Kassboerderij’T Groendal

by Austin Coe Butler

When NASA astronaut and committed turophile Shannon Walker learned she would be on the International Space Station (ISS) for 210 days, she knew she would need some cheese for the journey. She asked her neighborhood cheese shop Houston Dairymaids to send her some cheese and a few weeks later a gouda, OG Kristal (OGK), made by the Belgium cheesemaker Kaasboerderij’T Groendal (Kahss–BOOR-deh-LAY TRUN-dahl) and aged by Van Tricht, arrived on board the ISS. It was an immediate hit and the crew devoured it. Walker requested another shipment of OGK, but something was happening on the earth’s surface….

            All the other earthlings loved it, too! You probably fell for its crunchy-crystally texture, sweet, creamy paste, and brilliant Dutch red rind. The OG in OG Kristal stands for “Old Groendal” (sadly, not “original gangster”), and old it is: it has an aging minimum of 18 months, which is really long for most cheese! It is remarkably creamy and moist for a cheese this mature. Compare OGK with L’Amuse 2-year Gouda, Brabander Reserve (12-18 months), or Coolea Irish Gouda (12 months), and you will find much drier cheeses with a pleasant almond flour or macadamia nut mealiness bursting with tyrosine crystals. The astronauts couldn’t get any more OGK because there wasn’t any on earth. It had sold out, and we would all have to wait months until we could eat it again.

            Aging cheese is a perennial problem for cheesemakers. Most of the cheeses you love that are firm and flavorful like Comté, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and truckles of farmhouse Cheddar have to sit on a shelf somewhere and take up a lot of space while they mature and develop flavor. That whole time they’re not earning any money, and the venture of aging cheese has always been a precarious investment of labor, time, and hope.

            Goudas are large wheels of cheese, typically weighing in between fifteen and twenty-five pounds and need a lot of time to age. One of the first perils of aging large cheeses is that if enough moisture isn’t driven out of them, they rot from the inside and “heave” or explode. I’ve written about this previously with Cheddars, and there’s a reason why “hoven” cheeses were a common problem in England and Holland. Both share a maritime climate with wet summers. But the two cultures, while presented with the same problem, devised different solutions that resulted in distinct styles and flavors.

Whereas the English settled on letting milk and cheese acidify, like during the Cheddaring process, the Dutch decided to “wash” their curds. Once the milk has been coagulated with rennet into curd, and the curd cut, Dutch cheesemakers poured off the whey and added fresh, hot water to the vat. “Washing” the curd not only scalds the curd, driving out more whey, and thus, moisture, but in washing away the whey, they removed lactose, which lactic bacteria convert into lactic acid, and created a milder, sweeter curd before blocks of curd are then placed into wooden molds and pressed. This curd washing not only gave goudas their signature complex sweet flavors ranging from coconut milk and marzipan to butterscotch and aged soy sauce, but allowed them to travel across the world when the Dutch were the leading European Empire. And it turns out it doesn’t just travel well on the seas, but in the zero-gravity of space, too!

            While the affineurs at Van Tricht were waiting for the next batch of OGK to ripen, Johan Deweer and his team at Kaasboerderij’T Groendal wondered how they could make a similar cheese in less time. The answer was in the culture cocktail they added to the milk. The new cheese reached the same sweet, crunchy profile as OGK in nine months, literally half the time OGK needs to mature. OGK and the Farmdal cheeses use the same mix of Holstein and Brown Swiss cow’s milk and make, their only difference is the cultures added to them and their aging time. While we waited for OGK, we all got to enjoy Old Farmdal! And so did the astronauts. Old Farmdal was sent to the ISS where it was received with just as much delight as OGK and now bears one of the coolest cheese labels and designations, “SPACE CHEESE.”

