365 Cheeses
 

Goat's Milk Archives

December 23, 2006

51. Humboldt Fog

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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.

Posted on December 23, 2006 11:21 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

January 7, 2007

65. Tomme Aydius

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Tomme Aydius is a farmhouse goat's milk cheese from the French Pyrenees named for the small town of Aydius.The cheese has a pasty pale color often with odd shapes interior air holes but rich buttery nut flavors. Though it is made from unpasteurized goat milk it does not have a strong goat's milk flavor. If I didn't know I might mistake it for a cow's milk cheese. Tomme means "cheese" in regional French and this tomme has a granular texture like parmesan of the outer edges but the interior is softer and more elastic.
A delicious cheese.

Name: Tomme Aydius or Tomme d'Aydius or Tomme de chèvre d'Aydius
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: France, Pyrenees
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.

Posted on January 7, 2007 11:28 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 10, 2007

68. Ibores

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Pimentón, a smoked red paprika, is worked into the rind of some young Ibores cheeses, giving them a vibrant color and hint of piquantness. The raw milk that goes into Ibores comes from two hearty breeds of Spanish goats, the Retinta Extremeña and Verata, and the flavor is definitively goaty with a hint of smokiness and nutty sharpness. The texture is semi-soft, almost creamy. A very nice Spanish goat's cheese.

Name: Ibores or Queso de los Ibores
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain, Extremadura
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.

Posted on January 10, 2007 11:33 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

January 14, 2007

72. Midnight Moon

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Does the name of Midnight Moon come from the pale white disk surrounded by an inky purplish black exterior? Perhaps, but by any name Midnight Moon is a delicious cheese. Texture is firm with a slight salty grana. Flavor is nutty with a very wonderfully goaty tang.

Name: Midnight Moon
Type of Milk: semi-hard
Type: goat's, pasteurized
Produced in: United States of America, California, Cypress Grove Chèvre
Date Purchased: 12/27/2006
Date Eaten: 12/31/2006
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $17.99/lb.

Posted on January 14, 2007 11:37 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 27, 2007

85. Leonora

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Leonora is a delicious cheese. A semi-soft goat's milk cheese with a rich cream-colored center and a gray ash rind, a little like a young Humboldt Fog with the ash on the outside. This one comes from Spain, the Spanish province and city of León. The labled indicated that Leonora is made from pasteurized milk but my experience shows that labels printed by small cheese shops are often wrong. Very often. Some online sites say Leonora is is unpasteurized but I can't find a definitive source to contradict the sticker.

Name: Leonora
Type of Milk: Goat's, Pasteurized
Type: semi-soft
Produced in: Spain, León
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $22.99/lb.

Posted on January 27, 2007 11:56 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

January 31, 2007

89. Ski Queen Gjetost Cheese

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If ever there was a cheese made from a can of unsweetened condensed milk, it would taste like Gjetost. This Norwegian import, pronounced "yet-oast", is an acquirred taste that I don't think I have the patience to acquire. Sold in a cube with a red label, Ski Queen Gjetost Cheese is made from an odd combination of goat's milk and cow's whey. It makes me think this was some form of war ration cheese when the Nazis diverted Norwegian milk to the Vaterland. That's not true. The cheese is actually over 130 years old and is reported to have been made by a Norwegian farm wife who mixed cream and whey to create a brown caramelly cheese that saved her farm and village from financial ruin. Still I can't say I like the cheese much.

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The color of the cheese cube is caramel and the first millisecond of taste offers a promise of sweet browned sugars that is never fufilled. Instead it delivers an unsalted cheese flavor with a weird aftertaste and a fudgelike consistancy. If you are Norwegian or just like this cheese, all the best. I won't be offering it to guests though. Unless they're from Oslo.

Name: Ski Queen Gjetost Cheese
Type of Milk: goat's milk and cow whey, pasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Norway
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $4.99 per cube

Posted on January 31, 2007 11:56 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

February 1, 2007

90. Naked Goat

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From the mind of Murcia, the town and region of southeastern Spain, the same region that gave us Charo, comes a wonderfully simple aged goat's cheese called Naked Goat. Its Spanish name, queso de Murcia curado, translates simply as Aged Cheese of Murcia while the English plays on the pure, raw milk origin of this delightful cheese. I even like the label with a cartoon goat, naked of course, though I am not fooled by the playfullness and simplicity. This is a deceptively fine cheese. Aged for about 6 months Naked Goat has many of the same qualities of the great Spanish sheep's milk cheese but a solid, rich goat's milk flavor.

