for the love of cheese

There's been a lot of cheese my life recently and I love it. Might be a good time to catch up on some new ones for your holiday cheese boards! Read Sara's reviews over here. Enjoy!

for the love of cheeese | tomme crayeuse

If you say "tom cruise" with a slight french accent, this is how you pronounce this cheese. If you're local to Charlottesville, go into feast and ask them for the tom cruise cheese -- they'll get it. This is another tasty cheese, great with all those summer tomatoes! Read Sara's full review over on Beyond the Flavor.

for the love of cheeeese | abondance

A new favorite! Read about it over on Beyond the Flavor. It's not just tasty, it has a good story too.

for the love of cheeese | O'Banon

This cheese is awesome. Goats milk cheese wrapped in bourbon soaked chestnut leaves and made in Indiana. Learn more about it here, then go nab some -- I'm about to do the same.

for the love of cheeeese | ulivio

cheese project is back and has sara from feast on board! read her thoughts on this cheese over on beyond the flavor. woohoo -- it's a pretty one & a yummy one!

cheese please | garrotxa

This cheese is fantastic. I've been eating it with everything: on my sandwiches, grated over pasta, on it's own, with proscuitto...add a little bubbly and I'm a happy girl.

taste: a little earthy, balanced, bright, and a nutty aftertaste 

texture: firm, smooth, semi-hard, occasional small holes

milk: pasteurized goat

rind: natural, gray colored

region: Catalonia Spain

notes: The Catalan region has a wet, mountainous climate which lends to fertile grounds for the goats to feed on producing a very luscious milk with a lot of depth in flavor. Apparently, this cheese is just making it's come back (around 1990) and thank goodness it is! In the mid 1900's the government put restrictions on farmers/policies making this cheese disappear. It seems that it's mostly small producers creating this cheese again.

Garrotxa pairs well with wine (bubbly & softer, lighter reds), on it's own or as a garnish to a heartier dish. It an "easy" cheese in the fact that there's enough flavor to please the funkiest of cheese eaters to the ones who lean towards the milder flavors. This cheese will remain in my fridge for as long as my local cheesemonger carries it. :)

Thank you Levi, from Feast, for the recommendation!

cheese please | roquefort

Here's the deal, I love cheese.
I want to actually learn a little more about different types of cheeses and thought I'd share with you all along the way (this is for you G). I can promise one post a month on a new cheese, maybe more, we'll see. This is my blog people and I work organically.

Since this is the first post I thought I'd start with a special one. It's special for two reasons, first being it's currently my favorite cheese and second because I get share with you a few selects from a French farm that I had the absolute pleasure of visiting! Their sheep's milk is sold to make Roquefort cheese. They fed me one of the most amazing meals I've ever had. It was full of their cheese, housemade patés, bread, wine and so much more. I am ever grateful for meeting them and that amazing day. Enjoy a few images from their beautifully charming home and (family run) farm.

Roquefort
taste: sharp, tangy, salty, rich/intense
texture: semi-soft, creamy, slightly moist
milk: raw sheep
rind: no rind
region: Aveyron, France
notes: This classic blue is one of France's most popular cheeses. European law states that it can only be called Roquefort if it was aged in AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée) certified caves. I love the French. The molding is a greenish blue color.

The legend of how this cheese was created goes: There was a young farm boy eating his lunch of bread and ewe's milk cheese when he was sidetracked by a beautiful girl. He stashed his lunch in a nearby cave and ran to meet her. When he returned to his lunch months later he found his regular cheese had transformed into this rather fantastic moldy cheese.

Happy Valentine's Day.



{cheese from Feast; research sources Cowgirl Creamery, Wiki, other}