            In celebration of OG Kristal and Old Farmdal, and all things Kaasboerderij’T Groendal, we are promoting their cheeses we carry, which includes the younger version of Old Farmdal aptly named Young Farmdal, and a fantastic trappist cheese named Drunk Monk. Drunk Monk has been washed in a Belgian Blond Ale with Cascade hops called Rex as the wheels ripen. It tastes uncannily like a fresh Parker House yeasted dinner roll, with the same yeasty flavors and mild sweetness while also having and delightfully springy bounce like Babybel.

            Next time you go into space (or just on a picnic or hike), ask your cheese monger to send you with some cheese that travels well.

Softies Highlight

This week, instead of a longer form write-up focusing on a specific cheese or certain producer and in the spirit of our 20% off all softies promotion, I thought it would be fun to do something different. What better way to inspire excitement than to hear from someone who is passionate and excited? Here is a collection of voices from a few of our mongers about what their favorite softies are. Who knows, they might become your new favorite, too.

~ACB

Carol Ann, Alta Langa Robiola Bosina and Alta Langa Cossanella

It's all about the texture with these two. Both of these Italian beauts have a delicate rind with an unctuous, silky texture. Cossanella stands out with its Annatto washed rind. Robiola Bosina is both cow and sheep's milk, giving it a slight depth of flavor. Enjoy with Lambrusco (Piazza Grande $14.99) or a Saison (Saison Dupont $12.49).

Sophia Stern, Capriole Sofia

Capriole's Sofia has always been one of my favorite cheeses. It helps that the cheese and I share a name (sort of), but Sofia is also perfectly tangy and bright and visually stunning with its unique shape, fluffy interior, and clean ash lines running through the center. Definitely enjoy this cheese with a darker rose or sparkling white and try it with the American Spoon Sour Cherry Preserves from the shop! If you want to have a real adventure, pick up a bag of dill pickle potato chips and eat them with little pieces of Sofia on it. I promise it's amazing.

Joe Kastner, Bergamino di Bufala

Bergamino di Bufala is always one of my go-to softies. Think buffalo mozzarella with a rind on it. This lusciously buoyant little pillow of water-buffalo cheese from Northern Italy will be giving your taste buds sweet dreams. Try it on toasted baguette or with a spicy pepper jelly!

Maura Rice, Nettle Meadow Kunik

I think of Kunik as the Mt. Tam of the East Coast; it’s a tried-and-true American classic, having been made for over two decades at the Warrensburg creamery. It’s advertised as a triple cream, and it’s certainly buttery and deliciously rich, but Kunik is actually mostly goat’s milk, which gives it a lovely tang. The best part, for me, is that Nettle Meadow is a longtime sanctuary farm for retired and unwanted animals, so in addition to acquiring some tasty cheese you’re also supporting animal welfare.

Austin Coe Butler, Fromagerie Germain Langres

I love everything about this cheese from its brainy, vermiculate appearance, barnyardy aroma, gooey texture, and chicken-stock savoriness, to its humble origins as a farmhouse cheese and dazzling presentation when served with champagne or a shot of brandy burning blue in the fontaine or depression that caps this cheese. While it is a stinker, it’s easy to love. Langres is superb with a bottle of bubbly and smeared onto plain potato chips for a delightfully gauche and positively post-modern celebration of cheese.

Cheddar

by Austin Coe Butler

It often surprises customers that cheddar cheese is named after a place. The village of Cheddar, in the southwestern county of Somerset, England, did give its name to the cheese, and it is a great place to make Cheddar cheese, not least of all because it sits at the mouth of the sublime Cheddar Gorge, whose limestone composition has disintegrated over millennia to create baffling complexes of caves and crannies—moist, dark, damp places in which to age cheese. What really gets customers though is that cheddar isn’t just a noun–that is, a thing or a place–but a verb, an action.

            To “cheddar” a cheese refers to a specific process cheddar cheeses used to undergo. “Cheddaring” is the stacking and flipping of sheets of curd on top of one another until a desired consistency and acidity are reached. During this time, the curd “knits” together and stretches while the weight of the cheese expels more whey. Once the sheets of curd have  reached the elasticity of, and this is an industry specification, “uncooked chicken breast” they are run through a peg mill that shreds them into rough yet regular fingers, salted, stuffed into hoops or molds, and pressed overnight.

