Vaquero - Cheese Course

by Max Shrem, Posted Nov 10th 2009 @ 5:00PM

Photo: Willow Hill Farm.

The days when only Maytag Blue represented American blue cheese are long gone. From sweet and peppery Bayley Hazen Blue to the mineral-like taste of Tilston Point and the fruity pear flavor of Rogue River Blue, the options for American blue cheeses have dramatically increased. And, now, there's a new distinctly rustic blue cheese to add to this growing list -- Vaquero from Willow Hill Farm in Vermont.

Unlike other American blue cheeses, Vaquero has a creamy taste with a fascinating and delicious crispy dark chocolate flavor. "I would have to say it's the milk combination," explains Willow Smart, who co-owns the farm along with her husband, Dave Phinney. "We milk both sheep and cows, hence the yellow-ness from the cow's milk. We milk Brown Swiss and Dutch Belted cows, which always have very yellow milk as the beta-Carotene [red-orange pigment] from the pastures comes through in their rich milk."

Vaquero's rustic-looking rind, pale-yellow paste, and thick buttery consistency also make it stand apart from other blues. The natural exterior of the wheel appears similar to that of a Tomme de Savoie. Indeed, the cheese has the same brown Tomme de Savoie mold. Aged for three to five months, the molds, flavor and spreadable texture develop in caves that Willow and Dave built back in 1999.

As with other cheeses like Manchester and Salers, the cave has a lot to do with the overall development of Vaquero. "We built it [the cave] ourselves out of the excavated rock surrounding the hill it sits under," Smart says. "It is soft rock and the bedrock beneath has lots of fissures that allow the droplets of water to create an oh-so-humid cave!" It's precisely this humidity that helps create this high-moisture cheese. And to better understand Vaquero, it's important to not just consider its cave but also its Spanish name ("vaquero" means "cowboy" in Spanish), which reflects the Spanish influence. Think of the many cow-sheep Spanish blue cheeses, like Cabrales and Queso Azul de Valdeon, and subtract intense piquancy and add chocolate-like taste, and voilà, you've got Vaquero!

For Smart, the name Vaquero has a much more sentimental meaning. She explains that more than 170 years ago, her Hawaiian ancestors had the original vaqueros who migrated to California come to wrangle the wild cattle on their farm in Hawaii. It just so happens that this year the World Cheese Awards were held on the Spanish Canary Islands and it was at this event that Vaquero won the bronze award. While Smart says that her cheese was "loosely modeled" on a Spanish blue cheese, it is obvious after just one bite that this cheese stands out, even among pungent Spanish cheeses.

The quality of Vaquero can be attributed to 14 years of cheesemaking. In addition to Vaquero, Willow and Dave make several sheep's milk cheeses, including Autumn Oak, and cow's milk cheeses, like their Paniolo and Butternut. To taste Vaquero, or one of their other dairy delights, head to New England shop Artisan Food Store in Southbury, Conn., or to Murray's in New York City.

Filed Under: Cheese Course
Tags: america, artisan food store, ArtisanFoodStore, blue cheese, bluecheese, cheese, cheesecourse, murrays, vaquero, vaquero cheese, VaqueroCheese, vermontcheese, Willow Hill Farm, WillowHillFarm