Usually, the thought of goat's milk cheeses conjures up images of small, freshly ripened, creamy-to-crumbly chèvres, like the French Valençay or Brad Parker's ashed log, which come in pyramid and log shapes, respectively. Little Bloom on the Prairie, from Prairie Fruits Farm in Champaign, Ill., defies all such expectations. When ripe, its texture turns into a succulent cream that slowly oozes from its rind. (Trust us, that's tastier than it sounds).
Little Bloom on the Prairie is a goat's milk cheese with a bloomy rind similar to Mont Vivant, but with a luscious consistency that make its texture more comparable to a rich Brie. Still, even though the cheese's silky touch matches that of a bloomy rind, its flavors are distinctly herbal, floral and even grassy (tastes often associated with goat's milk cheeses). In short, based upon its texture and appearance (this bloomy rind cheese is in the format of a smaller Camembert), Little Bloom on the Prairie seems like a typical runny cow's milk cheese.
As with life, however, appearances can be deceiving: A bite of this fromage reveals an unexpected yet pleasant tang.
In France, this combination of characteristics might be more common.
"When making Little Bloom on the Prairie, our inspiration was the myriad of soft-ripened cheeses made from goat's milk in France," says Leslie Cooperband, co-owner (along with husband Wes Jarrell) of Prairie Fruits Farm. "We follow a Camembert recipe as a rough guide, but have added our own touches to make the cheese our own."
In fact, it's called "little" because it's smaller than a traditional Camembert and Brie. The rest of its name derives from the fact that it's a bloomy rind cheese from the wet prairie of central Illinois.
Humidity plays a key role in the aging process. The cheese sits in an aging room that is kept at 50- to 52 degrees F and 96- to 98-percent humidity. "It takes about four weeks to age under those conditions, during which time we flip the cheeses every other day," Cooperband says.
But it's not merely this aging that produces such an exceptional, unctuous goat's milk cheese. The milk comes from Nubian and La Mancha goats and also Nubian-La Mancha crosses. Both breeds are known for milk with a high butterfat content. Cooperband points out that Nubian milk is particularly sweet, with "an exceptionally creamy and clean flavor."
Long before making Little Bloom on the Prairie, Cooperband was an associate professor of soil science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She first tried cheesemaking back in 1989, when she took a cheese course in Costa Rica that focused on queso fresco. After a long hiatus, she produced her first batch of fresh chèvre in November 2004.
Although she took several more classes after 2004, she says that most of her learning came the old-fashioned way, from hands-on experience. "The vast majority of my learning has been trial and error; reading books; looking at cheese books; tasting different cheeses and trying to see if I could make them," Cooperband says.
We're glad, to say the least, that she hit the books. It's a cheese worth hunting down.
Prairie Fruits Farm's Little Bloom on the Prairie is available from the middle to end of April through December (sometimes into early January). The farm sells the majority of its cheeses (which also include a raw milk tomme-style cheese called Moonglo) at the following farmer's markets: Urbana, Green City Market in Chicago, and Oak Park Farmers Market in Oak Park, Ill. It is also available in select cheese shops in Chicago, including Pastoral and Marion Street Cheese Market, and soon will be found in some Whole Foods in the greater Chicago area. If you live on the East Coast, you will be able to find Little Bloom on the Prairie at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, Mass.