            Just as surprising though is that many cheddars are not cheddared! A cheddar cheese is the most generic of generic terms. In the administrative parlance of the FDA cheddar cheese has a “minimum milkfat content [of] 50 percent by weight of the solids, and [a] maximum moisture content [of] 39 percent by weight.” Yawn! How did cheddar become so generic, so hilariously vague?

            Many of the characteristics we associate with cheddar cheese can be reached by a number of modern methods developed in the interest of industrial production, which is what made it the first factory produced cheese. One such shortcut is “stirred-curd” cheddar, where instead of cheddaring and milling the curd it is stirred continuously by a machine, driving out moisture and raising acidity. This method requires significantly less time than traditional milled-curd cheddar.

            Cheddar is also ubiquitous and phenomenally popular across the world. Like Brie or Camembert, cheddar is made just about everywhere and has developed a life of its own—and a multimillion dollar industry. Americans especially love cheddar, and it was the most consumed cheese in our country’s history from its founding until just a few years ago when mozzarella tore past it on the wheels of all those frozen pizzas we consume. And why shouldn’t we love cheddar?

            American cheesemakers were responsible for many innovations in the production of cheddar cheese. Cheddar and its sibling Cheshire, were the earliest cheeses English colonists made, and their export to the sugarcane plantations in the West Indies were essential to the fledgling economy. American cheesemakers contending with the hotter, more humid summers of the Eastern seaboard, which easily cracked and festered their precious cheese, responded by wrapping their cheese is cotton cloth or “bandages.” (This access to abundant, cheap, cotton for single-use was only possible due to slave labor in the southern plantations). Later, they began to coat their cheeses in impermeable parrafin wax and, presently, vacuum seal them in plastic bags (both petroleum byproducts). Each of these preservation methods opened up new gateways of flavor. It would be impossible to age a bandaged cheese to the years most vacuum-sealed block cheddars are. A clothbound cheddar at six years would lose all its moisture and become bitter dust, whereas a forty pound block of cheddar sealed in plastic and stored in a cool room can easily be aged twenty or even forty(!) years and develop a crunchy, complex flavor along the way.

            All this may be shocking to those who have a certain idea of what cheddar looks like or where it came from. Perhaps you are thinking of a proper English cheddar like a West Country Farmhouse Cheddar that enjoys a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). A West Country Farmhouse Cheddar must be made from cow’s milk from herds raised and grazed on the West Country of England (Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall), be made by hand and undergo the “cheddaring” process, before being aged a minimum of nine months. It cannot contain any added coloring, flavoring, or preservatives. But this PDO is quite lenient as far as PDOs go. Cheese made with milk that was pasteurized and not farmstead quality, or with a commercial starter culture, or even aged in naked blocks, can still be granted the coveted designation.

            It is important to remember then that whatever historical or “real,” proper or “pure” cheddar we have in mind when we think about cheddar is illusory. Consumer preferences for age profiles, textures, and flavors, in addition to health administration requirements for sanitation and advances in cheesemaking technology, mean that cheddar makers are producing certain styles of cheddar. The love people have for cheddar and the many ways of arriving at that those flavors mean that there truly is a dizzying, protean array of them. Perhaps you love the pineapple sweetness and acidity of crunchy, crystal-y Prairie Breeze, or the bracing bite of a sharp Widmer’s Six Year. Maybe you want the campfire smokiness of blazing orange Barnburner or the buttery tang of the sheep’s milk Bandaged Bismark. Or those titanic truckles of rich, robust, and grassy West Country Farmhouse cheddar like Montgomery’s, Westcombe, or Pitchfork call you. Whatever cheddar you like, no matter the color, flavor, or shape, we have a cheddar that everyone will love, and so many more to discover.

