OCTOBER 2023 CHEESE CLUB

 
 

 WINE CLUB | CHEESE CLUB

ALL CLUB MEMBERS GET TO ENJOY THESE 3 CHEESES:

Elderflower Tomme | Alsace, France

Pasteurized cow’s milk
This cheese is covered in Elderflowers that bloom in the spring in the region’s mountains (The Vosges). This aesthetically-pleasant fromage is matured for at least four months before being released into the wild. That’s enough aging to allow for a semi-firm, elastic, meltable paste and bags of aromatic complexity. This cheese is floral (obviously), but it also boasts notes of chives, savory herbs, and grass. It needs to be served beside a cup of brothy soup with a hearty roll.
From this month’s wine club lineup, this cheese pairs well with: 2021 Love and Squalor Mother Shucker White Blend

Firefly Farms Chévre | Maryland, USA

Pasteurized goat’s milk
This sustainable creamery is a small production operation, where milk for the cheese they produce comes from local, family farms. Their cheese are made with meticulous care, which is why their product is superior — clean and moreish. Fresh chèvre is an acid-coagulated style of cheese, made simply with only a few ingredients. It’s intended to be eaten shortly after being produced. Firefly Farm’s Chevre is a winner on its own, with zero animalic notes that can sometimes ruin a fresh cheese. It’s such a versatile cheese, feel free to experiment with it!
Try it with: 2021 Ca'del Baio ‘Bric del Baio’ Nebbiolo

Pecorino con Pesto con Basilico Genovese DOP | Tuscany, Italy

Pasteurized sheep’s milk
This savory cheese has a basil paste mixed in with the curd before the curds knit, which makes for a gorgeous, herby, verdant cheese that’s just as much fun to look at as it is to eat! The texture is elastic and pliable, which means it can melt nicely if you feel like cooking with it.
Try it with: 2021 Trere Lona Bona

6-CHEESE MEMBERS ALSO GET TO ENJOY THESE 3:

Lost Peacock Creamery’s Halloumi | Olympia, Washington, USA

Goat’s milk
This is a local take on the Cyprus-originated cheese that refuses to melt. pH is the main factor that determines a cheese’s meltability. On either end of the acid side of the pH scale (0-7) the milk will yield a cheese that stays intact when you heat it! Since cheese like halloumi, paneer, and bread cheese are over there on the pH scale, they maintain their integrity while they take the heat. In Cyprus, Halloumi is typically a mixed goat’s and sheep’s milk cheese, but here in Washington, we enjoy a goat’s milk delight that is salty and perfect. Fry it, grill it, bake it, or torch it. Whatever you do, have fun with the experiment!
Try it with: 2021 Les Bras m'en Tombent Blanc, Cuisine en Famille, Vin de France

Sweet Grass Dairy Green Hill | Georgia, USA

Pasteurized cow’s milk
This double-crème brie style is from happy cows who have the luxury of grazing on grass year-round, which makes for clean, non-foddery, more complex and yellow-hued milk. Green Hill is rich and lactic with all the best notes a bloomy-rinded cheese has to offer. It’s killer served at room temperature, but if you take the time to bake it with some garlic cloves and slather it on some really good bread, this cheese is next-level comfort food.
Try it with: Château de la Font du Loup Côtes du Rhône

Bleu D’Auvergne | Massif Central, France

Pasteurized cow’s milk
The cows in this region graze on pasture that sits atop an ancient volcano, which means this landscape is mineral-rich. The high minerality translates into the milk as a sort of metallic mouthfeel. This blue is rich, chocolatey, and distinctly pastoral. This is a sort of gateway blue, one to get the blue-timid folks to become more blue-curious.
Try it with: 2021 Poggio Anima Asmodeus

 
 

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).