SO. First post in a year. I still get a hit or two a day. Don’t call it a comeback, but I have a little copy to share. Have a read, and come down to City Feed in the next few days and we can go from there. Say US Cheese Please !!!
“Vermont Dandy” Peaked Mountain farm, Townshend VT- – Anne and Bob Works are pioneers of VT sheep milk cheese. Their Vermont Dandy is a well regarded and rare New England farmhouse cheese that has been enjoyed for decades by discerning palettes and adventurous eaters alike. Sheep milk cheese is prized for its characteristic depth of flavor: Cheese from sheep milk has a distinctive mammalian or “farmy” tang that is prized by dairy enthusiasts. Vermont Dandy presents a stunning mix of lactic sweetness, spice of grass and clover, melt in your mouth texture, balanced salt, and its signature “trampled hay” finishing flavor.
“Coomersdale” and “Moss End Blue”. Bonnieview Farm, Craftsbury Commons, VT – - Neil Urie is a 4th generation farmer who raises sheep in the Northeast Kingdom. His Scottish heritage and love for raising healthy and vital animals has informed his cheese making process to the point of his making some of the most desired and hard to find cheeses in New England. Coomersdale is his signature aged sheep wheel, which stands as a US interpretation of the great sheep cheeses of the Pyrenees. Sweet, nutty, milky, and with the signature robust slighty sour farmy finish, this cheese makes for an excellent appetizer paired with stone fruit jam and whole grain crackers.
Moss End Blue takes its inspiration from the tangy spice and cooling sweetness of the greatest of the world’s sheep milk blue cheese: Roquefort. It maintains a rustic cave aged rind, which imparts a delicate mustiness to its balanced salt, grass and mineral character. Try this one with figs and almonds after the meal, paired with great conversation and a warm hearth.
Vermont Shepherd, Vermont Shepherd farm, Westminster West, VT. Another very special and classic aged sheep milk cheese from Vermont. This wheel maintains a good amount of cream and moisture, lending a wonderfully curdled almost yogurt like acidity to its paste. Paired with a good salt balance and musty finish, you get a cheese that is extremely versatile yet not easily overwhelmed by competing food and drink notes. Room temperature cubes of this great wheel, paired alongside a sparkling beverage and friends is a match worthy of your most cherished company. Good alongside the RJR from Westport Rivers.
Bonne Bouche, Vermont Butter and Cheese, Brookfield VT. This tiny ash covered goat cheese may be the next big thing to come out of Vermont. Already cleaning up national cheese awards (ACS 1st place), the quality of the milk, consistency of the wheels, and inhibition-paralyzing texture is a match that is literally, irresistible. Spice, acid, salt and cream all mix in your mouth with a wonderfully chewy bite that makes devotees out of skeptics. This is the flagship cheese of one of the pioneers of US cheese making. Not to be missed.
