Moses Sleeper: Gooey Goodness from Vermont

Moses Sleeper is unlike any American cheese we have sampled.  It is lush, gooey, rustic and robust.  This cheese–made in Vermont!–is the nearest we have sampled to a gooey Camembert.  The adults gobbled up this cheese, but my kids rejected Moses Sleeper because of its green vegetable flavor.

Moses Sleeper is farmstead produced by Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont.  (Jasper Hill Farm makes two other cheeses we like: Constant Bliss and Winnimere).  Moses Sleeper is a soft cow’s milk cheese with a bloomy rind.  It is produced in a flat disc format, each cheese about 1.25-pounds.   Moses Sleeper is aged at Jasper Hill’s cellar for 3-6 weeks before market.

Moses Sleeper–when whole–looks like a flat cheese pie.  Its rustic appearance is similar to Reblochon, with bumpy surfaces and crimped edges.  Its beige top is furrowed with soft lines and is tacky to the touch.  Moses Sleeper’s interior paste is gooey and wet with flat holes.

Moses Sleeper has a strong aroma when held to the nose.  It smells of yeast and cooked broccoli.  The rind also has a light ammonia scent.

Moses Sleeper is robust and direct.  Its initial flavors are sour milk and wilted green vegetables, however its also has flavors that are sweet and yeasty.  There is an underlying leafy green bitterness that becomes more pronounced at its finish.  Its rind cuts the paste’s bitterness and adds a light mushroom flavor, but it also adds some grittiness.  Moses Sleeper leaves a long mildly bitter aftertaste that is reminiscent of a good stout beer.

Moses Sleeper split our tasters generationally: the adults enjoyed this cheese, while the kids were put off by the cheese’s bitter vegetable flavors.  Moses Sleeper has a fresh from the farm immediacy that is direct and honest.  During our tasting, I commented that Moses Sleeper tastes “alive,” much the way raw vegetables do when just picked from the garden.  I really liked Moses Sleeper and will purchase it again to share with adults.

Moses Sleeper becomes soft and gooey when out of refrigeration but does not become runny.

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Moses Sleeper from Say Cheese (San Francisco).  We purchased half a whole cheese (8 oz.).  Jasper Hill Farm’s cheese notes suggest that Moses Sleeper’s “brassica” flavors become more pronounced with maturation; we likely had a cheese that was more mature.

Bijou: Tiny Goat Cheese Packs Big Flavor

Bijou is an excellent cheese.  One might snicker–as did my husband–at this goat cheese’s diminutive size.  Yet what petite Bijou lacks in size, it makes up for in flavor.  This American-made gem is one of the best goat cheeses we have tasted.  It is very rewarding and should not be missed.

Bijou is a soft-to-semi-soft cheese produced by Vermont Butter & Cheese Co., in Vermont.  Bijou is made from pasteurized goat’s milk and matures for approximately 2 weeks before market.  Bijou is produced in a petite cylinder format.  Vermont Butter & Cheese delivers Bijou pre-packaged in a 2-cheese “micro-cave” that promotes ripening.

Bijou is a tiny crottin-style cheese plug.  Its deeply wrinkled rind has a buttery cream color.   The interior paste has a milky white core that is dense like clay.  The core is surrounded by a more translucent buttery paste that has a consistency similar to its core.

Bijou’s aroma is farmy: it smells of fresh cut grass, honeycomb, and barnyard.

Bijou is robust and goaty, with a texture that invites savoring.  Its flavors are direct, tangy and lemony tart.  It has a nice, underlying beeswax sweetness that balances its tart flavor.  Bijou’s pasty texture coats the tongue with flavor and encourages slow eating.

We loved Bijou!  It is one of the best goat cheeses we have tasted–American or French.  Bijou’s punch of flavor and goaty aroma reminded us of good French goat cheese.  Bijou is an excellent cheese and one that we look forward to sharing.  Its intimate size makes it a good choice for a small gathering.

Bijou behaves beautifully out of refrigeration; we left our cheese out for over an hour and it did not degrade.  Bijou is a cheese to linger over and savor.  I would consider it for a picnic if carefully packaged.

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Bijou at Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco).  The cheese is sold whole in a 2-oz. petite size.  We purchased two cheeses in a “micro-cave” package for 4-5 servings.

Estero Gold: California Casual

Estero Gold is a cheese with charms so subtle, they can be easily missed.  During our tasting, we found Estero Gold’s flavors pleasant, yet too laid back to command our attention.  Estero Gold’s casualness is part of its charm, but it does not make a compelling cheese.

Estero Gold is a firm cheese, farmstead produced locally by Valley Ford Cheese Co. in Valley Ford, California.  It is made from raw cow’s milk and is inspired by Swiss Italian cheeses.  Estero Gold is aged for approximately 4 months before market.

