoked over burning hazelnut shells the cheese has a great balance between the forces of smoke and mold. This cheese has a kick but it is well-worth finding and tasting.
Name: Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft blue
Produced in: United States of America, California
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $19.99/lb.
Limburger is synonymous with "stinky cheese". When I was young I remember old cartoons and shorts in which strong smells of any kind were symbolized by this pungent cheese. If you ask someone what the worst smelling cheese is, possibly even the worst smelling anything, odds are they will say Limburger. Odds are also that many people who name it haven't even tried it.
And yet...
Limbuger is far from the stinkiest cheese I've come across. Munster
beats it by miles. Many other rind-washed cheeses are just as bad. But Limburger has the reputation over the decades for foul smells and unless ripened cheese catch on in the United States will probably hold on to it a few more years.
So why is Limburger smelly? Limburger and other rind-washed cheeses are fermented by a bacterium called Brevibacterium linens, the same bacterium found on human skin which is responsible in part for our bodily odor. Aside from the smell this bacterium provides the orange-brown color to the rinds of these cheeses.
Limburger originated in Limburg, Belgium but today it is also produced in Germany and the United States. The Limburger I tried today was labled "bayerischer Limburger" or Bavarian Limburger and was wrapped in copper-colored foil. The smell upon unwrapping was strong but not overpowering. Maybe, I've gotten used to strong smelling cheese but the aroma was not awful. Butting through the brownish rind revealed the soft cream color of the inner cheese. The taste was surprisingly mild, almost overprocessed. This was a pasteurized, factory produced cheese so there was not much exciting about it.
Name: Bavarian Limburger, German Limburger, Bayerischer Limburger or Limburger
Type of Milk: Cow, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Germany
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $/lb.
In the United States most people think of blue cheese as a white cheese spotted with veins of blue mold. Some of my favorites are the orange blue cheeses like Blacksticks Blue. Smooth and spreadable as opposed to the crumbly blues, Blacksticks goes well with warm baguette or melted into warm buttered pasta. The orange cheese is creamy and the blue mold is piquant but not overpowering. A real treat.
Name: Blacksticks Blue
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: England, Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses
Date Purchased: 01/11/2007
Date Eaten: 01/13/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
From time to time someone will say to me, "You must meet a friend of mine. You two will really hit it off." On a rare occasion, we clash like tartan plaid and pastel polka dots when we meet. When this happens I always have to ask myself if the person is really crass, overbearing and foul or did I just catch him on a bad day. These thoughts occurred to me when I tasted Vacherin Fribourgeois for the first time. Right now the two of us can't stand being in the same room together.
Tales of the cheese's youth are glowingly recounted on the label with words such as "grass", "Alpine pastures" and "butter". No trace of these qualities remained in the cheese I tasted, like a beauty pageant winner who has not aged gracefully. The overwhelming flavor of the Vacherin I tasted was funk, the foul bacterial stench of bodily odor.
Vacherin Fribourgeois is a semisoft member of the raclette family, made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. The Fribougeois will use it in fondue alongside Gruyère from the same region make a moitié-moitié, half-and-half. Either they use a younger cheese or are more accustomed to the taste.
Name: Vacherin Fribourgeois
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semisoft
Produced in: Switzerland, Fribourg
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $26.99/lb.
The French gastronome, Brillat-Savarin, called Époisses "roi des fromages", "king of cheeses". Though not the sole crown of European cheeses, Époisses deserves to sit on a throne. When sold in Europe this cheese is produced from raw cow's milk but the version for sale in the U.S. is pasteurized. This process kills some of the flavor but there is still plenty to go around.
The big argument I find when reading about this and other washed rind cheeses is "When is it at its peak?" Affinage is the French term for aging cheeses to their best ripeness, but when that precise moment occurs is a matter of taste. Époisses starts out semi-firm but softens with age to the point of runniness. Wait too long and the beneficial forces of bacteria that aided in the process turn against the cheese and leave it unedible. Some prefer the cheese soft but still a little firm but as John Cleese's character says in The Cheese Shop sketch, "I like it runny."