Name: Naked Goat or Murcia Curado DO (or DOP) or Queso de Murcia Curado
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: semi-hard
Produced in: Spain, Murcia, Mitica
Date Purchased: 1/28/2007
Date Eaten: 1/30/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, A Southern Season
Price: $15.99/lb.

Posted on February 1, 2007 11:59 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

February 14, 2007

103. Ribafria

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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.
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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

Posted on February 14, 2007 11:04 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 7, 2007

123. Capra Valtellina

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One definition of "Capraesque" from the online American Heritage Dictionary is "promoting the positive social effects of individual acts of courage". Capra Valtellina, then, I will call Capraesque since the making this cheese in an industrial age is courageous and eating it promotes a better society. I could also call the cheese "capricious" but that would be going a little far with the wordplay. "Capra" is an Italian word for "goat" where the milk of this fine cheese comes. "Valtellina" is the Valtelline Valley of Italy's Lombardy. The cheese is firm and great for grating over a summer salad. It has a light, milky and generally pleasant flavor for a goat cheese. Not too strong or overpowering.

Name: Capra Valtellina
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: Italy
Date Purchased: 6/2/2007
Date Eaten: 6/6/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $15.99/lb.

Posted on June 7, 2007 10:16 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

June 14, 2007

126. Coupole

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Coupole is one of a few artisinal cheeses made by the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company, a company in Vermont that makes butter and cheese. The name comes from the French word for "dome" and pictures of the cheese on the producer's web site show a rounded top to the cheese which did not survive in the mail order shipment. Produced from pasteurized goat's milk and sprinkled with ash Coupole starts out slightly firm and sliceable. As it ages the cheese softens and takes on a creamier, even runny texture.
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I bought two of these little domes/disks trying one four days after the first. In that time Coupole took on an oozy edge with a still firm center. The flavor is delicious--fresh with a mild goaty bite. The older version is creamier, almost as if melted. The taste was much like one of my favorite cheeses, La Tur, a blended milk cheese, but being strictly goat, Coupole packs a bit more bite and lacks some of La Tur's smoothness. Despite that it is a great goat's cheese and can convince people who think they don't like goat cheese to reconsider that opinion.

Name: Coupole or Vermont Butter & Cheese Company, Coupole
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: United States of America, Vermont, Vermont Butter and Cheese Company
Date Purchased: 6/8/2007
Date Eaten: 6/12/2007
Purchased Where: United States, Online, www.murrayscheese.com
Price: $11.99 each

Posted on June 14, 2007 9:19 PM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (2)

June 20, 2007

130. Lively Run Cayuga Blue

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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.

Posted on June 20, 2007 9:40 PM | | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (10)

June 24, 2007

133. Garrotxa

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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.

Posted on June 24, 2007 7:54 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

July 7, 2007

139. Cypress Grove Chevre's Pee Wee Pyramid

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Yes, it's a cute little white pyramid, pleasingly packaged in bleached waxed paper, calling out from behind the glass display cooler with puppy-dog eyes that say, "Take me home." But this is not just a cute pound puppy, it's a rich pedigree of traditionally hand crafted cheese of the finest order.

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Unwrapping the cheese from it's paper, you discover not a pure white coat (unless you are taking it home very young and fresh, maybe a little under-ripened) but a palette of white and grays, tans and creams, painting the bloomy rind. Do not cut into the cheese until it has had some time out at room temperature. Ten to fifteen minutes should do. Once warmed up a little cut off one of the pyramid's four sides to expose the golden treasure of the pharaohs. The flavor and texture show the age of this adolescent goat cheese. Ripe, it will run a little around the edges and have a little sweetness on its way to richer depths. A very good cheese and for the price worth buying often. Try slices of this delicious chevre with crisp apples or even on top of a burger off the grill. Can pair well with Sauvignon Blanc if you favor drier wines or a Riesling if in a sweeter mood. Cypress Grove Chevre are the same folks who bring us another of my favorite cheeses, Humboldt Fog.

