Cheese Plate and Peach Salsa With Fresh Veggies From The Garden of The Man

From Top: Hopyard, Raw Milk Sharp Cheddar and Mountina

After our entrée last night The Lady served a Cheese Plate for dessert with fresh Peach Salsa that she made using veggies from The Garden of The Man. The Salsa recipe is posted over on our recipe blog and you can check it out by clicking here. The bounty from The Garden of The Man has been wonderful the last few weeks after a cold spring and cool summer.

The Lady served three cheeses that she bought in the Rogue Creamery Gift Shop last week with the fresh peach salsa. Perhaps it was a strange pairing, but with fresh fruit and veggies, one can never really go wrong.

The first cheese on the plate was Mountina, a mountain-style cheese from the “Alpine-ish” Mountains of Montana. Dwayne and Darryl of the Vintage Cheese Company decided to make an American Artisan cheese fashioned after the great Swiss cheeses like Le Gruyere and Emmenthal. Well, they succeeded. I found this cheese to be nutty and sweet in the center and a little richer as you approach the washed-rind that was also coated in a thin, breathable wax. Of the three, this was the perfect cheese to start our cheese plate adventure. Perhaps a bit milder than its inspiration but with a little more age, I suspect it will become heartier.

I give the Mountina 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: In addition to snacking, this would also make an excellent melting cheese for cooking.

Libation pairings will appear at the end of this review.

The second cheese was a Rogue Creamery creation in collaboration with Rogue Ales: Hopyard, a Rogue Creamery cheese mixed with Freedom Hops from the Chatoe Rogue Micro Hopyard in Oregon’s Wigrich Appellation (now that’s quite a mouthful, even for the Feline Foodie). The whole hops are de-stemmed by hand, steeped in hot water and mixed with the curds and then pressed into blocks. The result is a tasty cheese that even a non-beer drinker finds delightful. I suspect that if you love beer, then you will really take to this cheese.

I give Hopyard 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: Again, on a cheese plate you’ll be happy as a clam… or a cat… as the case may be…

The third cheese on the plate was the one that made The Man swoon and delighted The Lady and moi, as well: Raw Milk Sharp Cheddar. This cheese is crumbly with a distinct bite and a lingering bitterness that is the perfect finish for a sharp cheddar. We enjoyed all three but this cheese was our favorite. You can always count on cheddar being a hit around the manse.

I give the Rogue Creamery Raw Milk Sharp Cheddar 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: This is definitely both a snacking and cooking cheese. The Lady plans to use the rest of it with a larger wedge of Rouge Creamery Tou Velleto make a mac n cheese (the recipe will appear on our sister blog… stay tuned).

2005 Madrone Mountain Mundo Novo

Now for the libation pairings: The Man suggests the 75^th Anniversary Rogue Ale made by Rogue Ales to celebrate the 75^th Anniversary of Rogue Creamery.

The Lady served the 2005 Mondo Novo from Madrone Mountain, a port-style dessert wine made especially to be enjoyed with Rogue cheeses… and it was.

A bit of trivia, the brandy snifter in the picture is from the movie, Titanic, and is a replica of the crystal used on the maiden (and as it turns out, last as well) voyage of the Titanic. The filmmaker wanted everything authentic in the movie, right down to the china, silver and crystal.Later the props were sold through the catalog of J. Peterman and The Lady bought two as an anniversary gift for The Man.

And yet one more bit of trivia: Did you know that the Rogue Creamery Gift Shop in Central Point, Oregon has been named a Top Tourist destination in Oregon? The Lady said the morning her group was there, a steady stream of visitors were buying cheeses and wines. One group of four (two couples) from Northern California told The Lady they travel four and a half hours several times a year to visit the creamery and Fred Meyer. She added, “There’s nothing like Fred Meyer in California and that’s a shame.”

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Getting Rogued at Rogue Creamery

Rogue Creamery

(By clicking on the above picture, you will be able to view a slideshow of the entire trip.)

