Mary Quicke’s Clothbound Cheddar rocks our November COTM Club

Gisele
Boston Post Dairy
Enosburg Falls, Vermont
Pasteurized Cow and Goat Milks

Boston Post Dairy is named after the Old Boston Post Stagecoach road, which runs straight through the farm property. Owned and operated by Robert and Gisele Gervais and their four daughters, they produce cheese from 190 goats, and 95 dairy cattle on their Green Pastures awarded Vermont Farm of the Year! Gisele is a 3-month aged Appenzell-style cheese made from a mix of goat and cow milk and finished with a wash of spiced apple cider. The aroma from the amber rind entices you with warm winter spices, and offers welcome flavors reminiscent of baked apple pie. We love to pair Gisele with Pommeau de Normandie – a delightful blend of apple cider and calvados (apple brandy) with dusty oak, vanilla, raisins, and warm winter spice complexity.

Donatello
Cedar Grove Cheese
Plain, Wisconsin
Pasteurized Sheep Milk

Donatello is a 6-month aged cheese from cheesemaker Bob Wills. Back in 1993, Bob and his Cedar Grove Cheese became the first dairy in the country to assure its customers that its products were rBGH-free. This semi firm cheese has a wonderful character of toasted hazelnuts and brown butter. Donatella offers a firm yet smooth texture and a sweet lingering finish; and is complimented by savory companions such as cured ham, and toasted nuts.
Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, or rBGH, is a synthetic hormone used by some farmers to increase milk production.

Clothbound Goat Cheddar
Quicke’s Traditional
Home Farm, Devon, UK
Pasteurized Goat Milk

For decades the Quicke’s name has been synonymous for high quality traditional English clothbound cow’s milk Cheddar. Mary Quicke and family have transformed their bucolic farm into a bustling complex of cheesemaking, culinary tourism, special event space, and direct farm to table dining.

Mary has been making fine goat cheddar for a few years in small-ish wheels around 20 lbs. Last year she began experimenting with the original and much larger 60lb Cheddar format she uses for her cow’s milk Cheddar. Goat Cheddar is hard to find, and rarely as good as the cheese you have before you. This is in part due to how goat milk yields goat cheese – the balance of fats, liquids, and proteins are not the same as cows milk; and also in part to the price of goat milk – most producers are not willing to age their goat cheese 4 months or longer, and subsequently produce younger cheese for immediate consumption and fast cash flow.

Our cheese arrived with a supply of promotional stickers claiming 6-month aged, but we are happy to tell you this wheel was made the last week of December 2014. The extra aging has served this cheese well as we find layers of toasted almonds and tart lemon curd flavors unfolding on our palate, with a milky, grassy finish we can’t resist.

Order your Cheese of the Month Club today