The cheese produced by the Berthaut company comes in a niffty wooden round box.
The rind gets its orange color from being washed with Marc de Bourgogne, a distilled pomace wine of Burgundy.
This is a great cheese! I cannot wait for my next trip to Europe to try the unpasteurized variety.
Name: Époisses or Époisses AOC or L'Époisses or Époisses de Bourgogne or Epoisses
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semisoft
Produced in: France, Burgundy
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chaple Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99 a piece
Coming on the heels of a phenomenal French cheese, Époisses, Roucoulons has its work cut out for it. In lesser company it might shine but in the brillance of a far better cheese it is hard to find its strong points.
Roucoulon is a bloomy rind, pasteurized cow's milk cheese. The name comes from the French verb "roucouler" meaning "to coo or to whisper lovingly." ("Roucoulons!" -- "Let us whisper lovingly!") The wrapping features a big heart and two love birds. Kind of dopey.
Compared to most cheeses Roucoulons is not bad at all. I recently had some Wal-Mart brie and compared to it Roucoulons is a blue ribbon winner. The flavor is pleasantly mushroomy and when sampled I don't think it has yet reached its peak of ripeness.
There are better cheeses out there but you can do worse.
Name: Roucoulons
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: France, Franche-Comté
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $9.99 a piece
Supposedly Valdeón is often confused with its more famous relative Cabrales. Both are Spanish blues, aged in caves. Both cheeses were wrapped in the leaves of the Spanish Sycamore Maple, though Cabrales has now shed its leaf from more modren aluminum foil. Valdeón is more blue in color compared to the grey tones of Cabrales which are one of its distinguishing characteristics. I will speak more of Cabrales soon but now the spotlight is on Valdeón.
Valdeón comes from the northwestern mountain region of Spain outside of León. Though mainly produced from cow's milk alone, some producers will add goat's or sheep's milk to the mix. The blue cheese is salty and sharp and to my mind, wonderful. The texture is semi-soft but still firm, meaning it crumbles readily. Delicious with crusty bread or fine sherry.
Name: Valdeón or Valdeon or Picón de Valdeón
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semiosoft, blue
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $18.99/lb.
I don't know what Saint Agur is the patron saint of, but if it is soft creamy blue cheeses he was a good choice for the job. The eponymous cheese is a member of the gorgonzola family, a rich creamy French blue veined cheese that has become one of my favorite blues. I couldn't stop eating it. The buttery cheese is a perfect balance to the sharpness of the blue mold. I ate almost an entire baguette with this awesome cheese.
As a side note I believe the saint in question is the prophet Agur of the Old Testament who supposedly wrote the 30th chapter of Proverbs which has a lot to say about eating and sin.
Verse 8: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me.
Verse 20: Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Verse 33: Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.
Name: Saint Agur or Saint-Agur or St. Agur
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
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: $16.99/lb.
Surrounded in coarsely crushed black peppercorns, Ribafria's interior is a mild, firm goat's cheese. A lot of black pepper. A lot! Is it too much? That depends on what you serve this Portuguese cheese with. The pepper, and cheese, pair well with bold or sweet red wines, bringing out the pepper notes of the bold and balancing the sweetness of the dessert or after-dinner wines.
Ribafria is commercially produced and packaged in vaccuum sealed disks.
A good little cheese but do not serve it alone. Pick her playmates carefully.
Name: Ribafria
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Portugal, Torres Vedras
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $12.99 each
Finding La Serena at the peak of ripeness is a real surprise. Between the first and second tasting of this cheese it went from a firm cheese of muddled flavor to a real oozer that was rich, creamy and packed with flavor remniscent of mushrooms sauteed in white wine and butter. If you are lucky enough to have an entire wheel of this sheep's milk cheese from Spain's Extremadura region at its peak of oozingly rich ripeness, cut off the entire top side and spoon out the inner softness onto warm bread or fried potatoes. Delicious!
Name: La Serena or Queso de la Serena
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: semisoft
Produced in: Spain, Extremadura
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online Order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $17.99/lb.