Name: Cypress Grove Chevre's Pee Wee Pyramid or Pee Wee Pyramid
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: bloomy rind, soft
Produced in: United States of America, California, Cypress Grove Chevre
Date Purchased: 7/2/2007
Date Eaten: 7/4/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $7.99 each

Posted on July 7, 2007 9:03 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

140. Goat Lady Dairy Chevre Camembert

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or "Dairy of a Mad Goat Lady"
And by "mad" I mean crazy enough to try to make a fresh camembert from North Carolina goats. And by "crazy" I mean crazy successful! Chevre Camembert is such a rare treat in the United States. Soft and buttery, young and slightly mushroomy, this young camembert-style cheese with an edible white rind represents the best of this style of young bloomy cheeses, alive with rich flavor. From a small goat dairy in Randolph county North Carolina producing a handful of small-batch artisinal chevres, Goat Lady Dairy Chevre Camembert stands out even among cow's milk cheeses of the same type. The goatiness is subtle but the camembertiness stands out. Seemingly pricey by the pound, $24.99, a disk is less than half that weight at around $10.00 each making it comparable in price to many lesser cheeses. It quickly became a favorite.

Name: Goat Lady Dairy Chevre Camembert
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: bloomy rind, soft
Produced in: United States of America, North Carolina, Climax, Goat Lady Dairy
Date Purchased: 7/3/2007
Date Eaten:7/4/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $24.99/lb.

Posted on July 7, 2007 10:44 AM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

July 14, 2007

143. Haystack Goat Cheese Queso de Mano

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The Spanish name hides the origins of this wonderful American-made cheese from Colorado. Produced by Haystack Goat Cheese outside of Boulder the name refers to the handmade quality of this fantastic cheese. Queso de Mano is the first raw milk goat cheese by these producers and it is as good as any produced in Europe. I have been recommending a lot of goat cheeses recently but do so without hesitation. Goat's milk cheeses can be just as amazing as any great cow's milk cheese and Queso de Mano is that good. Nutty and rich this cheese has delicious flavor and can pair with almonds or membrillo or fruity wines.

Name: Haystack Goat Cheese Queso de Mano
Type of Milk: goat's, unpasteurized
Type: hard
Produced in: United States of America, Colorado
Date Purchased: 7/12/2007
Date Eaten:7/14/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raleigh, Whole Foods
Price: $24.99/lb.

Posted on July 14, 2007 10:30 AM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

July 15, 2007

147. Celebrity Dairy Chevre

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I've held off on writing about Celebrity Dairy goat cheese for a while. It is the most famous of the locally produced cheeses of the Triangle area of North Carolina and maybe that is why I thought it deserved special mention and careful review. I also knew it was a cheese I could readily obtain so I would wait until my options for cheese purchases narrowed and it would mark the point in the journey where my job of finding great and unique cheeses got a lot harder. I have been familiar with Celebrity Dairy cheese for many years but to be honest I have not tried it for some time. It was one of the first goat cheeses I tasted and it really helped me enter the bigger world of cheese outside cow's milk. But now I come back to it after having tried some of the best goat's milk cheeses of France and Spain, Portugal and Italy, Vermont and California. The experience of those cheeses made coming back to Celebrity Dairy Chevre a little less welcoming.
Do not get me wrong. Celebrity Dairy Chevre is a wonderful cheese, a fresh goat cheese like many of the best of similar style in France. But compared to a Humboldt Fog or a Coupole goat cheese, chevres like Celebrity Dairy are prepubescent sisters of the buxom college coeds. A lot of people of talked to think they do not like goat's milk cheeses. My guess is the only ones they've tried are those like Celebrity Dairy chevre. It can be a little acidic, the tangy bite of goat's milk singing through. To the uninitiated this is a new experience that their history with cow's milk cheese does not prepare tem for. It really can be an acquired taste.
But one thing Celebrity Dairy Chevre is great for is as an ingredient in other dishes. I baked a Leek and Goat Cheese Tart with a pastry crust, sauteed leeks in butter and thyme, a mixture of sour cream, egg and heavy cream, and good-sized chunks of Celebrity Dairy Chevre. Accompanying the tart was a salad of mixed greens, pinenuts, thyme and chevre in a balsamic vinegrette. Served with a cold Pilsner beer or crisp Riesling it was a great summer dinner. Celebrity Dairy Chevre comes in different flavors: plain, confetti - a mix of different pepper corns, party - the everything bagel of goat cheese, and dill. I didn't find the herbs and spices necessary and think they tended to mask a lot of the chevre's charm. Still, I am lucky to have access to this local treat.

Name: Celebrity Dairy Chevre
Type of Milk: goat's, pasteurized
Type: soft
Produced in: United States of America, North Carolina, Chatham County
Date Purchased: 7/14/2007
Date Eaten:7/15/2007
Purchased Where: United States, North Carolina, Raliegh, Whole Foods
Price: $16.99/lb.

Posted on July 15, 2007 9:51 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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