Estero Gold has a rich spun-gold appearance.   The interior paste is deep golden yellow flecked with small holes.  Estero Gold has a natural golden rind that shows impressions and folds from what appears to be a cloth wrap.  Both the rind and paste are smooth and solid to the touch.

Estero Gold has a delicious aroma of melted butter and cheese.

Estero Gold has subtle flavors that are relatively mild and reminiscent of melted Asiago.  It begins with a buttery rich flavor and finishes with a light nuttiness.  The nuttiness has a little prickliness to it that may cause a tingling sensation in the mouth.  It has a little milky sourness, but this flavor is not pronounced.  Estero Gold has a firm chewy texture and leaves a long mildy nutty after-taste.

We thought Estero Gold a pleasant cheese, but its flavors were too subtle to hold our attention.  My juvenile tasters found Estero Gold too acidic in the mouth; both complained of “mouth prickles.”  While Estero Gold did not have strong enough flavor to make it a compelling snacker, we thought it would make a good melting cheese (Valley Ford Cheese Co. suggests Estero Gold is good for this purpose).

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Estero Gold at Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco).

Hyku: Light & Airy Goat Cheese

Hyku is like a breath of summer–eating it makes me long for warm sunny days.  This goat cheese is bright and mild.  Yet it is Hyku’s fluffy, mousse-like texture that makes a lasting impression.  Hyku’s light flavor and airy texture would make a good compliment to a summer meal.

Hyku is a soft goat’s milk cheese produced by Goat’s Leap in Napa Valley, California.  It is made with pasteurized milk and has a mold-ripened rind.  Hyku is produced in a small 6-oz. cylinder format and is aged approximately 6 weeks before market.

Hyku looks like a gourmet marshmallow wrapped in a wonton skin.  Its white bloomy rind is folded and creased, giving it a paper-wrapped look.  To the touch, its rind is soft and downy.  The interior paste is brilliant white and looks dense and chalky.  Just under the rind, Hyku has a whisper thin translucent layer of paste the consistency of thickened cream.

Hyku has very mild aroma, with hints of flowers and pool water.

Hyku has mild flavor and a delightful texture.  Its flavor is like a tart cottage cheese, with more saltiness and some bright citrus flavors.  Hyku has a knock-out texture that is so light and fluffy it feels whipped.  The paste is very moist and creamy.

The soft, fluffy mouth feel of the interior paste is superb, but the rind feels like a thickened piece of skin and creates an unappealing contrast.  We all ate around the rind because its texture detracted from the cheese.

We all liked Hyku.  It has an airy quality that seems well-suited to warm weather and light meals.  I would definitely purchase this cheese again. However, I’d give some consideration to Hyku’s rind before sharing this cheese.

Purchase Notes: We purchased Hyku at Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco). Availability may be seasonal.  We divided our whole cheese into 8 servings.

Hillis Peak: A Rewarding Goat Cheese

Hillis Peak is a goat cheese that stretches one’s imagination.  If chevre occupies one end of the goat cheese spectrum, Hillis Peak would anchor the other end.  This cheese has intriguing flavor, nice texture and a lovely appearance.  Hillis Peak satisfies as a stand-alone cheese.

Hillis Peak is a semi-firm cheese, farmstead produced by Pholia Farms in Rogue River, Oregon.  It is a washed curd cheese, produced from raw goat’s milk.  The cheese is produced in small, 2.5-pound drums.  During its 6-7 month maturation, the cheese’s rind is rubbed with oil and Spanish paprika.

Hillis Peak is a lovely cheese.  Its rusty rind has a deep chevron pattern across its top and bottom, while its sides have a shallow diamond emboss.  The rust brown rind is separated from the paste by a thin layer of bright orange paprika.  Hillis Peak’s ivory paste is smooth, solid and dry to the touch.

Hillis Peak has nice aroma.  Its rind smells of mineral water, ground corn, and cellar.  The interior paste smells like melted butter with a light popcorn scent.

Hillis Peak has varied flavors.  Its flavor starts with a roasted sweet corn flavor, but its sweetness turns almost jammy.  Hillis Peak also has warm buttery and toasted nut flavors.  The cheese finishes with a light nuttiness.  Hillis Peak leaves a mildly nutty aftertaste that has a distinctive goaty flavor.  Although the rind is natural, it tastes like soil and detracts from the cheese; the paste nearest the rind also has more cellar-like flavors that are not appealing.  Its texture is a bit dry and chewy.

Hillis Peak is a fun cheese.  For a goat cheese, it offers a lot of flavor complexity.  During our tasting, we enjoyed identifying its interesting flavors.  Hillis Peak makes a fantastic snacking cheese and is perfect on its own.  Yet, it is so rewarding and visually appealing that it deserves a spot on a cheese plate.