The Lady was invited to join six winning Fred Meyer Cheesemongers and two fine Ladies from DPI to make cheese at Rogue Creamery.

The winners were chosen based on their sales of Rogue Blue Cheeses at their kiosks and their merchandising abilities.

The trip began with a five-course dinner with Rogue Creamery Owners, David Gremmels and Cary Bryant, who graciously welcomed the group to their hillside home. Each course featured a different Rogue Cheese with Cary preparing several of the dishes including a wonderful, savory creme brulee that started the meal. The cheese course included the latest Rogue creation, Flora Nelle, a marvelous blue named after Cary and David’s Grandmothers. (The Lady brought home a wedge and we will be reviewing it soon…)

After an overnight stay at the Wine Country Inn in Jacksonville, Oregon, the Fred Meyer mongers traveled to Central Point and the cheesemaking facility of Award-Winning Rogue cheeses, including the 2011 Best of Show at the American Cheese Society Competition, Rogue River Blue. There, Cary, David and head cheesemakers, Craig and Jason, worked with the winners to make two vats of cheese:  Tou Velle and Oregon Blue. After aging, these cheeses will be sold exclusively at Fred Meyer Cheese Kiosks in early 2012. The Fred Meyer group learned they were the first group invited to make cheese at the Creamery – what an honor!!!

Shawn, a member of the Rogue family, led the group trough a Rogue Cheese Plate, a sack lunch was enjoyed and then the group headed out to tour the two sustainable dairy farms that provide the milk to Rogue Creamery.

Rogue Creamery is a leader in sustainable farming and cheesemaking, having been certified by Food Alliance, Oregon’s Tilth and Steritech. The guys shared with The Lady their choice of “sustainable” over “organic” (although they do make a couple of organic cheeses). Simply put, sustainable farming treats animals more humane than organic. With organic dairy farming, if an animal becomes sick, it is destroyed. Sustainable dairy farming allows treatment of the animal, pulling it from production until all antibiotics are out of the milk. As Cary said, “When I get sick, I take medicine; the doctor doesn’t put me down.” As an animal of the feline persuasion, all I can say is, “Whee… thank goodness for sustainability around the manse.”

They encourage recycling and energy conservation both at the Creamery and home. The Creamery is powered 100% in the summer by solar panels (which also provide about 30% during the winter); they recycle everything that can be recycled. If an employee rides a bike to work 45 times in a year, Rogue gives them a top-of-the-line bike. They pay bonuses for carpooling, biking and using public transportation. It’s amazing and it’s beyond admirable…

After touring the dairies, it was time to play and the group headed to Grants’ Pass and a four-hour dinner tour up the Rogue River on Hellgate Excursions‘ jet boats. Eighteen miles up the river, they stopped for a BBQ dinner at the OK Corral. Both up and down the river, the boat pilots treated the group to maneuvers that resulted in lots of wet clothes and gleeful screaming. They saw many osprey and two eagles on the adventure.

The next morning The Ladies stopped at the Rogue Gift Shop and loaded up  on cheese, wines and cheese pairings and headed back to reality…

The Lady asked that I make sure everyone at Rogue Creamery understands how special this opportunity was… so here’s a shout out to: David, cary, Sonja, Mimi, Chelsea, Meredith, Craig, Francis, Jason, Tom, Sue, Lacey, Shawn, Delmer, Holly, Huck, Andy, Gabe and Marcela, Brandon, MacKenzie and baby Mason… and the cheesemakers whose names she failed to get… it is a time that will not be forgotten…

