Valencay

Valencay is a storied goat's milk cheese from Valencay, France.  It has an aggressive look about it, with its pyramidal shape and intensely moldy rind, but it is really quite a friendly and accessible cheese.

Cutting into that brilliant mold reveals a snow white, thick, sweet-smelling goat cheese paste.  I was really struck by the texture of this cheese - it is SO very dense that it has the texture of refrigerated butter, almost.  Very smooth, very rich, soft and yet almost firm.

The flavor is a delightful mix of the mildest aspects of goat cheese plus a lemony sweetness that reminds me almost of dessert.  This is a real stunner of a cheese that will blow your guests away with its refined taste and bold look. 

The story of Valencay cheese, incidentally, is that Napoleon stopped at Valencay Castle on his way back from a failed Egyptian campaign and noticed the pyramid-shaped Valencay cheese.  To avoid the painful associations, he lopped off the top of the cheese, making it a topless pyramid.

A delicious cheese with a rich history - you can't beat that.  I cannot recommend this cheese enough!

Majorero Pimentón

My Exotic & Rare cheese collection from Artisancheese.com arrived. I opened the box to find another box:

 I opened this attractively designed box to find these inside:

Oh! How lovely.  From left to right: Testun Al Barolo, Barely Buzzed, Majorero Pimentón, and Vervacious Cinque Terre Apricot Mostarda.  (not pictured: a small package of artisan crackers.)


Well, you can just imagine how excited I was.  I was very impressed with the packaging and attention to presentation shown by Artisan Cheese.  They also included a pamphlet with detailed descriptions of all of my cheeses, and suggested wine pairings.  I definitely got my money's worth, and I'll be ordering from them again in the future.  Now, on to the first cheese:

Majorero Pimentón
This is a raw milk goat cheese made in Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands.  Its rind is liberally coated in pimentón pepper, which is also known as smoked paprika - but the Spanish version seems both smokier and spicier.


Majorero is a hard, dry cheese with a mildly buttery aroma (once you cut past the smoky, spicy rind).  The taste is really out of this world.  I couldn't get enough.  It's salty and vibrantly milky-tasting, but the peppered rind imbues it with a warm, smoky fullness as well.  You can really get in touch with the goat's milk used to make it.  It's very "natural" tasting.  It also looks great, as you can sort-of see in the photo above (phone camera + bad lighting).


Majorero Pimentón is a truly impressive and exotic cheese that is still accessible to anyone's palate.  I can't recommend it enough.  Serve it with Spanish accompaniments like ham, almonds, fig jam, and such.  It'll blow your mind.


RATING: 5 Stars

Cypress Grove Chevre: Purple Haze

Purple Haze at the Cypress Grove Website

Purple Haze is a fresh goat cheese flavored with Lavender and Fennel Pollen. Now generally speaking, I don't like things that are flavored with Lavender. Lavender is a soap-category herb, for me. I always feel like I'm eating soap.

This fantastic little goaty cheese certainly changed my mind where Lavender is concerned. The flavor is absolutely divine. Slightly otherworldly, even. The mixture of lavender, fennel pollen and fresh, creamy, tangy, sweet goat cheese cannot even be properly described until you taste it, so go and taste it and then get back to me. It's like goat cheese that has been sprinkled with magic fairy dust, by a real live fairy. Dark and mysterious, yet fresh, bright, and sparkly - all at once!

Purple Haze will naturally make you think of using it in a salad, but I think it can really be used anywhere and everywhere you would use a goat cheese. Salad, cheese plate, pizza, pasta, you name it, this cheese will take it to the next level.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Tuxford & Tebbutt English Mature Cheddar

http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/prodview.aspx?prod=2247S

Do you like cheddar cheese? Have you tried this particular cheese? If you haven't, your cheddar experience is woefully incomplete.

Tuxford & Tebbutt mature cheddar is white, dense, and coated in chic black wax. It is incredibly sharp and rich. One paper-thin slice and your head will nearly explode with the intensity of the flavor. It is like sharp cheddar times ten. It's creamy and velvety. It is by far the best cheddar I have ever tasted in my life.

It is brilliant in a cheese plate and goes great with red wine. You could also use it to great effect in cooking, if you're willing to cook with such pricey cheese. Tuxford & Tebbutt has a great reputation in the cheese world; the iGourmet link above gives an overview of their history and high standards. Now, go out and get some of this cheese. You won't regret it.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Fromage D'Affinois de Brebis

http://cheeselibrary.com/fromage_daffinois_de_brebis.html

Fromage D'Affinois de Brebis is a GREAT sheep cheese. If you've never tried sheep milk cheese before, start with this one. But make sure you are getting the "de Brebis" variety with the cute little Ewe on the label - there is at least one other variety of Affinois cheese made from cow's milk.