Raclette Roundup!

by Austin Coe Butler

Raclette takes its name from “racler,” which in a dialect of French Swiss, means “to scrape,” and many hundreds of years ago, when the cowherds who made this cheese would gather around a fire on cool Alpine summer nights, they would warm the cheese against the fire and scrape it, browned and bubbling, onto their bread. As we head into another bout of bitter cold, we are promoting three Raclette-style cheeses, because what better way to indulge yourself on a winter’s night than with some broiled Raclette cheese?

            Spring Brook Reading Raclette is an American Raclette made in Reading, Vermont, from raw Jersey cow’s milk. It is milder than its Swiss forebears but just as dreamy to melt. (We use it on and in a number of our melts, sandwiches, and prepared foods like our Raclette pappardelle.) The supple, creamy texture and buttery flavor make it an excellent entryway into the realm of Raclette.

            Risler Square Raclette is real-deal Swiss Raclette made by Käserei Oberli Rislen in St. Galen, Switzerland. It is notable first for its shape (square), second for its smell (“barnyardy” is being bashful), and finally for its flavor (with a sharp tang and long, funky finish like ramps or Bärlauch that still have some dirt on them). Outside of lounging around in a Chalet wearing a turtleneck and a pair of Finken in the Alps, this is as close as you can get to the veritable experience without the fear of altitude sickness.

            Montgomery’s Ogleshield deserves an explanation as it is an exceptional cheese though unfamiliar to many. You most certainly know Jamie Montgomery’s Cheddar, a titanic, standard-setting West Country Farmhouse Cheddar that is rich, robust, and grassy. Ogleshield was originally called Jersey Shield, since it is made from Jersey cow’s milk and the wide, circular shape resembled the Yetholm-type shield an archaeological investigation on Jamie’s farm turned up among the remains of a bronze century fort. But the problem with Jersey Shield was that the warmth and humidity of the English summers made this cheese spoil from the inside and bloat with gas until it exploded! It wasn’t until William Oglethorpe, who had spent time in the Swiss Alps making cheese saw the wheels of Jersey Shield and suggested Jamie brine them. Brining cheeses allows preserving salt to penetrate them to their core in a way that surface salting cannot. Large cheese like Gruyère and Comté, Emmental and Parmigiano Reggiano are all brined. Jamie repaid Bill by bestowing his name on the cheese, and thus Ogleshield was born. If you are ever in London’s Burough Market, you can find Bill Oglethorpe at his market stall Kappacasein serving his scrumptious grilled cheese sandwiches or ‘cheese toasties” as the Brits say, a mix of Montgomery’s cheddar, Ogleshield, and an assortment of alliums griddled to perfection, or scraping luxurious waves of broiled Ogleshield over boiled potatoes with a scrunch of black pepper and cornichons to garnish. This cheese also deserves an uncooked place on a cheeseboard where the fudgy texture and notes of savory roasted peanuts and vegetal, fresh pea tendril shine. Whenever one of our mongers samples Ogleshield just to remember what it tastes like, they undoubtedly say, “I love this cheese!”

            Don’t have a Raclette machine? Don’t worry! You can always broil slices of cheese on a sheep pan and swoop them up with a wide spatula and blanket whatever you desire. Raclette is great in fondue, Tartiflette, or the rarer Welsh Rarebit. No matter how you are serving these cheeses, broiled and scraped over potatoes, melted into scrambled eggs, or savored at their ambient temperatures alongside a bottle of Gillmore Mariposa País, these cheeses offer the depth and breadth of Raclette with something for everyone to love.

Beillevaire Cheese

Three by Beillevaire

by Austin Coe Butler

Beillevaire (bay-VAIR) is an exclusive distributor, dairy, cheesemaker, and affineur (cheese “finisher” or ager), named after Pascal Bellevaire and located in the Marais Vendéen on France’s paludal, southern coast outside Nantes. Bellevaire was raised on his parent’s dairy farm in Marais Vendéen, and his life’s work has been transforming that humble family dairy into an esteemed exporter and producer of some of France’s best cheeses. This week, we are promoting three remarkable cheeses by Beillevaire: Ossau-Iraty, Somport, and Marbré des Alpes.