A serving note: Hillis Peak’s rind sheds orange dust that can migrate to the cheese paste if not handled with care.

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Hillis Peak at Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco).  Pholia Farms makes their cheese in small production, so expect irregular availability.

Berkswell: A Sunny Cheese to Savor

Berkswell is a cheese for savoring.  Its rustic appearance belies its complexity: each time we tasted this cheese, we detected new flavors.  Berkswell is not a cheese for haste.  It demands one’s attention, but is guaranteed to reward.

Berkswell is a firm sheep’s milk cheese from the West Midlands region of England.  It is farmstead produced at Ram Hall by the Fletcher family.  The cheese’s flying saucer shape is created by colanders used during its production.  Berkswell is aged for about 6 months before market.

Berkswell is a sunny, rustic cheese.  The colander forms used during the cheese’s production emboss the rind with a basket weave pattern.  Its natural orange-tan rind feels dry and rough.  Berkswell’s solid paste is lemon yellow, darkening to butterscotch near the rind.  The solid cheese paste is smooth and a bit greasy.

Berkswell has a warm, pleasant aroma.  Its rind smells like straw and cellar.  Its interior paste smells like parmesan.

Berkswell is a full-flavored and rich cheese.  Its flavors are nutty, buttery, sweet and salty.  It has a lovely salted caramel flavor that is buttery, sweet and salty.  Berkswell’s nutty flavor is like a light parmesan; it intensifies towards the finish.  Berkswell ends with a light fruity sweetness and leaves a long butterscotch after-taste.  Berkswell’s texture is chewy and grainy.  The cheese feels rich and fatty in the mouth.

Berkswell is a cheese for slow savoring.  At first blush, Berkswell seems like a straight-forward cheese, but its flavors are complex and demand slow eating.  With its rich and fatty mouth feel, a little of this cheese goes a long way.

We all liked Berkswell, but San Francisco’s weather created havoc with our appreciation.  We tasted Berkswell on an unusually hot summer-like day in Spring.  The cheese’s fatty mouth feel created a heavy impression on the palate; Berkswell would be well-served by a good beverage pairing to cut its richness.

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Berkswell at Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco, CA).

Coupole: A Superb Goat Cheese

Coupole is a cheese of pure delight.  This cheese has it all: great flavor, lovely texture, and visual beauty.  Coupole is one of the best goat cheeses we have tasted.  Fair warning: we found this cheese addictive and difficult to stop eating.

Coupole is a soft, aged goat cheese produced by Vermont Creamery in Vermont.  It is produced with pasteurized goat’s milk in a small dome format.  The cheese is sprinkled with ash then matured for 45 days before release.  Vermont Creamery delivers Coupole to market pre-packaged in individual wooden crates.

Coupole looks like a wrinkled snow ball.  It has a deeply wrinkled rind similar to Langres.  Coupole’s rind has a sunny tint and is velvety to the touch.  The milk-white interior paste is dense but not chalky.  Just beneath its rind, Coupole has a silky translucent layer of paste that looks like buttercream icing.

Coupole has a pleasant goaty aroma.  Its rind smells musty with hints of beeswax and daisies.  The interior paste has a more defined honey-like scent.

Coupole is a full-flavored goat cheese with sweet and sour contrast.  The denser core of the cheese has a light honey flavor.  The translucent paste is sour, but more milky sour than citrus sour.  Coupole’s texture is thick, pasty, and buttery.  Coupole leaves a mild aftertaste.

Coupole is a superb cheese.  It is one of the best American-made goat cheeses we have tasted.  Coupole offers fantastic flavor, a rich texture, and a beautiful appearance.  During our tasting, I saved Coupole to the end–much like I did as a child with the best parts of my birthday cake–so that I could savor its flavors and texture more fully.  Coupole is destined for regular purchase.

Coupole’s sweetness suggests dessert, but I would purchase it for any occasion.  Coupole becomes creamier when out of refrigeration, but retains its dome shape.  Even when cut into, Coupole keeps its form.  Coupole should be a top consideration for a cheese plate.

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Coupole at Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco).  We purchased a whole 6.5-oz. cheese (about 5-6 servings), pre-packaged in a balsa wood box.  The box can be pulled apart for clean removal of the cheese.

Pata Cabra: An Intriguing Goat Cheese

Pata Cabra is a quirky goat cheese.  It has an intriguing flavor that we were challenged to describe, but had us thinking about meadow flowers.  While Pata Cabra appealed to some of our tasters, its flavor and texture gave others pause.

Pata Cabra (also called Queso Patacabra) is a semi-soft cheese from the Aragon region of Spain.  It is a washed rind cheese made with pasteurized goat’s milk.  It is produced in a large brick format and aged for about 3 weeks before market.