The texture of this cheese is ultra-soft and gooey - as it sits out and comes to room temperature, it will start to run, so make sure you contain it somehow. It smells totally sheep-y, but not bad. ("sheep-y", to me, suggests a sort of musky, earthy smell, not unlike a strong mushroom.) The rind has an interesting texture too, and is fun to eat.

Brebis tastes really awesome and complex, and I assure you that you will love it. It's kind of salty, yet buttery, creamy, nutty, and almost meaty even. There's definitely a strong aspect of what white people call "umami" in this cheese. Glop it on to some crusty bread and thank me later.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Saint Marcellin

http://www.artisanalcheese.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PC-10635

Before I talk about this amazing cheese, let me say something about "Stinky" cheeses and how they are often marketed and discussed online.

If you are the kind of person who regularly window-shops for and orders cheese online, you'll have no doubt seen the Stink Apologists on the gourmet food websites using vague, flowery language to try and convince you that the cheese doesn't really smell bad. If you see phrases in cheese descriptions like "mushroomy", "smells of the farm" (that sounds nice, right?), "unforgettable aroma", etc. , it's very likely that the cheese you are thinking of buying actually smells like a pile of rotting garbage. And the writer trying to fool you into thinking that the cheese smells of farm-fresh grass, rather than farm-fresh manure, will tend to reassure you that the actual flavor of the cheese is quite mild and innocuous, compared to the "unique" smell.

Now, a stinking cheese is not always a bad thing, of course. And there really ARE cheeses that smell nasty yet taste great. I just don't see why, if the stink of a cheese is one of its defining features, anyone would want to lie and say it smells "intriguing" when the truth is, it just stinks. I've definitely been fooled ordering cheese online before; sometimes I really do want a stinky cheese, but I need to know upfront just HOW badly the cheese is going to smell. Buyer beware.

Anyway. Saint Marcellin is an incredibly gooey French cheese. It is so gooey that (in its young form) it comes in a cute little clay pot, because it is basically liquid. You get some crusty bread and use a spoon to basically pour the cheese onto the bread. Then you eat it and go, "Holy shit, this cheese is delicious". But it stinks, and that's why I included the above ramblings. It doesn't stink terribly; on a stink meter of 1-10 I would probably rate it a 4 or 5; but you should still know that it will smell funky when you open it up. Cheese is inherently kind of a gross thing, so this is natural. The great thing about Saint Marcellin, though, is that unlike some stinky cheeses I've tried, it REALLY tastes good. It is mild, very creamy, nutty, sophisticated, multi-layered and delightful. You'll forget you ever smelled it.

Recommendations? See crusty bread above. Sure, there are probably tons of great uses for this cheese in terms of food pairings. But in my opinion, it's so good that it deserves to be eaten alone.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Beecher's Fresh Curds - Market Herb

http://www.beechershandmadecheese.com/shop_beecherscheeses_curds_market.html

From Beecher's website:
"Fresh Curds are bite-size nuggets of fresh cheese, also known as "squeaky cheese"."

So, have you tried cheese curds before? They're not very common on the west coast. They are, indeed, small, bite-size nuggets of the freshest, curdiest cheese. They have a firm texture and a very mild flavor. And they really are "squeaky". As you chew on them, they make little squeaking noises in your mouth. It's weird at first, but then you kind of get addicted to it. Or maybe that's just me.

But cheese curds in general are just "pretty good" or "fine". Beecher's cheese curds, especially the ones tossed in olive oil and fresh herbs, are....... A MAZ ING.

In fact, if you happen to buy a tub of these (plan on ordering online if you're not in the Pac NW), I highly recommend having 1-2 other people around to help you eat them. Because otherwise, you will eat the entire tub by yourself in about fifteen minutes. That might not be so good for you. The mix of herbs that they use is bizarrely extra-delicious. The curds themselves are perfect - fresh, mild, chewy, squeaky... I'm getting a little excited thinking about them. Uh.. sorry.

Anyway, I could and should eat these every day. Maybe I'll move to Seattle.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Beecher's Flagship

I'm going to do a few posts about the cheeses of Beecher's Cheese in Seattle.

http://www.beechershandmadecheese.com/

Beecher's is a small cheesery that has been gaining some renown in recent years for their handmade cheeses, and rightly so. I've only sampled a few of their products, but they were all delicious. Let's start with their signature cheese, Beecher's Flagship.

http://www.beechershandmadecheese.com/shop_beecherscheeses_flagship.html

If you're not in Seattle, you can usually find this cheese at Whole Foods, or you can order online from Beecher's website. And you SHOULD do either one of those things, because this cheese is amazing. The taste is familiar, yet difficult to compare - it has the texture of an extra-aged cheddar, paired with a nutty, rich (but not TOO rich), creamy, complex flavor that will make you say, "where has this cheese been all my life?"

What are the best uses for Beecher's Flagship cheese? Actually, there is no inappropriate time or place for this cheese. It is most impressive in its versatility. From the fanciest cheese platter to the lowliest drunk-at-2AM grilled cheese sandwich, Flagship will make it all better.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars (!)