Author: wendell

We went up to New Jersey to Valley Shepherd Farms and made cheese. It will be ready in 3 months.

There are some pictures up on flickr
here

Pecorina Romano
italian sheep

Cordobes
cow?

Greek Manouri(?)
goat

I got these from Whole Foods. Romano and Cordobes were good. I got the goat only because it was cheap.

Wensleydale
Mainly because it is mentioned in the Monty Python sketch. It is a rather unique tasting cheese, but I like it.

Saga Blue
very good.

l’edel de Cleron
it tastes better than it smells

Don’t remember what these are, but I think they’re from Cowgirl

MCS and MLS made fondue. MCS and K were visiting, and this was their first cheese tasting. We wanted to make sure we had enough cheese. The fondue pot is MCS’s and she and MLS grated cheddar and gouda with white wine and a touch of brandy. It’s nice to have cooks in the kitchen while you are away.

I went to Calvert Woodley to get cheese to balance out WWT birthday cheese from North Carolina. It wasn’t as busy as usual, so it was great fun to taste. One cheese have gave me tasted too much like cream cheese, so I didn’t get that. They were also tasting pastrami — I don’t remember it tasting so good and garlicky, so I got that and Virginia ham for the guys — they can’t just have salad like us. The Ms already had some good bakery bread. Chocolate Moose Chocolate and NC strawberries for dessert.

Ashe Co. Cheese Curds
North Carolina cows

Our first time having cheese curds at a tasting. David sent this from North Carolina. Some of us liked them, some didn’t. It squeaked when you ate it. Different flavor than Wisconsin curds. K gave it the highest score. Even though it was their first tasting, both MLS and K were good at describing what they liked and didn’t like.

Belletoile
triple cream french cows

Since MCS was attending, we had to get at least one triple-cream. It was very good, as usual. K hadn’t liked the Brie he’d tried at N’s art opening the night before, but we told him it was because it wasn’t at room temperature.

Ashe Co. Mild Cheddar
cheddar
North Carolina cows

Another N.C. cheese from David. It would be great on hamburgers. And definitely mac and cheese.

Camboloza
invented in early ’70s
brie with blue

Cambozola is a cow’s milk cheese that is a combination of a French soft-ripened triple cream cheese and Italian Gorgonzola. It was patented and industrially produced for the world market by large German company Champignon in the 1970s. The cheese (originally called Bavaria Blu), was invented circa 1900 and is still produced by the Bergader family in the Chiemgau region of Bavaria.

very good. I loved it, and N even brought some by from another store along with her artwork after class — it was an abstract painting that started out as boats but looked like a cityscape — art always ads to the cheese tasting.

Even though we still have most of the Cannonball left, we couldn’t resist getting some Virginia farmstead sheep’s milk cheese at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

Cannonball
referenced previously

Stony Man
milk: sheep (of course)
region: Everona Dairy Virginia farmstead

Very good, but a bit oily. We all liked it & would recommend it highly.

Marble
milk: sheep (of course)
region: Everona Dairy Virginia farmstead

Another from the same dairy, very good.

Friday, April 25 from 5-7 at Johnny’s Half Shell, sponsored by our local Cowgirl Creamery and a local wine distributor.

St Pat
milk: Pasteurized Cow
type: soft
ST PAT is our seasonal springtime cheese. These rounds are made with whole organic milk (a bit of cream is now being added to soften the texture) and are wrapped with stinging nettle leaves. Do not fear the nettles, since they are frozen to remove the sting before they are wrapped around the cheese.

Roth Käse
milk: ?
type: Gruyere, I think
The next one she said was Roth Käse, from Wisconsin, but in looking that up it is a company that makes lots of kinds of cheese. We liked this one the best.

St. Nectaire
milk: raw cow
type: soft
We’ve had this one several times before. A bit smelly, but tastes good.

Tome de Savoie
milk: raw, from French cows
type: semi-hard
Mild cheese from Haute-Savoie. Has tiny whole. Semi-hard texture and nutty flavor. Also called Tomme de Baudonnes.

Melissa was checking out cheese on woot.com, and found a good deal on a 3.5 lb ball of Bravo Farms Tulare Cannonball. After a brief email discussion, we decided, of course, that we had to get it.

Bravo Farms Cannonball
milk: raw California cow
type: Edam

We liked it. We’ve been eating it for a few days, but it is still very good. We’ll probably make fondue with it also.  Still, it’s a lot of Edam cheese!

It was the first cheese night in Burlington, and all of the cheese was from the local Harris-Teeter. It was our first time getting the mini-wheel of the St. André, which made for a nice presentation. The other cheeses were fine also. Everyone rated all of the cheeses highly. The comte was good on toast for breakfast.

St. Andre
French cows
type: triple cream

St. André is made from cow’s milk and enriched with pure cream. St. André is also fairly rare. Containing no less than 75% butterfat for every 100 grams of cheese, St. André is commonly agreed to be 50% richer than the average Camembert. This cheese is a favorite of our cheese boards!

Asiago
Italian cows
type: hard

The rind is thin and elastic. The interior is straw white, slightly more golden in color if aged. The paste is elastic and contains holes but, depending on the aging, it may also be granular with small cracks. The cheese’s scent recalls milk fresh from the cow, and its taste is sweet and balanced, more accentuated and flavorful in the aged version.

Comte
French cows
type: semi-hard

Comté (also called Gruyère de Comté) is a French cheese made from unpasteurized cow’s milk in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Comté has the highest production figures of all French AOC cheeses, making around 40,000 tonnes annually. Its name is French for ‘county’, and is named after the Franche-Comté region. The rind is usually a dusty-brown colour, and the internal pâte is a pale creamy yellow. The texture is relatively hard and flexible, and the taste is mild, slightly sweet, and ‘nutty’.

Tony & Maura came to visit this weekend and brought some nice sheep cheese from a creamery in northern New Jersey. Although Maura thought we took too much preparation time, they enjoyed it a lot, and the cheese event was very nice. (In Maryland it is illegal to sell raw milk, so we have to depend on out-of-staters to smuggle in raw milk cheese!)

Cowgirl Triple Creme
(left over from the tasting at Melissa’s, still very good)

Baby Shepherd
raw sheep’s milk
type: 1lb wheel, semi-soft
New Jersey, Valley Shepherd Creamery

A small 1lb wheel of sheep’s milk cheese. Very real cave aged farmstead cheese.
at, mt, tt, ms, wt: good

Oldwick Shepherd
raw sheep’s milk
type: hard
New Jersey, Valley Shepherd Creamery

A cave ripened, raw milk cheese that develops a brownish–white mold exterior during its 3-4 month stay in our cave. Great earthy aroma, nutty smooth finish. Just a wonderful Pyrenees style sheep’s milk cheese.
at, mt, tt, ms: good; wt: very good

Shepherd’s Basket
raw sheep’s milk
type: hard
New Jersey, Valley Shepherd Creamery
A mold ripened traditional Basque raw milk cheese aged a minimum 4-5 months in our cave. The basket imprint may remind you of a Manchego but the flavor is deeper.
at, mt, tt, ms, wt: good

Blue d’Auvergne
cow
France, Calvert Woodley

We just needed a blue to round things out.
at, mt, tt, ms, wt: good