Ossau-Iraty is an iconic, ancient ewe’s milk tomme made in the Basque Country of the Pyrenees. It is an ancestral cheese to the Basque people, who have been inhabiting Europe and making this cheese longer than any other living European peoples on a timescale where the rise and fall of empires is the passing of a shadow to them. (Some estimates date the origin of this cheese to over 4,000 years old). Ossau-Iraty’s flavor is rich and caramel-sweet like roasted chestnuts. It has just a snap of sheep tang without tasting gamey, making it an excellent gateway into the world of sheep cheeses. If you’ve spent any time with our mongers, they’ve undoubtedly sent you home with a wedge, as it is a staff favorite.

Somport is more of a rarity, and while often compared to Ossau-Iraty it is made from goat’s milk. Beillevaire sources their Somport from just four small fermier (farmhouse) producers in the Aquitaine, France’s southwestern corner. Its flavor is brashly goaty and deserving of those gregarious animals it descends from with an aroma of damp, rich soil and crimini mushrooms. While its texture can be firm, recently our wheels have been supple and yielding in texture, with a delightful semi-firm bounce. We paired Somport with Broc Cellars Got Grapes? a few months ago, and while that wine is sold out for the moment, any juicy red blend would pair beautifully with this cheese.

Marbré des Alpes is Beillevaire’s Morbier inspired cheese. While you may be unfamiliar with Morbier, you likely know the cheese it was born from–Comté. Morbier was traditionally made with what little curd was leftover from making Comté. It was not enough to make much of anything with, but cheesemakers are by necessity not ones to waste. They would scrape the soot from the bottom of the cauldrons the milk was heated in and sprinkle the soot over the curd to prevent it from forming a crust and protecting it from insects. In the morning, the cheese would be topped off with a bit of fresh curd, pressed, and then washed with brine. This delicacy was reserved by the cheesemakers for their own private consumption as the reward for their labors. Nowadays, cheesemakers create the wheels in one day and use vegetable ash as a nod to this cheese’s history, which continues to gives this cheese its distinctive “marbling.” Beillevaire’s Marbré des Alpes comes from Désaignes in the southeast Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. While young wheels of Marbré are buttery and mild, the more mature wheels we have are surprising and delightfully piquant flavor and spicy aroma.

Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano

by Austin Coe Butler

Between Reggio Emilia and Modena, in the lowlands of the Po River Valley where Parmigiano Reggiano came to be, the Caseificio di Gavasseto e Roncadella has been making Parmigiano Reggiano for generations. Despite the weight of tradition, this quiet caseificio does things their own way. To start with, they are led by the only female master cheesemaker, Marisa Verzelloni, who took over cheesemaking as the casaro in her 50s after he husband passed away. They make just 24 wheels a day, and they only sell their cheese and fresh butter out of their small retail shop. Roncadella turns the wheels in brine daily to ensure contact with the air, whereas most producers submerge the wheel in brine. They charge more in price than other producers, but still, people choose their cheese over others, and there’s still a line out the door before holiday shopping. And while people outside the little village have started to find out about Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano, the coop still only sells primarily to local restaurants and vendors and never large consolidators and distributors. At the 2018 World’s Best Cheese Award, this little creamery snatched not just a silver and a gold medal, but the most prestigious prize, the Super Gold!

            Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano has a lovely fruit aroma, a light caramel sweetness, brodo savoriness, and a touch of spice combined with milky tang to surprise you along its delightfully long finish. The sweetness of this Parmigiano Reggiano makes it especially suited for a simple pasta dish: pasta burro e parmigiano, pasta with butter and Parmigiano. Simply by adding al dente pasta to a saucepan with a knob of butter, a ladle of starchy pasta water, a generous handful of Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano, and stirring together for several minutes, a gorgeous, glossy sauce will form for the ultimate Italian comfort food. This is actually the original fettuccine Alfredo before heavy cream was added to the dish in American kitchens. It’s important to use dried pasta when making this, as fresh pasta is too eggy for such a rich dish.

            While Parmigiano Reggiano is a fantastic culinary cheese, it is an equally glorious table cheese that deserves a crowning place on your next cheeseboard. We’ve previously paired the Cravero Parmigiano Reggiano with Flora Prosecco, and this or any other crisp, bubbly white would be exquisite with Roncadella’s Parmigiano Reggiano. Try serving it with a sliced Bosc pear and a streak of our staff’s favorite Olivewood balsamic for the perfect bite.

            If you have some of our Cravero Parmigiano Reggiano, try it side-by-side Roncadella to taste the difference. These side-by-side tastings are the best way to discover and explore the many differences, both subtle and explicit, in cheeses that are ostensibly the same. Cravero is made in the Emilian Apennine mountains by Massimo Libra and then matured by the Cravero family in Bra, which is located in Piedmont. Roncadella is made in the valley at the base of those mountains and matured the whole twenty-four months at the same location. The plants and people, animals and atmosphere, are what separate these cheeses, each expressing in its own unique way what we love about Parmigiano Reggiano.

Gruyere Alpage

by Austin Coe Butler

While we continue to celebrate the many exciting holiday cheeses and pairings we will have for the next month, we thought we would take a moment to celebrate another seasonal cheese that reminds us of the long, light days of summer, and how green our world can be: Gruyère Alpage. 

Gruyère Alpage takes its name from two very important places. The first is Gruyère, of course, a region that has now, in our administrative age, been strictly demarcated to a small region of Switzerland. But Gruyère itself takes its name from a people and moment in time. Back in the 13th century, yes, that far back, when Charlemagne was Holy Roman Emperor, he founded a corps of officiers gruyers to manage his forests, or gruyeries as they were called then. Cheesemakers in the region had to buy their fuel from these foresters to heat their milk and make cheese and, then as now, cheesemaking was not lucrative work, so a trade was agreed upon: fuel for cheese. This is how a name is attached to a place. 

And now for the Alpage. In many places where arable land is too scarce and precious to graze livestock on, shepherds have to take their herds up the mountain and from mid-May to mid-October they graze their cows in these Alpine meadows, these alpages, These alpages, are the result of glacial erosion, but they are also the result of clearing by gruyers, who, by chopping down impenetrable, evergreen pines and spruce allowed the sun to stream in and foster wildflowers and grasses to dominate. 

The centuries old tradition of pastoral transhumance, taking animals to and from pasturage seasonally, is one of the most remarkable celebrations of all those things entwined in cheese: the people, the animals, the places, the flavors, traditions, and cultures. When the cows descend from the mountains, often crowned with elaborate arrangements of spruce branches spangled with marigolds, sunflowers, and ribbons, hundreds gather to watch. The sound of their bells rings through the valley, echoing off the Alpine mountainsides, is stirring. When I first saw the tranzhumanza in Piedmont (or Désalpes in French / Alpabzug in Swiss-German), I was standing next to a German woman who whispered to herself again and again in wonderment, “Unglaublich, unglaublich….”—unbelievable, incredible, indescribable.

Our Gruyère Alpage is made by the Mauron family at Guedères north of Montreaux at over 4,000 feet. They still make Gruyère Alpage the way it has been for centuries. They still heat the milk in massive copper cauldrons over burning lumber. They still cut and strain the scalded curd through linens and into wooden forms to be tightened under presses twisted by hand. Their cows still look fabulous coming down the mountain during the Alpabzug.