Now for a final note… I’d like to bring it to each of my faithful reader’s attention that one more time, The Lady was hanging out with The Cheese Swells and I was left back at the manse with The Man… I have got to have a long conversation with The Brain about the balance of power around here… I’m in charge… although with The Lady off galavanting you’d never know it… and the biggest galavant to date is just 10 days away… The Lady leaves on the 13th to attend the Slow Food Cheese Festival in Bra, Italy and work as a monger at the American Cheese Booth with Cheese Swells from Rogue Creamery, Cow Girl Creamery, Vermont Butter Creamery, Jasper Hills Farm, Uplands Cheese Company, Cypress Grove, Kroger, Murray’s Cheese and AFI… there just is no justice…

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October Marks the First American Cheese Month

The American Cheese Society has named October “American Cheese Month” – all American cheeses… not that rubbery stuff… The Lady is attending a meeting next Monday afternoon at the Denver Headquarters of the American Cheese Society to help kick off this first ever American Cheese Month… stay tuned… we will post events as they unfold and are scheduled… woohoo!!!

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Sartori Gorgonzola Dolcino

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The Lady brought home a wedge of this delightful gorgonzola and The Man and I have enjoyed it three times this week. The first tasting was on warm French bread fresh from the oven and then The Lady used it to make a salad dressing which is featured on our recipe blog. She used the last to make a pasta and chicken dish that had The Man swooning for hours… it was almost embarrassing… but since it was The Man… not really much of a surprise. (Links to the recipes are below.)

Sartori Cheese in Wisconsin makes cheese that is always a hit around the manse. In addition to the Dolcino, they make the most-decorated Parmesan made in America, SarVecchio and one of my favorites, Bellavitano Gold. When The Lady was cooking last night, I caught a glimpse of a few other Sartori cheeses in the fridge… stay tuned… more reviews to come…

This is one creamy cheese; the cheesemaker adds extra cream and carefully ages this gorgonzola to perfection. On the blue scale, this is on the mild side but distinctive enough to satisfy even the most discerning turophiles. It’s smooth and silky; spreads easily on the warm bread. You will never regret adding this gorgonzola to your cheese board.

I give Sartori Gorgonzola Dolcino 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: The possibilities are endless. In three short days, The Lady served this cheese in three ways and each was a hit. The Salad Dressing she made was divine; but the chicken pasta dish she made was truly to die for… seriously… You can also pair this cheese with pairs and red grapes. The Lady served Dolcino on a cheese plate last year and you can read my thoughts by clicking here.

Wine Pairing: The Lady always likes a sweeter wine with her blues like a Port; but with the pasta dish, she chose her new favorite wine, Pinot Noir.

Beer Pairing: How about a Stout?

Source: Pasteurized Cow Milk

FTC Full Disclosure – The cheesemaker/manufacturer sent me their product, hoping I would review the product/cheese.

Select American Cheese Society 2011 Winners

 

One of our favorite cheese memories was hanging with the Cheese Swells last year in Seattle for the 2010 ACS Conference. Fortunately or unfortunately (looking at it from both sides), The Lady spent this year’s ACS Conference time in Denver opening a new Murray’s Cheese at the Glendale King Soopers.

On Friday, the ACS announced its 2011 cheese competition winners and the Pacific Northwest brought home the Best of Show for the second time in the past three years with Rogue River Blue. It was a bittersweet win for David Gremmels and Cary Bryant of Central Point, Oregon’s Rogue Creamery. The American Artisan Cheese World lost its Godfather, Ig Vella, this year and in the early 2000’s Ig sold Rogue Creamery to David and Cary… but only after teaching them to make cheese… Ig was a very wise man in so many ways but to require the men to learn the art was one of his wisest demands…

For a complete list of winners, please click here.