The simplicity of this cheese's appearance masks deep, rich flavors. Lagrein Weinkase is not a Swiss or Germanic cheese as its name may suggest but a formaggio italiano. A pale yellow curd that has been pressed and soaked in local red wine, Lagrein Weinkase ( Weinkäse is German for "wine cheese") has flavors of herbs and wine, soft notes of garlic and spice. The texture is soft and buttery with the squat holes of a Havarti.
Fleming called it "an awesome cheese that packs a surprise."
Name: Lagrein Weinkase
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Italy, Alto Adige
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $21.99/lb.
One of the first things I ever heard about Cabrales was.... Well, let me bury the lead on this one and come back to that.
Cabrales is one of the finest blue cheeses in the world. The flavor is literally exciting. The rich, cheese curd, the tangy blue molds, the little crystals of sharp flavor, the powerful kiss of age around the rind all excite the particles on the tongue. Cabrales (pronounced "ca-brall-es") comes to us from Spain where it is matured in the caves of the Asturias region. Though sometimes made from a mixture of cow, goat and sheep milk, my selection was the exclusive product of cows.
The blue of Cabrales is not the semi-uniform veins of blue mold found in many others but a more mottled, natural dispertion of the Penicillium mold. Instead of injecting the cheese curd with mold, the seperated cheese curd of Cabrales is exposed to the natural molds of limestones caves and them mixed together to disperse the mold through the cheese. After another two to six months in the caves the blue permeates the cheese. It is then wrapped in foil (not leaves like Valdeón and sent to market. A wonderful cheese.
Oh yes. The first thing I ever heard about Cabrales, while working in the cheese shop of a gourmet market, was that a really good Cabrales was "con gusano" meaning "with worms" or containing maggots. Supposedly while in these caves Cabrales cheese can be visited by certain bugs that lay their eggs in the rich nutrients of the cheeese. Supposedly this is a delicacy. Supposedly. I really can find no more than urban or rural legend that this is true though it makes sense. My father when he was young worked for a major cheese company that started with KR and ended with AFT. His job was to cut out cheese mites that has infested the cheese. So if bugs can invade a semi-sterile cheese factory I do not see why they would not alos be living in wild caved. Whether the Spanish consider these fly larvae a delicacy as some say, I do not know, but will ask the next Spanaird I meet.
Name: Cabrales
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: Spain
Date Purchased: 2/13/2007
Date Eaten: 2/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $24.99/lb.
You might make the mistake of calling it "string cheese" but once you taste it you may come to the realization this is not your four-year-old's noontime snack. Don't get me wrong. Farmer's Rope Cheese, a part-skim mozarella from Wisconsin's Crave Farmstead, will not win any prizes but it has something that grocery store mozarella completely lacks--the slightest flavor. It's solidly decent with no pretense of grandeur but still striving ambitions to rise above the less-than-modest state of cheese for kids while still looking like an albino serpent about to strike. Fun.
Name: Crave Farmstead Farmer's Rope Cheese
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Crave Brother's Farmstead Cheese
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $4.99 each.
What exactly is "bread cheese"? It is not made from bread or even meant to be served with bread. Think of it as a bread, or better, toast replacement. Traditionally bread cheese comes from Finland where it is called "Juustoleipa" ( Hoo-stah-lee-pah - Finnish for 'Atkin's Diet'). It starts out similar to squeeky cheese curds or rope cheese and is pressed into a block the size of a slice of bread. The cheese is then toasted until golden brown and cooled.
This version of bread cheese comes from Wisconsin and Carr Valley Cheese. I tried the cheese three ways: cold, warm and warm with raspberry jam. Cold was not impressive. It was decent but would not wake me up on any day of the week. Heated is when this cheese starts to sing. Though shpaed like a piece of bread I would not recommend putting it in a toaster you want to keep for a while. The oil that drips out will probably smoke and eventually catch your toaster on fire. Heat it up flat in a toaster oven (on a tray) or under a broiler (also on a tray). Warm, bread cheese opens up to rich, cheesy flavors that are just the thing on a frozen Finnish or North Carolina morning. Finns will dunk the cheese in their morning coffee which I did not attempt but I did spoon on some jam and it was a great way to start the day. One slice of bread cheese was a lot of cheese for one person, even me. Cutting it into finger sized slices is probably a more reasonable portion. A fun way to start the day.
