"artisanalcheese" news and stories

Adelle. Photo: Murray's.

After spending months tasting mostly French cheeses, it's hard not to compare our diverse American cheeses to their European counterparts, especially Adelle from Ancient Heritage Dairy in Scio, Oregon. A taste of Adelle is like taking a bite of a phenomenally aged French goat's-milk cheese with an oozy texture and a flavor reminiscent of hazelnuts. What's remarkable about Adelle is that, despite this similarity, it's not a goat's-milk cheese.

In contrast to a French goat's-milk cheese like Pouligny Saint Pierre, Adelle's complex taste can be attributed to a combination of milks – that of East Friesian sheep and of Ayrshire Cows. While its rich taste and creamy consistency come from cow's milk, its meaty pungency and finish come from the addition of sheep's milk. Anne Saxelby, owner of Saxelby Cheesemongers, refers to mixed milk cheese as an "American innovation."

The reason for this American technique of mixing milk from different animals has to do with the seasonality of certain milks. For instance, sheep usually stop milking in October. "We could not afford to stop producing cheeses from October until the spring," says Kathy Obringer, co-owner of Ancient Heritage Dairy (with husband Paul). "So, one season, we used the cow's milk from a neighbor in exchange for cheese lessons, and we mixed it with our frozen sheep's milk."

Find out more about Adelle after the jump.

Abbaye de Belloc. Photo: Max Shrem

This summer Slashfood blogger Max Shrem is apprenticing at renowned Paris cheese shop Fromagerie Trotté. In 'Le Cheese Course,' Max will share his impressions and opinions of French cheese à la francaise!

When it comes to firm sheep's milk cheeses, most Americans are more or less familiar with Italian Pecorinos, like Pecorino Romano, and, of course, the renowned Spanish Manchego. But, in the Ossau valley in the French Pyrenees, cheesemakers also craft unique sheep's milk cheeses, like the famed Ossau-Iraty, and the less known Abbaye de Belloc.

These cheeses stand out due to their particularly sweet delicate flavor and firm, creamy texture that gradually melts on the palate. Among them, Abbaye de Belloc remains a gastronomic gem with its exceptionally well-balanced, smooth, unctuous texture, a result of the milk of the red-nosed Manech ewes (not to be confused with Santa's red-nosed reindeer, Rudolph).

"The best way to appreciate this kind of consistency is to eat a very thin slice," says Fromagerie Trotté's Jean-Philippe Trotte in Paris. "The thinner the slice, the better you'll take in the very sain [French for uncontaminated, healthy and wholesome] taste of the cheese's milk."

Pouligny Saint Pierre. Photo: Vincent M, Flickr

This summer Slashfood blogger Max Shrem is apprenticing at renowned Paris cheese shop Fromagerie Trotté. In 'Le Cheese Course,' Max will share his impressions and opinions of French cheese à la francaise!

Those interested in the aesthetics of chèvres that come in striking shapes and sizes will certainly be seduced by Pouligny Saint Pierre, a classic French goat's milk cheese shaped like a pyramid. Hailing from the region of Berry, close to the renowned châteaux of the Loire valley, this cheese has a distinctive floral aroma and grassy, nutty taste.

When it comes to French goat's milk cheeses like Pouligny Saint Pierre (and many others like Valençay) there are key differences in flavor and texture between ones imported to the United States and those eaten in France. In the United States, Pouligny Saint Pierre is sold fresh and has almost no rind, giving it a mild, fresh taste and cakey yet creamy texture. In France, however, because the cheese is made with raw milk and is aged to various degrees by affineurs, it comes in many more varieties.

There's no doubt about it: The cheese boom is in full swing.

Over the past several years, specialty shops have blossomed across the country, from southern California to Maine (including Blue Fog Market, Fromagination and The Cave), all with super-dedicated cheese selections. This month renowned Brooklyn, N.Y., restaurant Franny's became the latest eatery to open its very own specialty food shop, Bklyn Larder, just down the street.

Aside from an array of prepared foods cooked by chef Travis Post, Bklyn Larder has its own cheese room, with an appropriate humidity and temperature for aging and storing cheese. "This will enable us to carry larger amounts of cheese," says Francine Stephens, who, along with co-owner and husband Andrew Feinberg, co-founded the restaurant back in 2004.

In September of 2007, Feinberg attended the Slow Flood cheese festival in Bra, Italy to seek out unique and tasty cheeses to eventually carry at the still-in-the-planning-stages Larder. They can all be spied through the glass window of the shop's aging room. (Food voyeurs -- you know who you are -- beware!)

www.sweetgrassdairy.com

A culinary trip down to Georgia often includes shrimp and grits, barbecue, crispy flounder and red velvet cake. Now Green Hill, a creamy bloomy rind cow's milk cheese, can be added to that gastronomic list thanks to Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville, Ga.

Tasting a piece of Green Hill is like opening a taste bud treasure chest. Its lush creamy texture melts dreamily on the palate, leaving a pleasantly mild tang.

While Green Hill shares many characteristics with its imported French cousin, Camembert, it boasts a uniquely buttery consistency. And whereas most imported Camembert has become industrialized for the United States market, Green Hill remains a standout handmade farmstead cheese.