The list below is of partial winners; all of which The Lady and I have reviewed:

Best of Show: Rogue River Blue

2^nd Place (Tie): Carr Valley’s Cave Aged Marisa

 

Winners in their respective categories:

Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese’s Mascarpone (1^st)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery’s Mascarpone (3^rd)

Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam (2^nd)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery’s Coupole (2^nd)

Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog Grande (3^rd)

Beecher’s Flagsheep (3^rd)

Sartori’s Reserve BellaVitano Gold (3^rd)

Tumalo Farm’s Rimrocker (2^nd)

Sartori’s Limited Edition Pastorale Blend (3^rd)

Beehive Cheese Company’s Barely Buzzed (1^st)

Rogue Creamery’s Chocolate Stout Cheddar (3^rd)

Beecher’s Marco Polo Reserve (1^st)

Beecher’s Four Year Flagship (2^nd)

Tillamook County Creamery Association’s Vintage White Extra Sharp Cheddar (3^rd)

Beecher’s Flagship Reserve (3^rd)

DCI Cheese Company’s Salemville Blue Cheese (2^nd)

DCI Cheese Company’s Black River Gorgonzola (3^rd)

Hook’s Cheese Company’s Little Boy Blue (1^st)… Boy did The Lady and miss it on this one…

Emmi Roth USA’s Gran Queso (2^nd)

BelGioioso’s Cheese’s Sharp Provolone Mandarino (3^rd)

Sartori’s Sarvecchio Parmesan (1^st)

BelGioioso’s Burrata (1^st)

Sartori’s Reserve Black Pepper BellaVitano (1^st)

Beecher’s Smoked Flagship (3^rd)

Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese’s Petit Frere Reserve (3^rd)

Tumalo Farms’ Classico (1^st)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery’s Crottin (3^rd)

Sartori’s Reserve Merlot BellaVitano (3^rd)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Company’s Crème Fraiche (1^st)

Vermont Butter and Cheese Company’s Cultured Butter (3^rd)

LaClare Farms Specialties’ Evalon (1^st)

Uplands Cheese’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve (1^st)

Consider Bardwell Farm’s Rupert (2^nd)

Widmer’s Cheese Cellars’ Washed Rind Traditional Brick (3^rd)

 

The Lady and I have at least 100 more cheeses to review and many of them won awards at this year’s ACS Competition including the following winners:

Tillamook County Creamery’s Monterey Jack; Tillamook County Creamery’s Colby; Carr Valley’s Cocoa Cardona; Carr Valley’s Cave Aged Mellage; Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery’s Cremont (including an ice cream using Cremont); Carr Valley’s Caso Bolo Mellage;Carr Valley’s Billy Blue; Rogue Creamery’s Echo Mountain; Cello Riserva Copper Kettle Parmesan; Sartori’s Reserve Espresso BellaVitano; Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy’s Green Chile Jack; Emmi Roth’s Rofumo; Spring Brook’s Tarentaise; Cypress Grove’s Purple Haze… stay tuned…

 

Up next on the blog (later today): Looking Back… Looking Forward: Cheesemonger’s Weblog Celebrates it’s Third Year Anniversary This Week… that’s a lot of blogging…

What Cheese Nerds Do On Their Days’ Off

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The Lady brought home lots of re-pack labels from Denver and made collages to hang in both our home office and her work office… this is what cheese nerds do in their spare time… cheese, glorious cheese:

Reypenear Goudas from Wyngaard Kaas

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The Dutch Cheesemaker, Wyngaard Kaas naturally ripens its cheese in an old warehouse located on the Old Rhine River in Woerden, Netherlands. The one hundred-year old warehouse contains shutters which open and close to adjust and control the micro-climate inside the building. In the winter, additional heating is added. By using natural methods to age their cheeses, Wyngaard Kaas allows the cheese to age at its own pace and the cheesemakers sell their cheese when it’s ready. “Factory” (think “industrial”) cheese, on the other hand, is aged in warehouses where the temperature is kept artificially low and the humidity artificially high aging the cheese more quickly with little loss of weight. By aging naturally, Reypenear cheeses lose as much as 25% of their weight during the process; but the end product is superior and the cheesemakers are willing to sacrifice money for quality.

These cheeses are made only during the months when the cows are free to eat grass in the pastures of The Netherlands. Even though the milk is pasteurized you can still taste the grass and flora nuances that make these cheeses taste even better. The producer buys the milk from a co-operative and pays a premium for the milk in order to guarantee the farmers will continue to allow the cows to graze outdoors.

