Valley Shepherd Creamery – Watch the Video. America’s Heartland PBS episode 415 Dec 10, 2008. New Jersey is home to a different kind of farming operation. The Valley Shepherd Creamery makes a wide variety of cheeses from sheep’s milk. (6:12 minutes)
Contraband Cheese?
AT & MS started out at the Chinatown Farmer’s Market, but walked past the convention center to Historic Morrison Clark Inn (1015 L St. NW). From the NBC4 Blog: Enjoy the hotel’s happy hour by relaxing on the veranda, sipping Big Easy-themed cocktails, and snacking on southern specialties. 5:30-7:30 p.m.; $8 cocktails. After a Mint Julep and a Steel Magnolia, Wendell made his way over with Cheese from Whole Foods at Tenley. Wendell ordered a basket of bread, and we tried to discretely sample the cheese. It was a sheep night, and all was good. The staff were all so nice, but MS idea: A blog on how to best get served at local restaurants / bars — Do you wait at the table? Look for the host? Belly up to the bar?
Pastore (14.99 a lb). Raw sheep milk: Pastore Sini is a semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese with a firm texture and a nutty finish. Pastore is covered in a brown wax, which is indicative of the tradition to preserve cheese by rubbing mud on its exterior. This cheese has been produced by Sini Fulvi for more than twenty years in the Village of Nepi, Province in Lazio, Italy. 4 Stars WWT.
Fiore Sardo: Raw Sheep milk: Siore Sardo is banded by a hard, black, natural rind. This semi-hard cheese is sharp and savory and the slightest shavings of it brings simple, olive oil-dressed pasta alive.
Persille Du Malzieu (from Hever Mons). Origin: Lozère, France. Raw sheep’s milk, the other Roquefort, months spent in the caves of Peyrades produces a salty edge, wild mushroom flavor.
Let Them eat Roquefort
Tariffs set to be levied on a range of EU products including Roquefort and bone-in ham are being dropped. “It’s a great thing,” said Liz Thorpe of New York specialty shop Murray’s Cheese, which — fearing a tariff increase — had ordered 300 extra pounds of Roquefort. Most of her stash sold as customers learned the venerable French blue might be priced off store shelves, Ms. Thorpe said.
Bringing Home the cheese quote
From T5: Never mind the bacon, always bring home the cheese
Cheesing it at Founding Fathers
We went to Founding Farmers — A restaurant run by a collective of 40,000+ American family farmers — to celebrate WWT’s birthday May 11 (even though he was out of town.)
The cheese was kept out in glass domes on the bar, so we figured the “local” cheeses must be good. We ordered an appetizer called: “We want the Funk, Give up the Funk!” $16. The bartender didn’t quite know which was which — though he says it’s hard because they get new cheese every week.
• Today’s special rind-ripened cow’s milk cheese:
We think this was: Thistle Hill Tarentaise, jersey cow cheese. North Pomfret, Vermont.
• Today’s special rind-ripened goat cheese — from NJ? Not sure about this one.
• HOLLY SPRINGS, Sweet Grass Dairy, Thomasville, GA
Holly Springs is our aged, raw goat’s milk cheese. Fresh milk from our herd of Saanen, La Mancha and Nubian goats is handcrafted into wheels and aged 2 months. With an ivory paste and a semi-firm texture, Holly Springs has a warm, nutty flavor that lends itself well to a variety of culinary applications.
• BAYLEY HAZEN BLUE, Jasper Hills Farm, Greensboro, VT
Bayley Hazen Blue is a natural rinded blue cheese. It is made with whole raw milk every other day, primarily with morning milk, which is lower in fat. Ayrshire milk is particularly well suited to the production of blue cheese because of its small fat globules, which are easily broken down during the aging process. Though drier and crumblier than most blues, its texture reminds one of chocolate and butter. It is aged between 4 and 6 months. Bayley Hazen is named after an old military road that traverses the Northeast Kingdom. The road, commissioned by General George Washington was built to carry troops to fight the English on a Canadian front. Though no battle ever took place, the road brought Greensboro its first settlers and continues to be used.
Since we still have some of this in the fridge from the Sheep & Wool Festival, we asked for a substitute: EVERONA PIEDMONT, Everona Farms, Rapidan, VA, sheep. They said it was some type of cheddar — we liked it, and it was sheepy — but we still aren’t sure what kind it was. It tasted familiar, and they think it was from NJ. Could it have been from Valley Shepherd — where we made cheese.
We think one was Mt Tam – one of our favorites from California’s Cowgirl Creamery: Triple cream says it all — like butter.
MS & LL & AKT
Cheese we made arrives in DC
T&M came down to DC to visit and to celebrate his birthday. They brought one of the wheels of cheese we made last October at Valley Shepherd.
Our own wheel of sheep cheese
Valley Shepherd
milk: sheep
type: gouda
aged: October to March
Our very good sheep’s mild cheese that we made at the Vally Shepherd Dairy in New Jersey. It has been aged in their cave since October. Very nice, with comments of: rich, creamy, earthy, leather
other Cowgirl cheese at Angela’s
We had other cheese when T&M were down from NJ for his birthday.
Mount Tamalpais
CowGirl Creamery
milk: cow
type: triple cream
dairy: Straus Family Dairy
Buttery/cream, edible rind, umm…., that was good
Cabra la Mancha
Cowgirl Creamery
milk: goat
type: semi-hard
Goaty, firm, white unsalted/buttery
Pierce Point
Cowgirl Creamery
milk: cow
type: washed-rind
smooth, fruity, licorice, fermented, dried apricots
First of Valley Shepherd Cheese Eaten
Jan 31, 2009: The NJ folks picked up the first 3 cheese wheels at Valley Shepherd Creamery from our Oct 19, 2008 cheesemaking class. The phone message said, “The cheese is yummy.” Cheese eating party to be planned down South. M said it had complex flavors.
Cheese and Landscape Photography
We went to hear Frank Gohlke, a landscape photographer and subject of the exhibition Accommodating Nature Now through March 3, 2009 at the American Art Museum, presented a selection of readings from his catalogue essay entitled Stories in the Dirt, Stories in the Air. Learned more about Wichita Falls, Texas than I ever knew — his hometown. Both black and white and color photos. Cowgirl Creamery sponsored the reception afterward, and they did an excellent job. Very cool cheese cutter — and they had to change the wire several times. They had Mt Tam (Brie like — one of our favs from there) and St George (parmesan like). The photo is after I started eating it, but they had a nice combo of the 2 cheeses, some nuts and a toasted fruit/nut bread. Much prettier than other cheese events where they just let people dig in — and the cheese gets messy. The usual cheese foursome attended this free program. 
Poets have been mysteriously silent
Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. G. K. Chesterton
English author & mystery novelist (1874 – 1936)