Wheres our Gruyère 1655 tends to be more savory, beef brothy, and evocative of French onion soup that a broiled, blistered crown of Gruyère always sits atop, Gruyère Alpage is fruitier, more herbaceous, floral, and grassy. What immediately strikes you is the aroma of this cheese, which is reminiscent of juicy pears, sweet apples, and ripe Alpine strawberries. The initial fruity acidity gives way to bold, grassy waves of salt as you reach that allium savoriness and barnyard funkiness towards the rind. Gruyère Alpage reminds me of the best Comtés: bright, fruity, nutty, complex enough to find a kaleidoscopic array of flavors inside it.

Verano

by Austin Coe Butler

Cheesemongers sometimes speak of the “Trinity” when helping customers put together an assortment of cheeses. By this we mean selecting one cheese made from cow’s milk, one from goat’s milk, and one from sheep’s milk. While we are busy celebrating the arrival of the seasonal Comté Sagesse (cow’s milk) and Brabander Reserve goat milk gouda, there is a cheese equally worthy of celebration to complete this seasonal Trinity: Verano, the flag-ship cheese from Vermont Shepherd.

            Vermont Shepherd (formerly Major Farm) is located outside of Westminster West, Vermont, not far from the Connecticut River. David Major bought the farm from his parents in the 1990s and started producing, by all accounts, terrible sheep’s milk cheeses. Making sheep’s milk cheeses is not a tradition in the United States for a number of historical, cultural, and culinary reasons. Sheep have never taken hold here as a farm animal the way cows or even goats more recently have. (This lack of tradition is also why Vermont Shepherd, despite being founded in the 90s, is the oldest sheep dairy in the United States.) The Majors decided to apprentice with shepherds and cheesemakers in the French Pyrenees, and it was this formative period that inspired and informed the creation of Verano. Verano, as its name implies, is only made in the summer months when the ewes are lambing and grazing on fresh pasture. This raw sheep’s milk cheese is cooked and then pressed roughly into colander shaped molds (giving it its distinct UFO shape) before being brined for several days. The young wheels of cheese are then transported to the Majors’ own bespoke cheese caves where they will age for three to five months.

            While the United States doesn’t have a strong sheep’s milk tradition, you would never know it from eating Verano; the tomme has that beautiful rustic flavor evocative of ancient sheep’s milk cheese like Pecorino Toscano, Manchego, and Ossau-Iraty. It is well balanced with savory, nutty flavors and a sweetness reminiscent of summer’s red fruit with an aroma of grass and toasted rice, though some wheels can burst with the spice of mint or wild thyme. The texture is dense and surprisingly supple and smooth for a sheep’s milk cheese, which can often be granular. For this alone, Verano could be called one of the best cheeses in the country. Verano is excellent with the pears and apples that are in season at the moment, and maybe a drop of (the staff’s favorite) olivewood balsamic vinegar. It is also an excellent melter and culinary cheese (I used it as a substitute for Berkswell in this recipe from Neal’s Yard Dairy by Anna Tobias for a pea, ham, and Berkswell lasagna that is sure to get you through this cold week.) [link https://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/blogs/news/pea-ham-berkswell-lasagne-by-anna-tobias] This holiday season, when you’re looking for something to close out the Trinity on your holiday cheeseboard, try Verano.

Stilton

by Joe Kastner

“The King of Cheeses.” I see this phrase thrown around all the time in regards to many different types of cheese. It’s often associated with Parmigiano-Reggiano, Brie de Meaux, Roquefort, or even Farmstead Cheddar. To me though, the “King of Cheeses” (ignoring the patriarchal and antiquated connotations of that phrase) is absolutely Colston Basset Stilton. This is not the Stilton you see at the holidays with dried fruit or other abnormalities shoved inside, this is the top-of-the-line, crumbly, melty, delicious blue cheese from our friends across the pond (that’s England).

