Run Date: April 8, 2009
Title: The Cheese Course
By Stacey Adams-Zier
Not a day goes by that I don’t get asked a question about raw milk cheeses: are they safe to eat; can you buy them in the U.S.; or, are they made in the U.S.? The simple answer is yes, yes, and yes.
Two spectacular raw-milk cheeses
The world’s greatest cheeses have always been made from raw milk. It’s a subject of great debate in this country and as a cheese professional; I feel it’s my responsibility to help diminish some of the confusion concerning the use of raw milk in cheese production. The process of pasteurization (heating milk to 100 degrees F.) kills bacteria: both good and bad types. Good bacteria help turn milk into cheese and are largely responsible for cheese’s aroma and flavor. Bad bacteria rarely survive in a raw milk environment and can actually multiply in a pasteurized one where there are no other bacteria to complete with.
U.S. regulations specify that raw milk cheeses for sale or made in the U.S. must be aged a minimum of sixty days at which time all bacteria will have been killed off. Unfortunately, this leaves out the younger cheeses normally aged between thirty and forty-five days. Typically these are bries, camemberts and other soft-ripened cheeses regardless of milk-type. Many European cheesemakers, especially in France, have revised their recipes to adhere to U.S. regulations and continue to export to the U.S. market. So, for now, if you want to taste a true raw-milk camembert, you’ll still have to buy a plane ticket to Normandy, France.
Nothing compares to the complexity of a freshly-made, properly-aged, raw-milk cheese. All across our nation cows, sheep and goats dot the landscape and our farmstead cheesemakers are fastidious about the purity of the milk they use for their cheeses. Pasteurization may be insurance against potentially harmful milk, yet it also spells loss of flavor and character. If a small farmstead cheesemaker takes care, employing every basic means to ensure milk purity and dairy hygiene, that is the best guarantee of happy animals and healthy milk.
Here are a few worth considering for your spring cheeseboard.
Dancing Cow Farm only makes handmade cheeses from raw cow’s milk, un-cooled, that flows directly from the cows in the milking parlor into the cheese vat. Milk, fresh from the cows, arrives at the vat at the perfect temperature to begin the process of making the cheese. Steve and Karen Getsz make cheese at Dancing Cow Farm seven days a week during the milking season, roughly from March to December. This rigorous and unique method of crafting cheese using milk exclusively from a single milking and never chilling, storing or heat treating the milk helps capture the true flavors of the “Terroir”. Carefully un-molded and hand salted, their cheese is prepared for its affinage in a cave, either on their farm or at the Cellars at Jasper Hill in Vermont. During its time in the cave the cheese is gently turned, brushed or washed until it emerges precisely when its creamy texture and flavor profiles are at their peak.
Bourrée is a washed-rind cheese with an earthy aroma, made from raw cow’s milk from only a single milking. It’s supple paste and rich, creamy texture melts into a beautiful smoky, meaty, lingering finish. Incidentally, the name Bourrée comes from a French peasant dance with rapid foot movements, much like the cows at Dancing Cow Farm when first turned out into lush, green spring pasture. Bourrée is cave aged at the Cellars at Jasper Hill a minimum of eighty days and won a 2008 American Cheese Society award for best in its class. Bourrée pairs well with Riesling, Pinot Gris (Tokay d”Alsace) and Viogner which all bring out the cheese’s nutty notes.
When Helen Feete first began making cheese she had virtually no cheesemaking experience. Now, Virginia’s Meadow Creek Dairy raw-milk cheeses have become the ones people are seeking out. Their devotion to the land and to their eighty Jersey cows is what makes their cheese exceptional. Their cheeses are made within two hours of milking, so the milk is super fresh. And they are a seasonal grazing dairy, milking from March through December, timing peak nutritional needs of the cattle with the peak of grass growth.
Appalachian, Helen’s newest cheese is available from June through April. This square tomme has a supple straw color paste and a rustic white mould rind with glimpses of pink showing through. Taste it in June and it will be mild and buttery with a spicy finish and a hint of mushroom. But a sample in April proves how incredible this cheese can be. Layer up layer of flavor, with a firm, slightly crumbly texture, the paste turns golden brown in color. Pair Appalachian with rich, aromatic, spicy, lush white wines, such as Chardonnay (white Burgundy), Gewurztraminer, Riesling Spatlese and Viognier.
In 1992, Pat Elliott indirectly stumbled into artisan cheesemaking after buying a border collie puppy on impulse at a wine festival. Realizing her pup needed something to occupy his time, she bought a pair of ewes (border collies are traditionally sheepherding dogs) and as time went on, sheep led to milk and milk led to cheese. Today, Pat has over one hundred sheep and a growing pack of border collies.
Everona Piedmont is Pat’s signature raw sheep’s milk cheese. It’s aged for two to six months and has a firm natural-rind encasing a semi-firm, yellowish-gold paste with tiny holes throughout. The rich texture is met with a complexity of flavor with hints of butter, fruit, herbs, and grass all rolled in together with earthy undertones. It’s a cheese that is soul satisfying to eat on a nice spring day with a hunk of crusty bread and a glass of Pinot Noir.
By Line: Stacey Adams-Zier is the Chef/Owner and Fromager of Tastings Gourmet Market and Artisanal Cheese Center located in Clock Tower Place, Annapolis, Md. She can be reached at 410.263.1324 or by visiting their website at www.TastingsGourmetMarket.com