The Lady and I recently tasted both the one-year Reypenear Gouda and the two-year Reypenear VSOP. And, in case you were wondering, our love for aged gouda continues here at the manse. The Lady’s “first love” in specialty cheeses was Rembrandt and many aged goudas later, that love continues to blossom and bloom. It’s pretty clear; we have never met an aged gouda we didn’t like…

The first we tasted is the Reypenear One Year gouda. This cheese is creamy and soft with a nice lingering, buttery taste. This Award-Winning cheese is at home on a cheese board and is delightful when added to your favorite grilled cheese. And, here’s a surprise, The Lady would gladly add this to one of the many mac n cheese dishes she loves to create and serve to The Happily-Swooning Man…

I give the one year Reypenear 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Wine Pairing: A lighter Pinot Noir would be a nice pairing

Beer pairing: How about a Brown Ale

Source: Pasteurized Milk from Pasture-fed Cows

The older sister of the One-Year Reypenear is the Two-Year VSOP Gouda. This gouda intensifies with its age; the caramel, the butterscotch and the fruity flavors all merge here to bring complexity to a cheese that melts on your palate. Filled with those luscious protein crystals that explode with even more flavor, it just doesn’t get any better than VSOP from Raypenear.

I give Repenear VSOP 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got… and I might add, it’s all I need…)

Serving Suggestions: Please your guests with a cheese platter with this cheese and grapes, apricot preserves and 34° Natural Crackers. They will love you and be impressed at how cool you are… You can also add this to your favorite pasta dish or mac n cheese.

Wine Pairing: A full-bodied Cabernet would pair quite nicely.

Beer Pairing: Belgian Ale

Spirit Pairing: Scotch or Bourbon

Source: Pasteurized Milk from Pasture-fed Cows

Awards: 2007 – Nantwich Cheese Show: Gold for Best Gouda

Westfield Farm Capri

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Vegetarian-Suitable – Made Using Microbial Rennet

Naturally Lowfat Cheese

There’s a Humankind Adage that “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”… The Lady is a testament that the adage is NOT always true. When she and I began this cheese journey, one of our earliest tastes of goat cheese was a hard goat cheddar that no doubt was the result of the billy goat getting more than a tad too close to the milking parlor. That cheese was vile and you can review my less than flattering review by clicking here.

We were convinced that no goat cheese would ever receive a 4 Paws review. Little-by-little, we found goat cheese adoration in Cypress Grove’s Midnight Moon and true goat cheese love came our way when we met Rhonda Gothberg and the Gothberg Farms Chevre and Goat Goudas.

While in New York last week, The Lady ate a Murray’s Cheese Vegetable Sandwich that included Fresh Goat Chevre from Westfield Farm. The Westfield Capri is made every Monday and arrives at Murray’s early on Tuesday. The Capri sells out before the week is over and customers must wait until the following Tuesday for the next delivery.

Located in Central Massachusetts, Westfield has been making award-winning farmstead cheese since 1971. In 1996, their Capri Bluebonnet won Best of Show at the American Cheese Society Competition. Westfield sells most of their cheeses to finer restaurants and specialty cheese shops like Murray’s; however if you aren’t in Greenwich Village you can order from their website to satisfy your Westfield Jones…

The Westfield Farm Capri is made from pasteurized goat milk and was less than a week old when The Lady ate it on her veggie sammy. It’s pure white with a soft, creamy texture. It has a rich, tangy, citrus taste that lingers and satisfies.

I give Westfield Farm Capri 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: This is a cheese you can use as a substitute for cream cheese and because of its naturally lower fat content (compared to sheep and cow milk cheeses) you can generously spread it, guilt-free, on a baguette and enjoy a feast with a bowl of berries.