Nestled in South-Central UK, just east of Nottingham, the Colston Bassett Dairy operation is surrounded by sprawling farmland where they get the milk for their amazing blue cheeses. The milk is curdled, molded, and salted all by hand by the small team of hard-working cheesemakers. They also mix in the Penicillium Roqueforti at this point, the beautiful little mold that creates that blue growth we all love so much. Once the wheels are formed and placed on shelves to age, the affineurs (cheese-agers) will go around and poke formed cheeses with long needles. This brings oxygen into the inside of the cheese, allowing the mold to breathe and grow, giving the Stilton it’s lovely veining throughout. 

I could eat this cheese all darn day long. Sprinkle a bit on your bacon-and-eggs breakfast sandwich for a little kick, crumble some onto a steak for dinner, eat it with dark chocolate for dessert. This “King of Cheeses” is always a winner and an absolute must for any holiday-season cheese board. Enjoy some today!

Rush Creek Reserve

by Austin Coe Butler

Like Uplands Cheese’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Rush Creek Reserve is another old world cheese made in an American context. Having spent a season in the Jura making Vacherin Mont d’Or, Rush Creek Reserve is cheesemaker Andy Hatch’s tribute to that classic cheese. Like Mont d’Or, Rush Creek Reserve is made at the precise moment in the autumn when the cows transition from diverse, fresh pasturage to cured hay and the milk becomes richer and higher in fat. This autumn, hay-fed milk lends itself to an indulgent, rich texture like custard or pudding.

            Once the autumn milk is set with rennet, the curd is cut by hand and then ladled gently into small forms (the autumn’s milk, while richer in fat, is less in volume than the summer’s milk). The forms are then flipped and allowed to drain overnight before being brined in the morning and wrapped in a girdle of boiled spruce bark cambium. This bark not only gives the cheese its structure, but imparts a woodsy flavor that compliments the cured meat flavors found in this cheese. The cheeses are left to ripen in the storeroom and, after the sixty day maturation minimum placed on unpasteurized cheeses in the United States, the cheeses are sent out just in time for the holiday season.

            There is festive air about this cheese beyond its arrival during the holidays, though. As a soft, seasonal cheese, it’s only available from late October to January, and the anticipation that builds among staff and customers to opening a Rush Creek is like opening a present. Andy’s wife, Caitlin, also paints a beautiful watercolor poster that accompanies each year’s batch. This fanfare and celebration is a fitting end to the grueling cheesemaking season when Andy and his staff are often working seventeen hours a day making not only Rush Creek Reserve but the last batches of Pleasant Ridge as well. The cows go dry, the days grow short, and the meditative practice of washing and tending to the wheels of Pleasant Ridge for the next season begins. By the cheese’s nature, it is meant to be shared. Once opened, it should be consumed, and its size is a bit too large and rich for someone to solo, though a few of the cheesemonger’s at France 44 try to each year.

            Like all cheese, Rush Creek Reserve is best at room temperature. Let it temp up over the course of five or six hours, or bring it up in a warm oven by removing the paper and wrapping the cheese in foil or placing it in a ceramic crock. (Uplands Cheese offers an oven crock made by Wilson Creek Pottery explicitly for this purpose.) Once the cheese is up to temp, slice the top rind off and serve it with a spoon. While this cheese is made with delicacy, there’s no need to be precious with it; it’s excellent dolloped on roasted meat and vegetables, and each winter Andy freezes a few Rush Creeks and takes them to the local pub where they deep fry them.

            Customers often talk about how this is the perfect cheese for the holidays when friends and family are around, and we couldn’t agree more. With small gatherings becoming more viable for people and this holiday season likely to be the first time many of us have celebrated our respective holidays or seen their family members in a long time, this gorgeous cheese is the perfect holiday centerpiece to serve and enjoy with your loved ones.

            Please note that this cheese is so highly anticipated that you won’t be able to take one straight from our case just yet! If you’d like one as soon as possible, you can preorder them online to ensure pick up staring October 29th.

 (Rush Creek Reserve 2021 print painted by Caitlin Hatch)