Brad and Meg Gregory have lived on their 100-year-old farm along the Chehalis River in Lewis County, Washington since 1993. I’m not sure that sheep or cheese were on their minds when the bought the farm, but their second son’s sensitivity to cows’ milk led them to purchase three sheep in 2000 - their herd is now composed of Rideau-Arcott and East Friesian sheep. One thing led to another, and with more milk than they needed they began making cheese in their kitchen. By 2004 Black Sheep Creamery was licensed as a Grade A Dairy and by the next year they had a licensed cheese room. I first tasted their cheese at the Wedge Cheese Festival in Portland in October of 2007, and I liked it very much. Before I could find a regular supply at the end of that year the rains came, and they almost lost everything in the flood. Their house and farm buildings were inundated by several feet of water and they lost all but two dozen sheep. The food communities of Washington and Oregon pulled together to help and were eventually able to resume making cheese.
They are a small operation and they don’t have much distribution here in Seattle so I almost forgot about them until I started going down to Portland early this spring. It wasn’t until about a month ago that I found their new Fresh Pecorino at the New Season’s Market, and it is truly a delight. It has a cream cheese texture and a slight yellow cast. It’s richer than fresh chèvre and not quite as tangy. It also has a creamy finish with none of the ‘goaty’ bitterness that fresh chèvre can sometimes have. I love it on rustic bread either for breakfast with my favorite preserves or as a sandwich for lunch with heirloom tomatoes, wild arugula, a drizzle of olive oil and some sea salt. I forgot the arugula at the farmers’ market, but I did get the heirloom tomatoes, and a 'salt' bread slab from little t american bakery in Portland - the olive oil is Katz Organic Chef's Pick from California's Suisin Valley. Unfortunately, it’s the end of the milking season for sheep, and so this week’s haul will be my last Black Sheep Creamery Fresh Pecorino until next year.
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