I stopped in Steve’s Cheese before heading back to Seattle, hoping against hope that he would finally have some Big Woods Blue from Shepherd’s Way Farms in Minnesota. He had been out since late spring, understandably so, since most domestic artisan and farmstead cheese makers can sell all they make at Farmers’ Markets from June through October and have no need to wholesale. Big Woods Blue has been my favorite sheep milk blue for over a year, and possibly the best in the country.
I asked Steve for a taste, and as he pulled the wheel out of the cheese case, he suggested that I also taste a new sheep milk blue he brought in from Wisconsin. Before I could say anything, his eyes widened as he repeated his suggestion. Since he was as big a fan of the Shepherd’s Way blue as I was, I knew something was wrong. He suggested that I taste the Bohemian Blue from Hidden Springs Farm in Westby Wisconsin. It was younger and a bit sharper than I remembered the Big Woods Blue, but it was delightful in its own right - made from a mix of the milk from East Friesian and Lacaune sheep. I picked up the sample of Big Woods Blue with some trepidation, and even before I tasted it the aroma seemed different. The flavor was ‘off’ compared to the cheeses from last year with an overpowering ‘green’ tang and non of the finishing creaminess that had endeared it to my palate. Something was wrong!!! Steve told me that he was going to order another wheel just to make sure, but if it was the same that would be it for Big Woods Blue.
After cutting me a piece of Bohemian Blue Steve asked if I liked washed rind goat milk cheeses, and when I mentioned Mont St. Francis from Capriole Farms in Indiana, he offered me a taste of a small washed rind wheel of mainly goat milk cheese from Twig Farm in West Cornwall, Vermont. It had a mild tasting rind, and the paste was creamy, a bit earthy and pleasantly tangy, all in all very delightful, perfect for a dry Chenin Blanc - a cheese I would buy often. This farmstead cheese is made on a small goat farm by Michael Lee, formerly the Cheese Manager at the South End Formaggio Kitchen in Boston, with the addition of a touch of cow’s milk from a neighbor’s farm. The cow’s milk gives the cheese its yellowish tint and rounds out its finish.
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