Name: Carr Valley Bread Cheese or Bread Cheese
Type of Milk: cowt's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: United States of America, Wisconsin, Carr Valley Cheese
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Murray's Cheese, online order, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $6.99 each
Crater Lake Blue is a bit like the baby bear of blue cheeses. Not too hard. Not too soft. Not too strong. Not too mild. To say it is just right makes it sound a tad mediocre when I mean it as a superlative. This award winning blue is much an unsmoked version of Rogue Creamery's Smokey Blue, a cow's milk blue not complicated by the smoking process but still an amazingly delicious blue. Great crumbled over a salad or warm pasta. Delicious with a sparkling or sweet dessert wine.
Name: Crater Lake Blue or Rogue Creamery's Crater Lake Blue
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: blue, semi-soft
Produced in: United States of America, Oregon, Rogue Creamery
Date Purchased: 6/14/2007
Date Eaten: 6/10/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $15.99/lb.
One of the best things about Cayuga Blue from the Lively Run Goat Dairy of upstate New York is that it is two cheeses in one. Yes, it's a blue with rich veins of punching power. But it is also enough room between the blue streams to allow one to appreciate the raw goat cheese on its own. A bit firm but not crumbly or hard the texture has a smooth finish while the flavor is rich but not overpowering like some others of the same breed. The name comes from Cayuga Lake, the longest of New York's finger lakes which one can imagine in the geography of this cheese's surface.
Name: Lively Run Cayuga Blue or Cayuga Blue
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: United States of America, New York, Lively Run Goat Dairy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $26.99/lb.
In the Gorgonzola flavor hierarchy Gorgonzola Cremificato stands in the middle. More flavorful than those cheeses labled Gorgonzola Dolce but less pungent than the more forceful Gorgonzola Piccante, cremificato is the creamiest and so far my favorite of the Italian blues. The softness of this cheese does not allow the blue veins to form throughout but instead produces rich puddles of ripe mold. It makes me think of a blue Taleggio if such a cheese existed. It spreads well and melts well making it great for cooking. I folded some into some warm pasta for a delicious afternoon lunch. A great blue cheese.
Name: Gorgonzola Cremificato
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisinal Cheese
Price: $17.75/lb.
I theorized at one time that Gorgonzola cheese's name may be derived from the similarity of its blue-green veins to the snakes in the hair of the Gorgon, Medusa. (I think I have seen Clash of the Titans more times than I should .) French author Emile Zola may alos have played a part in my ignorant, scholarly theories.
The name Gorgonzola in fact like many other Italian cheeses springs from the name of the town where it was said to have first been produced, Gorgonzola, on the outskirts of Milan. The piccante that follows this name may be familiar to people from Mexican menus and jars of salsa and indicates a sharpness the cheese possesses. Firmer than Gorgonzola Cremificato or Dolce, this cheese is a crumbler but still has a nice moistness to it. If you cook with Gorgonzola Cremificato for its creaminess by adding it to pasta or risotto you might finish the dish by crumbling the piccante over the top. Serve it in a green salad or with apples and pears next to sweet Italian dessert wines or prosecco.
Name: Gorgonzola Piccante
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $16.00/lb.
It came as either a gift or a mistake. I received a shipment of seven cheeses from an online order at ArtisanalCheese.com although I had only ordered six. The additional cheese was this wonderful French sheep's milk cheese, Carles Roquefort. No note to say they had thrown it in for free but if I remember right, I may have gotten an extra cheese on a previous order too. It was a little less than perfect in appearance. The thin edge of the wedge had been crushed a little, maybe even before shipping. Still it had its charms of appearance. I tasted this cheese, served it with green salad, spread it on warm bread, and enjoyed it immensely. Only when I started to write about it did I find out the retail price for this treasure, $43.00 a pound. Holy blue cows, Batman! That's Wagyu beef prices. When time came to review a Roquefort I may well have paid that amount and bought as small of a piece as would photograph well. It is the granddaddy of amazing blue cheeses. Is it worth $43.00 a pound? Maybe no, but it is worth $10.75 a quarter pound for a blue cheese experience to ground you in great blue cheeses.
