On Thursday we had another lovely cheese tasting at the Growing Center. A serious thank you to the 50-70 or so people (friends and many strangers!) who showed this year. Also to the Growing Center, the cheesemakers, goats, cows and sheep who participated. A note: You can buy local cheese at a bunch of farmers’ markets but year-round at: Formaggio Kitchen (Cambridge and South End), Dairy Bar@Kickass Cupcakes (Davis Sq), Dave’s Fresh Pasta (Davis Sq), Lionette’s Market (South End) and… Whole Foods. Here’s the roundup of what we were tasting. Please, go out and buy this stuff. And the next time you see someone about to spend money on grass-fed cheddar from New Zealand or some such nonsense, please scoff at them.
- Maggie’s Round, Cricket Creek Farm, (Williamstown, Mass.) An Italian farm-style raw milk cheese which is aged more than four months. It has a creamy texture with a flavor similar to that of an Italian Toma. Buy it on the Cricket Creek web site — but not til fall!
- Two from Valley View Farm (Topsfield, Mass.)Valley View Chevre - A soft, fresh goat’s milk cheese from a small herd of Anglo-Nubians. And Highlander, a semi-ripened goat cheese - The pyramid shape and greater surface area allows the two different molds to ripen, intensifying the development of flavors.These are both
available at Lionette’s Market, Dave’s Fresh Pasta, Lexington, Union Square and Charlestown farmers’ markets (and variously on the North Shore). - Bourree: Dancing Cow Farm (Bridport, Vt) a raw cow’s milk cheese. This was made with uncooled raw cow’s milk from a single milking, Bourree is a washed rind cheese that has an earthy aroma and supple texture with strong hints of nuts and grass. This is fun: The name Bourree comes from a French peasant dance with rapid foot movements, much like the cows when first turned out on spring pastures. Available at Lionette’s Market.
- Three Mountain, West River Creamery (Londonderry, Vt), a raw cow’s milk cheese. A washed rind cheese. Semi-soft, bold and smooth, velvety, finishing with a salty tang. Available at Lionette’s Market.
- Ewe’s Blue, Old Chatham Sheepherding Co. (Old Chatham, NY), a sheep’s milk cheese. American Blue Cheese made in the Roquefort style with 100% sheep’s milk. Creamy texture and subtle blue overtone.
- Crystal Brook Chevre (Sterling, Mass.) This mild, unassuming chevre comes from a herd of 70 Apline and Saanen goats — and cheesemaker Ann Starbard. A rocking lady. Her husband Eric, BTW, is a sawyer — he produces lumber from the farm. They like to flavor their chevre. Today we have cranberry orange, garlic basil, cracked black pepper, sundried tomato and plain ole plain. Available at Copley, Davis Sq, Arlington and Newton farmers’ markets.
- Cabot’s Clothboound Cheddar (Cabot, Vt). This is pretty f’n good. It’s a cow’s milk cheese in a natural rind. Aged 10 months. It’s got the texture of an English-style cheddar but it’s got a sweet, milky, caramel-ly flavor. They make limited batches of this stuff. Check Whole Foods or Formaggio.
- Weybridge, Scholten Family Farm (Weybridge, Vt.), a pasteurized organic cow’s milk cheese. This is a delicate little cheese with a fluffy, whipped texture. Mmm. Tastes like farm. You can order this stuff online. Not so available in these parts.
- Landaff Creamery (Landaff, N.H.) A raw Holstein cow’s milk. This is inspired by Duckett’s Caerphilly and aged 60 days in Jasper Hill’s cheese cellar across the Connecticut River in Vermont. It’s tangy, clean, buttery — and it melts well. Online sales only through landaffcreamery.com.
- Two from Heartsong Camembert (Gilmanton Iron Works, NH), a goat’s milk cheese. This stuff is finished when it’s still ‘young’ at two weeks. By four weeks, the center is firm and white and surrounded by cream. Online sales only.And Valencay (Gilmanton Iron Works, NH), a goat’s milk cheese. This type of cheese was named by Napoleon, after the castle in Valençay, France! A creamier, firmer texture than many goat cheeses. Online sales only.
- Two from Jasper Hill Constant Bliss, Jasper Hill Farm, (Greensboro, Vt). This is a slow cheese made with fresh, right out of the cow, uncooled, evening milk. We’re talking raw whole milk, and the cheese is started before the cow’s even doing milking. Then it’s aged 60 days. The name: Constant Bliss was a revolutionary war scout killed in Greensboro by native Americans in 1781.Bayley Hazen Blue Jasper Hill Farm (Greensboro, Vt). This is a natural rinded blue cheese made with whole raw milk every other day, primarily with morning milk, which is lower in fat. It’s drier than most blues and has nutty, grassy, occasionally licorice-y flavors. The name: Bayley Hazen was an old military road across Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, commissioned by George Washington.Buy them at Lionette’s, Formaggio and Whole Foods.
- Fiore di Nonno, fresh mozzarella (Somerville). This is as local as it gets, people. Lourdes Smith will literally disabuse you of any previous notion you once held of ‘fresh’ mozzarella. Life-changing. Get it at farmers’ markets, Lionette’s, Dave’s Fresh Pasta and Dairy Bar.