AUGUST 2021 CHEESE CLUB

 
 

 WINE CLUB | CHEESE CLUB

ALL CLUB MEMBERS GET TO ENJOY THESE 3 CHEESES:

Sally’s Best | Skagit Valley, Washington, USA

Sheep's milk
First up, we bring you a soft, spreadable cheese from farmstead creamery Harmony Fields. Their ladies are being dried off for the season, which means this is one of their last batches of cheese for the year. Late season cheese is richer in nutrients and fat, and so you’ll get more complexity coming from milkings during late summer and fall. Since this one is a freshy, however, you’ll still glean bright, sweet, grassy nuances that remind us why we source our young cheeses locally: Washington terroir. You can go savory or sweet with Sally's Best, and the strawberry jam teams up with it very nicely; so would olive tapenade.
From this month’s wine club lineup, this cheese pairs well with: any steely, acidic wine.

Crottin de Chèvre Tradition | Loire Valley, France

Goat’s milk
This French classic button hails from the Loire Valley, where this genre of cheese has been made since the Moors settled in the area with their goats hundreds of years ago. These pasteurized goodies have a signature brainy-esque rind, which adds a peppery note to the rich, lactic, tangy flavor profile. Cheese like this is exquisite with high mineral whites from the area — most notably Sancerre, Quincy, and Vouvray. Side note: it’s common for cheese with a geotrichum candidum (the cultures that cause the brainy appearance and exist naturally in all raw milk) rind to develop benign blue surface mold. It’s perfectly edible. We usually rub it in and forget about it, but you can also cut it off if it freaks you out.
Try it with: 2020 Avinyó Petillant “Blanc Vi d'Agulla” Penedès

Salvaggio Caprino Sardo | Sardinia, Italy

Raw goat's milk
We call this cheese personality-plus. The (at times) crystalline cheese is toothsome, full-flavored, sweet, savory, and earthy all at once. It’s blatant in its rusticity, and it epitomizes a table cheese you’d find in the kitchen on this enchanted, ancient island.
Try it with: 2018 Paolo Scavino Langhe Sorriso

6-CHEESE MEMBERS ALSO GET TO ENJOY THESE 3:

Moliterno al Tartufo | Sardinia, Italy

Raw sheep's milk
This Sardinian cheese is a big boy. The rind is painted with black truffle paste and then pierced to let oxygen carry the truffle through. The result is a gorgeously veined pecorino ("pecora" is sheep in Italian, and so if it's Italian and a sheep cheese, it’s technically a pecorino) that’s searing with piquancy. This vivacious cheese needs a wine that can stand up to it, so nothing with bitter tannins, but definitely a full-bodied, powerful red.
Try it with: 2020 Jean Royer “Le Petit” Roy Vin de France

Cremeux de Bourgogne | Burgundy, France

Pasteurized cow's milk
This triple crème brie-style is a rich slice of decadence that will coat your mouth with sweet, butter-fatty cream. Traditionally, a swallow of crisp bubbles would be drunk to cut through the fat and refresh the palate for the next blissful bite.
Try it with: 2019 Forge Cellars Classique Dry Riesling

Griffin | Thomasville, Georgia, US

Raw cow’s milk
Last up, we have a farmstead, artisan cheese from cows that graze on grassy pasture year-round, which means the cheeses are always clean, complex, and fresh tasting with no farminess. The cheese is washed in a local porter beer, which has a huge impact — it’s fruity, malty, pastoral, and wow-worthy. It’s been said that eating a nibble of Griffin is much like munching on a glass of beer.
Try it with: 2020 Viña Maitia Weón Carignan

 
 

AND SOME TIPS TO KEEP YOUR CHEESE HAPPY AT HOME

  • Protect your cheese from drying out by keeping it in your fridge in a lidded container (like tupperware), a plastic baggie, or the crisper drawer.

  • After opening, always use fresh plastic wrap for any cheese you’re not planning to eat within a day, unless it’s being kept in a container (which we recommend).

  • In general, we suggest eating your cheese within a week or so of purchasing. Some cheeses will last longer, but, you know, why wait!

  • Keep bloomy rinds and blues separated when possible. The molds are quite zealous and will grow on any cheese they can latch onto, so just keep them in separate containers and you’ll be fine.

  • A word about mold: If it’s growing on your semi-firm or firm cheeses, just cut it off and eat it! This white and blue mold is just fine — these cheeses lack the water to host the nasty molds. But if mold is growing on your fresh mozzarella, feta, cream cheese, or fresh chèvre, throw it out.  The amount of water in these cheeses provides a great environment for the nasty stuff. If you start to see mold, you can be sure that the filaments are already running throughout the cheese :(

  • For the best flavors, take your cheese out of the fridge for an hour or so before serving. When cheeses are too cold, all their delicious flavors, aromas, and textures get shy. Serve at room temperature to enjoy to the fullest.

This month’s cheese was carefully curated by Seattle’s Resident Cheese Lady, Rachael Lucas, ACS CCP, CCSE. Rachael is a cheese buyer for the Ballinger Thriftway in Shoreline, a fromage writer for tastewashingtontravel.com, and she’s on the Board of Directors for WASCA (Washington State Cheesemaker’s Association).