The whole cheese resembles a loaf of rustic bread (our sample is a cross-wise slice of the loaf).  Pata Cabra’s natural rind gives a golden crust-like skin to the cheese.  The interior paste is milky white and has flat oval holes.  To the touch, the cheese paste is greasy and springy.

Although this cheese is described elsewhere as pungent, our sample was aromatically tame (perhaps our cheese was young).  Pata Cabra’s paste smells like melted butter and baked cheese crackers.  The rind smells like cooked broccoli.

Pata Cabra has an interesting flavor.   It has a light sour flavor and some tanginess that is similar to American sour cream, but neither flavor lingers.  Pata Cabra’s more dominant flavor is buttery, sweet and floral.  On the tongue, the cheese is thick and chewy.

Pata Cabra received mixed reviews.  Our juvenile tasters both liked Pata Cabra, as it combined their love of semi-soft cheeses with a washed rind.  Our adults tasters were less impressed with its “rubbery texture” and “cooked” flavor.  Pata Cabra’s flavor is intriguing, yet it may not have universal appeal.

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Pata Cabra from Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco).  Our slice was about .25-pounds.

Dallenwiler Wychas: Sweet & Nutty Goat Cheese

Dallenwiler Wychas is a relatively mild and pleasant goat cheese.  It is a friendly and approachable cheese with a sweet nutty flavor that should have broad appeal.

Dallenwiler Wychas is a firm cheese from the Oswalden region of Switzerland.  It is made from pasteurized goat’s milk by Odermatt Kaserei.  The cheese is produced in small chunky wheels that weigh under 2-pounds (800 grams).  The cheese is washed daily with red wine during its 3-month maturation.

Dallenwiler Wychas looks like a goat cheese rolled in charcoal, but its hard rind is natural.  Its dark gray and brown rind has a tight bubble pattern that gives it a rubber tread look.  The cheese’s bone colored paste is marred with compressed holes.  To the touch, the cheese is smooth and solid.

Dallenwiler Wychas’ interior paste has a pleasant scent of roasted nuts, but its rind smells of musty cellar, barnyard stink, and wet hay.

Dallenwiler Wychas’ flavor is sweet and nutty.  It has a gentle tanginess at first, but is then predominantly sweet roasted nuts.  It leaves a mild nutty after taste.  The cheese has a chewy texture that is slightly rubbery.  Although its rind is edible, it gives the cheese an unappealing chalkiness.

We all liked Dallenwiler Wychas a lot.  We found the cheese’s sweet nutty flavor and chewy texture appealing.  We polished off our entire purchase of this cheese during our tasting and my kids said it was their favorite cheese of the night.  I would re-purchase this cheese again; it would make a good stand-alone cheese or would do well paired with other cheeses on a plate.

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Dallenwiler Wychas at Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco).  In 2011, I have seen this cheese irregularly at Cowgirl Creamery.

Ascutney Mountain: Like a Swiss Classic

Ascutney Mountain is a delicious cheese that calls up comparisons to classic Swiss mountain cheeses.  This US-made cheese is like a younger version of Appenzeller.  It does not deliver Appenzeller’s concentrated flavor, but its flavors are similar and very accessible.

Ascutney Mountain is farmstead produced by Cobb Hill Cheese, Vermont.  Cobb Hill is a farm-based community whose residents produce 2 cheeses along with other farm goods through cooperative enterprises.  Ascutney Mountain is a firm cheese made from raw cow’s milk.  The cheese is produced in 10-pound wheels and aged for at least 8 months before market.

Ascutney Mountain is a solid cheese with a natural nutmeg brown rind.  The paste is deep yellow and darkens to golden brown near the rind.  The cheese paste is marked with many irregular-shaped holes.  To the touch, the paste is firm and slightly greasy.

Ascutney Mountain’s rind has a musty cellar scent; the paste smells like freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Ascutney Mountain tastes like a softer–or younger–Appenzeller.  Ascutney Mountain has the tangy and nutty flavors of Appenzeller, yet they are less intense.  Ascutney Mountain has sweet fruity and warm buttery flavors that balance its nutty tanginess.  In the mouth, Ascutney Mountain has a chewy texture with crystallized granules that invite slow eating.  After eating, a sour nuttiness lingers.

Ascutney Mountain was a big hit at our table.  It is a lovely cheese with warm flavor and a nice texture.  Interestingly, our juvenile tasters found Ascutney Mountain more accessible than Appenzeller.  Like a good Swiss classic, Ascutney Mountain is easy to eat and needs no accompaniment.

Purchase Notes:  We purchased Ascutney Mountain at Cowgirl Creamery (San Francisco).