Name: Carles Roquefort or Roquefort Carles
Type of Milk: sheep's, unpasteurized
Type: blue, semi-soft
Produced in: France
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $43.00/lb.
An Italian blue cheese that's not gorgonzola, Blue del Moncenisio is a cow's milk cheese from the northwestern most corner of the Piedmont. Slightly firm with rich pungent punch this is a very good cheese but overshadowed by its superiors. I liked it but the flavor was not memorable a few days after tasting it. Like most blue, pair it with a sweet dessert wine like a still or sparkling Moscatto or a stronger Nebbiola that withstand its force.
Name: Blu del Moncenisio
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: blue, semi-soft
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $23.75/lb.
The name does not seem Italian. German maybe. Perhaps Romanian or Hungarian. It kind of makes me think of U Thant, former Secretary-General of the U.N. whom I know only from Trivial Pursuit and a reference in a Tom Hank's movie (That Thing You Do). Strachitunt, pronounced strak-ee-TOONT, is made from raw cow's milk in the Val Talaggio region of Lombardy, home of a great Italian cheese, Taleggio. The deep veins seem to reflect the needles of injected mold used to seed the milky cheese with culture but again make me think of the vampire's kiss and a Romanian origin. Unusual, rich, and complex are the first words that came to mind while sampling. Worth checking out.
Name: Strachitunt
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: blue, semi-soft
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/16/2007
Date Eaten: 6/20/2007
Purchased Where: United States, online, Artisanal Cheese
Price: $18.50/lb.
Some cheeses like garden vegetables are seasonal, coming around only at distinct times of the year. Graskaas from the Beemster cheesemakers is a gouda-style cheese made from the first spring milking of the season. Literally meaning "grass cheese" Graskaas has a fresh, rich flavor missing in so many other "gouda" named cheeses. The color is golden with a semi-osft texture with a pleasing chew. Truly delicious but sold for a limited time at the beginning of summer. Seek it out while you can.
Name: Beemster Graskaas or Beemster Gras or Gouda Graskaas
Type of Milk: cow's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: The Netherlands, Beemster
Date Purchased: 7/3/2007
Date Eaten:7/4/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $13.99/lb.
Part of my job of finding great cheese is done for me by shopping at places that do most of the work for me. Sometimes it can even get a little boring writing about good cheese after good cheese. Mostly it is still great fun to taste something I love, cheese, made by people who really care about what they do, trying to make the best product they can. Lamb Chopper is a super sheep's milk cheese by people who specialize in goat's milk chevre. The cheese is mild but not lacking in flavor. The texture is also of a young cheese, semi-soft and pliable making it ideal for melting on pizza or baked tomatoes.
Name: Lamb Chopper
Type of Milk: sheep's, pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: United States, California, Cypress Grove Chevre
Date Purchased: 7/12/2007
Date Eaten:7/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $20.99/lb.
If I had paid for it I would like it just as much. Bartlett Blue came as a free extra in my last order from Artisanal Cheese and I cannot thank them enough. It is one of the best blue cheeses I've had this year. The texture is semi-soft, slightly crumbly but not brittle. The cheese is modeled after Wensleydale and captures the charm of that cheese at its finest. The producers of Bartlett Blue are Jasper Hill Farms of Vermont and they know how to craft complex and delicious cheese.
Name: Bartlett Blue
Type of Milk: cow's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft, blue
Produced in: United States of America, Vermont, Greensboro, Jasper Hill Farms
Date Purchased: 10/09/2007
Date Eaten: 10/11/2007
Purchased Where: online, www.artisanalcheese.com
Price: $22.00/lb.
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