Thursday, June 3, 2010

Tour de Cheese

As part of the 16th Annual Spring Beer & Wine Fest back in April, there was also a Tour de Cheese portion. This brought together several different northwest craft cheese makers.

Most cheese makers in the area are using goat or sheep’s milk. I don’t blame them. Both species take up less space than cows, reach maturity sooner, and require less feed to maintain, so it is an easier livestock for the backyard farmer to raise. I tried some as my first cheese, but I unfortunately got it stuck in my throat due to my dislike of this style of product. I’m sure their products are quite wonderful, but I just struggle so much with it.

However, that’s not to say that all of the cheese was goat or sheep’s milk, as there were several cow milk cheeses represented, of which I could eat. From Chehalis, WA, Rosecrest Farm was there with swiss style cheese from their milking shorthorns. I bought some of their garlic flavored swiss cheese, and thought it was delightful.

There were also a few cheese makers and distributors from outside the Pacific Northwest present at the event, such as Beehive Cheese Co from Utah. I admit, I’m a sucker for cheese curd, and my husband loves Cajun food, so I got their Ragin’ Cajun Squeaky Bee Curds.

The other interesting booth that was cheese related that I should note was Urban Cheese Craft. They are a company that puts everything you need to make a simple cheese into a box except the milk. For $15, I bought a DYI Cheese Kit to make queso blanco and paneer. I have also seen their kits at Whole Foods Market, where I believe they have taught some classes. I’ll give a review on that shortly.

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