cheese

a list of wonderful cheeses

*all good; all stars bolded*

Sheep’s Milk (all)

• Petit Agur- Basque French Pyranees. Pasturized. Semi-firm
• Abbey de Belloc- Basque, French Pyranees. Semi-firm. a plus, it is made by Benedictine Monks
• Oussau Iraty- Basque, French Pyranees. Semi-firm. Yummy with Barbera. Best if produced June-Sept, but I see and eat it year round.
• Tomme du Levezou- French Pyrenee; unpasturized raw aged 6 mo. Semi-firm.
• Prato di Santadi- Italian sheep. Did not note firmness.
• Sardo Maduro – Firm.
• Garazi- French Basque (I may have this wrong…maybe it’s cow?)
• Lavort Pyrenees – Auvergne. pricey; v special. Unpasturized, old (ages 120-180 days) uncooked | pressed.
• Argo-French. Did not note firmness.
• Brin d’amour -Corsica. soft like a goat. crusted with herb so (doh) herbacious. Very seasonal.
• Serra da Estrella- Portuguese (DOP). Amazing. Handmade. Dates back to 12 c. Made Nov-Feb. Love it buttery and runny vs. when it is more aged, firmer and stinkier. Made w/thistles (may be wrapped in it).
• Perail de Brebis (Perac) – French. Very mild, gooey disc with edible rind. Easier to find.

Cow’s Milk, Hard:

• Bandaged wrapped reserve cheddar from Fiscalini Farms, CA.
• Guernsey Tomme – 6 wk old raw cheese wrapped in chestnut leaves, from Sally Jackson
• Laguiole Grand Aubrac, Jeune Montagne – Crumby texture, sweet. Makes fantastic cheese paninis
• Campo de Montalbano- Spanish cow/goat/sheep mix. slightly sweet.
• Prima Donna -pasturized aged Gouda. Dutch. Nutty texture. OK w/tannic reds. Namesake of this site.
• Spenwood – cheddars complex cousin.
• (D’Alpage) Beaufort- Savoie region of the Alps, “uber-Gruyere”. Unpasturized.
  Note: “D’Alpage” b/4 Beaufort means it is made from milk taken from a special breed of mountain cows .
  Note 2: Look for Schmidhauser, a great producer of Savoie cheeses.
• Tete de Moin – very nutty, firm unpasturized Swiss cheese. Best when cut into paper thin slices using a girolle.
  

Cow’s Milk, Semi-firm:

• Sola Val Casotto – Piemontese cow & sheep blend.
• Chaubier- cow & goat blend. Semi soft and mild.
• Gaperon(e) – Touraine, France (SW region). Slightly crumbly
• Tomme Crayeuse – French; delicate texture, like Havarti. Don’t eat rind. Try with Carignane. (note: Tomme is is a generic term used to describe cheese made from cow’s milk with a hard, grey rind. sounds pretty, no?)
• Sottocenere – a semi soft from Veneta, Italy, aged in ash flavored with spices and dotted with truffles.
  

Cow’s Milk, Soft:

• Poudre Puff – Bingham Hill. Pasturized 2 1/2 weeks old. Tumbleweed is the version with herbs on top.
• Fromage de Meaux- rich creamy brie, aged 4-6 weeks. Comes in wooden box. Brie de Nangis is a bit mellower.
• Fromage d’Afinois – double cream. 3x calcium as brie! Easy to find.
• Fougerus – brie family. fern leaf on top, bloomy rind. cow. $19/lb. Red Burgandy and Rhone. Aged under 60 days so past in US (unless contraband
• Jean Grogne- France. Like Brescianella. Triple cream and pasturized.
• Brillat Savarin-triple cream, Normandy, France. Aged 1-2 weeks. Classic with Champagne.
• Rocchetta – Italy. similar to La Tur.
• La Tur – French mix of cow, sheep and goat.
• Brescianella Stagionata- Great! Regular Brescianella also good but stinky!
• St. Killians- Irish. Very runny. Served on a spoon the one time i had it (in Boston). Best cheese ever?
• Pra de L’O – a more robust robiola. Not stinky but flavorful. Sold in rounds.
• Green Hill – from Sweet Grass Dairy in Georgia. Unbelievable.
• Taleggio- washed rind, pungent cheese of Lombardy, Italy
• Robiola – Tres Leche (or Tre Latte no due latte!). 50 – 60 days aged. Pasturized in US. Another kind, Valsassina Robiola is also great but (kinda stinky)
• Burrata, newbie mozzarella. my favorite remains Gioia (626 444 6015) vs. Italian imports. Try drizzled with good olive oil topped with some good sea salt, served with toasted bread.
• Epoisse- unpasturized washed rind. Stinky. Look for Berthaut as producer.
• Bethmale- Pyranese.  Pungent, creamy.  Traditionally made from goats milk but today, cow is more common (and delicious)
  
• Red Hawk – triple cream made by Cowgirl Creamery
• Fior di Langha – sheep/cow/goat from Langha, Italy. Truly tasty. Pairs well w/Chianti.
• Hudson Valley Camembert – Old Chadham Shephard Co, NY. blend of sheep & cow. My niece loves.
• Picolo –triple cream cow. By Adante Dairy. Amazing texture and taste.
• Cimonino Valsassina -Lombardy, Italy (V-a valley in Lomb). Intense, creamy, partially moldy rind, log shaped.

Goat’s Milk, Hard and Semi-firm:

• Toma di Capra – Italian
• Sunlight – from Haystack Mountain
• Tickelmore- semi hard, crumbly. Aged 2-6 months. Produced by Neals Yard in England.
• Melange- a cow/goat mix. Adante.

Goat’s Milk, Soft

• Snowdrop - Haystack Mountain round blob. Super rich on the inside.
• Haystack Peak -Haystack Mountain – conical. More crumbly than snowdrop but creamy on the edges
• Chabis feuille – soft goat wrapped in chestnut leaf, from loire valley. excellent w/sauvignon blanc.
• Valencay- pyramid shaped goat; firmer but like boucheron. try w/loire whites like sancerre, quincy.
• Humbolt Fog
• Minuet – goat based triple cream by Adante
• Cana de Cabra – Think Boucheron. From the Murcia region of Spain. A great value too.
  

Blue Cheeses

• Blu di Erborinati Val Pusteria. A cow milk cheese from the Alto Adige region of Italy
• Bleu d’Auvergne. Cows milk cheese from France
• Roaring 40s – Australian. Named for winds that blow across the 40th parallel. Always popular.
• Shropshire -English cow, v yellow, semi soft. Crumbly. Excellent producer is Neals Yard.
• Montbriac-rich & creamy w/ash cave ripening cow made in Auvergne, France. A milder blue.
  
• Valdeon – Spanish creamy cow. My fave in this category.

Cheeses I don’t like:

(equally important to note as you can’t always try b/4 you buy)

• La Petit - a fresh goat cheese from the Loire.
• Casel Blue – an English blue cow.
• Mahon and Roncal-2 popular Spanish cheese – cow and sheep, respectively
• Saenkanter – not so terrible but like other aged goudas better, like Prima Donna
• Brin Erbe – soft goat cheese from northern Italy (I think Veneto), wrapped in herb. It was pretty sour.