This Week's Tasting: August 14, 2017

Every week at Dairymaids we select six cheeses to include in our free cheese tasting. Whenever we are open, we are tasting cheese. We stock over 150 cheeses, so if these 6 don’t please you, we will find you the cheeses that do.

From Baetje Farm in Missouri, Bloomsdale is inspired by the traditional French cheese Valencay. Like Valnecay, Bloomsdale is a ripened goat's milk cheese dusted with ash and shaped like a pyramid with a flattened top. The Baetje's named it for their town, Bloomsdale.

El Dorado is the newest cheese from Revelation Artisan Cheese, a dairy in Meridian, Texas. The name, El Dorado, not only keeps with their dairy's James Bond motif, but refers to the rich, golden color of the cheese. Made with 100% cow's milk sourced from a nearby farm, El Dorado has a natural rind and cheddar-like flavor with salt and acid in perfect balance. It is rubbed with ash on the outside with ash. 

CKC Goat Gouda is the newest release from CKC Farms in Blanco, TX. Cheesemaker Chrissy Omo ages this cheese for a short period in wax, so it retains its smooth texture and sweet flavor. 

CastroCastillo is a small production, raw blended milk cheese from the León region of Spain. Javier Barrera uses raw cow, goat, and sheep's milk from nearby family farms then ages the cheese on wood in natural caves for six months. It develops a bright red mold naturally and a crumbly texture. The cheese is salty and spicy with a complex, nutty finish. 

Prairie Breeze is a unique cheddar made by Milton Creamery, a Mennonite family in southern Iowa. They source their cow's milk from nearby Amish dairies that grass-feed as long as weather permits. The cheddar is unique in that it is made like a cheddar, but it uses cultures typical of Alpine cheeses. The result is sweet and nutty. After 9 months of aging, it still has a smooth texture, but with some crystalline crunch.

Bleating Heart is the only cheesemaker making buffalo milk blue in the U.S. They have a friend who raises water buffalo near their creamery from whom they source small amounts of milk. With its 8 to 10% fat content, which is double the fat of cow's milk, the buffalo milk gives their cheese Buff Blue a smooth, luxurious mouthfeel with robust blue flavor. The wheels are small, about 3lbs, with a natural rind.

Our wine of the week is Giesen's Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand. It is delicately herbal, crisp, and refreshing with notes of nectarine, grapefruit, and a touch of pineapple. We taste wine from 10am to 2pm on Saturdays.

Our pairing of the week is an Early Glow Strawberry Preserve from American Spoon in Michigan.