Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1090132
but with a fruity pineapple scent as well. It is sweeter and less tangy than the clas- sic English Cheddars, a mellow style that Americans seem to love. "Another cheese that I recently brought in from Milton is the 4 Alarm Cheddar," says Lydia Burns, buyer for Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine in Chicago. "It has ghost pepper in it and is definitely on the kickier side, but it's been really popular, espe- cially in summer with burgers." From Minnesota Alemar Cheese Bent River: This 13-ounce bloomy-rind cow's milk wheel resembles a large Camembert. When perfectly ripe, it's dreamy, with aromas of cooked onion, garlic, cabbage, mushroom, and aged beef. Shepherd's Way Farms Shepherd's Hope: This sheep cheese producer makes the excel- lent Big Woods Blue and a superb natu- ral-rinded aged tomme called Friesago, but Shepherd's Hope, a four-pound fresh wheel, is its most original creation. Think feta with- out the brine. From Michigan Idyll Farms Idyll Pastures: This farm- stead goat producer in Northern Michigan has been amassing awards at the annu- al American Cheese Society competition. Burns is a fan of the creamery's fresh goat cheese, Idyll Pastures. Packed in a four-ounce tub and sealed, it has good shelf life, says Burns. Consumers can invert the tub onto a board and present a molded cheese with an embossed surface. The price point is appeal- ing, too, says Burns. From Missouri Baetje Farms Miette: The farm was recently sold but Veronica Baetje expects to remain on as cheesemaker, producing the beau- ties that she originated, like the mixed-milk Miette. Approximately 30 percent sheep's milk, with goat's milk making up the rest, the petite bloomy-rind Miette leaves the creamery at about two weeks. Over the next few weeks, it becomes much softer, develop- ing a fragrance of porcini mushroom and the flavor of cheesecake. Green Dirt Farm Fresh Sheep Cheese: Nothing this creamery makes disappoints. Try the washed-rind sheep's-milk Bossa and the aged Aux Arcs, a tomme from mixed sheep's and cow's milk. But the little tubs of fresh, spreadable, lemony sheep cheese fill a niche at the cheese counter and have impres- sive shelf life, says C. J. Bienert of the Cheese Shop of Des Moines. "Everyone needs to start eating more of it," says Bienert. "It's so fluffy and delicious." Cross-merchandise with dark bread and smoked salmon. From Nebraska Dutch Girl Creamery Rosa Maria: These four-pound farmstead goat wheels are drained in colander-shaped molds, like English Berkswell, and matured for a minimum of four months. The colander produces an eye- catching studded pattern on the natural rind, and the aging yields Garrotxa-type flavor. Cheesemaker Cheruth Van Beuzekom has spent time working with Mary Holbrook, a highly regarded British goat cheese producer. With the aged Rosa Maria, she is helping fill a niche that American goat-cheese makers have largely ignored. PHOTO: MILTON CREAMERY PHOTO: IDYLL FARMS 40 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com cheese focus Milton Creamery Flory's Truckle Idyll Farms Idyll Pastures