The Cheese Stands Alone

(Dec. 22, 2011) I have been known to throw fits about cheese, citified, hoity-toity fits that publicly I eschew and privately I pursue, defending my position alone in my head for hours. We who live in this veritable cornucopia of verdancy, overflowing with local organic meat, produce, grains and dairy, we who positively wallow amidst plump, cream-producing cows, are shockingly bereft of local artesanal cheese.

I adore Loleta Cheese Company’s Sharp Cheddar, yes, and I admire Cypress Grove very much, but have you been to Vermont lately? You can’t throw a brick with out hitting a tiny dairy that is producing a completely new washed-rind raw milk cheese like the buttery oozy Dorset from Consider Bardwell Farms, or Constant Bliss, a bloomy-rinded self-descriptive cheese from Jasper Hill. There are thousands of them, inventing new cheeses every season.

Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk Washed Rind PHOTO BY BOB DORAN

GALLERY >

Totally … new … cheeses!! And here we are drowning in surplus local milk from grass-fed cows, totally unable to hop the glistening bandwagon of cheese miracles lining the pockets and the palates of many an Eastern dairy.

That’s my New York City rant. Returning to my local roots as an Arcata girl, I have accepted the situation after several years of internal rage, and decided to see what wonders could be worked, cheese plate-wise, with what’s on offer at our local stores.

The cheese counters at Eureka Natural Foods, the Arcata Co-op and Wildberries all offered a very similar selection (except for the Keses Halloumi, which I only found at E-Nat). I definitely found enough interesting cheeses to make a tasty plate, and was heartened to find some excellent cheeses that were new to me.

(Side note: My pop brought back some gorgeous Red Leicester from Costco recently, which is an unusual cheese to find stateside. It’s a cheddary firm cow’s milk cheese from England, mass-produced but very good, with a nice orange hue. The Costco price made it even nicer. Costco has a decent selection, including a Comte that is just as good as grocery store Comte, but for a lower price.)

Not all was well in cheeseland, however. At the Co-op and Wildberries I found cheeses that desperately needed to be recut and rewrapped, or simply just tossed. For example, a wedge of the Swiss classic Tete de Moine at Wildberries had been wrapped and labeled nearly seven weeks prior and was hopelessly ammoniated (i.e. spoiled and smelled like ammonia). When buying, be very careful to check the dates, and don’t hesitate to return any cheese that appears overly “bloomy” (white patches on the cut surface) or smells like ammonia. I implore cheese-counter workers to rotate and rewrap cheeses far, far more often. Eureka Natural Foods did not even include a “packed on” date on theirs! Not so cool, bros.

All three stores suffered from a general lack of imagination cheese-wise; maybe obscure Michigan cheeses are too much to ask, but a few more French classics? Or Portuguese, there are lots of Portuguese folk around. Portugal is the only country to use milk thistle to coagulate their cheese (Serra, a sheep’s milk cheese, being my favorite)! Could someone please have the chutzpah to branch out!

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17 Comments

Comment / By Amy / Dec. 22, 2011, 10:11 p.m.

Had to laugh at the characterization of the Red Hawk as “exciting”! That’s a euphemism if I’ve heard one. It stinks like dead people. I guess that’s exciting, but not what people are looking for in food.

Comment / By Ryan / Dec. 22, 2011, 10:28 p.m.

This cheese is the most horrifying thing I have ever had in my mouth. You have to force yourself to chew when every fiber of your being is screaming “SPIT IT OUT! SPIT IT OUT!”. If you cut the socks off a dead homeless man in July and then put them in your mouth you would know what this cheese tastes like. Just being in the car with this cheese made my daughter cry.

Comment / By Ryan / Dec. 22, 2011, 10:29 p.m.

My above comment pertains to the Red Hawk. Cheese of Evil.

Comment / By Joel Mielke / Dec. 23, 2011, 9:48 a.m.

Americans tend not to delight in smelly cheeses, this is why they eat brie cold, or, after cold storage, straight from the oven. The French leave it out for days at room temperature. When it becomes mûr, or “ripe,” it is runny, and delicious. It is also smelly enough to draw flies.

