Cheese Rarities for our May Cheese of the Month Club

Our May Cheese of the Month Club features 3 of our seasonal favorites from Holland, Germany, and Vermont.  For more information about subscribing to our Cheese Club please follow the link here http://cheeseplus.com/wp-content/uploads/cotm-120208.pdf.

Terschelling Sheep Gouda

De Zeekraal

Terschelling Island, Holland

Pasteurized Organic Sheep Milk

This is a real rarity here, folks.  Terschelling is a small somewhat barren island on the northern coast of Holland facing the treacherous North Sea.  There’s not much there, just a long stretch of wind swept beaches littered with the remains of shipwrecks and lost cargo blown off cargo ships.  And of course, the De Zeekraal farm where the Bakker family raise sheep, make great cheese, ice cream, and hand cream from the rich sheep milk for their farm.  It’s a small island, with a small farm, so how lucky are we (and you, now) to acquire a few wheels of this special sheep Gouda?  These wheels are aged a good while, at least 6 months, and possess a dense texture that explodes into rich and savory layers of flavor.  It’s definitely Gouda, but with a more savory edge, kinda meaty and muttony (the technical term is lanolin), with just a little of the salty crunchy flavor crystals (sparkles as a customer once referred to them) starting to develop.

Sweet Emotions

Lazy Lady Farm

Westfield, Vermont

Pasteurized Goat and Cow Milk

Laini Fondilier, owner and cheesemaker of Lazy Lady Farm, produces a wide variety of cheese with unexpected, often politically themed names such as Tomme Delay (French Tomme-style) and Barick Obama (Brick shaped cheese).  We’re not sure if she named this tiny morsel of goodness after the famous Aerosmith song, but we’ve been humming the catchy tune all day as we pack up your COTM shipment.  Laini has been making cheese for more than 25 years – early on in her home kitchen when nobody cared for goat cheese and now today in her sustainably solar powered facility.  Sweet emotion is a soft ripened goat cheese with a touch of her neighbor’s sweet cow cream added to add body and richness.  Aged about 3 weeks, this is a wonderful spring season cheese for picnicking or to dust in breadcrumbs and sauté with a little butter for a toasty/creamy treat.  The rind adds an earthy mushroom character that matches well with simple charcuterie selections such as Prosciutto or Coppa, and can be enjoyed with a soft and fruity Rosé.

Zeiganalpkäse

Arturo Chiriboga

Pfronten, Allgäu, Germany

Pasteurized Goat Milk

Zeigenalpkäse – German for Goat cheese of the Alps.  Somehow it sounds more exotic in German, don’t you think?  This is a fun cheese we recently discovered from our German cheese importer.  Zeigenalpkäse is made by Ecuadorian-born cheesemaker Arturo Chirboga of famed Chiriboga Blue that we love so much.  The milk comes from a small herd of 100 goats that graze on the mountains that border Austria and Germany, so in many ways this is a multi-national cheese.  We often characterize unique cheese into categories we’re more familiar with, and we immediately mistook this as a goat milk Raclette because of its shape and soft pink exterior.  But upon tasting we found the cheese to be much sweeter than Raclette, and with a less stretchy texture.  This is a relatively young and vibrant cheese, about 2 months old and showing a nice balance of sweetness, nuttiness, a little earthy funk near the rind and a texture that’s perfect for shaving in salads or melting over potatoes.  With the weather warming up we’re really enjoying chilled white and Rosé wines with our cheese.  Try with a rich Sauvignon Blanc that has a touch of oak aging, or a supple Rosé of Pinot Noir or Syrah.  This is another rare cheese opportunity which we have the good fortune of sharing in your COTM package – enjoy!