Wine Pairing: Sancerre or a light white

Beer Pairing: Lambic

Source: Pasteurized Goat Milk

Todd Trethowan’s Gorwydd Caerphilly

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Made Using Raw Milk

All right, I admit that the first review I wrote of a Caerphilly was less than flattering and quite a few of you, my loyal readers, took the time to let me know what an ignorant jackass I was… in my defense, what The Lady and I tasted was a slimy, cryovaced, rindless, white cheese that tasted like grade school paste.

This week The Lady returned from New York and she brought home a wedge of Todd Trethowan’s Gorwydd Caerphilly… holy smokes… this Caerphilly is nothing like what we tasted back in the day…

Originally, Caerphilly was made back in the 18^th Century as a way to use leftover milk. In the 1830’s it became a viable source of income for English Dairy Farmers and somewhere along the way, the Caerphilly train fell off the tracks and became what I tasted and hated.

Caerphilly, with its thick, natural rind was a favorite of Welsh coal miners because it could be eaten with dirty hands. Not only did it make a nutritious lunch in the mines, but the miners believed that the cheese absorbed some of the toxic fumes that often were present in the tunnels. This belief was so widely assumed, that the cheese became an export to other coal mining areas of England.

In 1996, Todd Trethowan returned Caerphilly cheesemaking to the way it is supposed to be… Now Maugan and Kim Trethowan carry on his tradition.

This raw cow milk cheese with its natural velvety rind resembles in no way the cheese I hated… under the natural rind, is a breakdown layer that is creamy and mushroomy. This creamy layer surrounds a crumbly paste that is tart with a pronounced lemon tang. The rind is earthy, chewy and edible; don’t throw it away.

We love this cheese; this cheese is one that I hope The Lady will bring home often and in large wedges. I could die happily with Caerphilly grasped in my paws…

I give Todd Trethowan’s Gorwydd Caerphilly 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got). 

Serving Suggestion: This cheese deserves an honored place on your cheese plate. Serve it with a few grapes and a little rustic bread and you have a delightful meal.

Wine Pairing: A fruity red is an excellent choice.

Beer Pairing: Try a golden wheat beer; it’ll make the lemon really zing…

Source: Raw Cow Milk

Awards: This cheese has won at least one award every year since Todd began making this cheese.

Trivia: The cheese is named after the farm where the Trethowans make it. The farm is located near the Village of Llanddewi Brefi, in Ceredigion, West Wales.

Green Dirt Farm Farmstead Bossa

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Vegetarian-Suitable – Made using Microbial Rennet

A washed rind, sheep milk cheese made in the USA? Made in Missouri; the heart of Cow-land… how did this happen??? Luckily for all of us cheese nerds, a group of women own and operate a farm in the Missouri River Valley northwest of Kansas City… like I said… Cow-land…The sheep they raise are pasture-fed using strict rotation pasture feeding first developed in New Zealand. The Ladies of Green Dirt Farm, Sarah and Jacqueline, also believe in humane treatment of the animals they raise, allowing them plenty of room to roam and play with their friends and eating foods that are right for their bodies. The farm has received the “Animal Welfare Approved” Seal.

Now for the Bossa… a nova cheese for moi… This sheep milk cheese is washed as it ages giving it that distinctive funky, meaty aroma that The Man adores… The orange rind is edible, as are most washed rind cheeses, and inside is a mushroomy, nutty somewhat firm paste that melts in the mouth. With age it becomes softer and maybe a little gooey. It peaks in the 60-80 day range, so know your supplier.

When your guests start swooning, you can blame it on the bossa…

I give Green Dirt Bossa 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: On a cheese plate, it satisfies that “Something Stinky” position. Serve it with a warm baguette and a dab of apricot preserves. You can add it to a grilled cheese and you’ve got yourself a winner with a couple slices of prosciutto.

Wine Pairing: A sweet, dry wine.

Beer Pairing: ESB

Awards: 2009 American Cheese Society Winner

Source: Pasteurized Sheep Milk