Comment / By Ryan / Dec. 24, 2011, 7:18 a.m.

This isn’t warm Brie stink Joel. And calling Red Hawk cheese “stinky” is like calling Hitler “sort of naughty.”

Comment / By Joel Mielke / Dec. 24, 2011, 9:19 a.m.

Ha! I’ll have to take your word for it until I can sample some myself, but I do enjoy stinky cheeses.

Comment / By Veronica / Dec. 25, 2011, 10:24 p.m.

I really liked the Red Hawk when I tried it at a Co-Op class earlier this month. It’s complex as hell, and it’s great with dark beer. My boyfriend hated it.

Comment / By Jada Brotman / Dec. 26, 2011, 3:26 p.m.

I said it’s not for the faint of heart, folks! Man, if you think Red Hawk’s strong … Winnemere, by Jasper Hills Farm, is practically like eating your own face. You could use it as a facial peel. Its wrapped in birch bark so it’s all nice and wood-y. I really adore it but I wouldn’t kiss anyone for a while after eating it…

Comment / By Casey / Dec. 26, 2011, 4:57 p.m.

I am currently earning my cheese stripes at Eureka Natural Foods as resident cheesemonger, where we are engaged & active enthusiasts of cheese. I just want to correct the article on a few points: we do carry Cowgirl’s Red Hawk, Fiscalini’s Cheddar, Defendi’s Dolce, Manchego & Benning Goat Cheese. In addition, I will be picking up Tete de Moine & Zamarano this week; thanks for the suggestions. I am in the process of updating all of our random weight tags to reflect not only pack dates, but also relevant use by dates. If there is any question, I can advise you. And, as always, call or come find me for any special requests! May all your cheese wishes come true! “Cheesus”

Comment / By Joel Mielke / Dec. 26, 2011, 5:21 p.m.

Casey, I hope that you get a chance to try Cabrales (from Asturias, on Spain’s Cantabrian coast). Great stuff, still a cottage industry.

Comment / By karen k / Dec. 28, 2011, 1:17 p.m.

Hey, I live less than an hour from Wisconsin, “America’s Dairyland”. I often drive up there, and even their plain old run-of-the-mill grocery stores have aisle after aisle of local cheeses, cheap, fresh, creamy and yummylicious. After all, these are the folks who invented deep fried cheese curds and wear stufffed cheese wedges on their heads as hats. Come for a visit, Jada, and sample the local fare!

Comment / By Casey / Dec. 28, 2011, 2:07 p.m.

I’m on the hunt, Joel; thanks for the suggestion!

Comment / By martha / Dec. 28, 2011, 6:01 p.m.

Why don’t we have any artisan cheesemakers here? With all the dairy farming we have in this county we sure are lacking when it comes to small cheesemakers. As in none. Why?

Comment / By Casey / Dec. 29, 2011, 4:19 p.m.

Not all cows are dairy cows. Many of the local ones are grass-fed beef farms that serve not only the community, but are outsourced to stores like Whole Foods, who have a great demand for such wonderful fare.

The most local places I see are in Sonoma - Cowgirl Creamery, Bellwether Farms, etc. There is also Rumiano, out of Crescent City. Cypress Grove has the market on goats milk in town… everyone else is small and privately milking/cheese making!

Comment / By Christine Kellogg / Jan. 11, 1:05 p.m.

One word >> Wensleydale !! Please order some —I will drive all the way to Eureka to get it .

Comment / By Casey / Jan. 28, 2:10 p.m.

I have a Wensleydale with Cranberries… will work on others. Cabrales is on the way; as are MANY new cheeses! CHEERS!

Comment / By Evan / Feb. 13, 3:04 p.m.

RE cheese creativity: It’s hard to find distributors that carry obscure cheese varieties in our area. That’s why most stores have the same choices. Perhaps you could become a cheese distributor, then you could have some cheese that you enjoy with your wine.