Nestled in the shadow of Mount Adams, about 20 miles north of the Columbia River, sits the tiny town of Trout Lake, WA, population 557. Here, Cascadia Creamery, is reviving a cheesemaking tradition that dates back 125 years.
No doubt about it, this is rural country. The White Salmon River runs, wild and scenic, next to the highway that takes you up nearly 2,000 feet into the high country.
Beginning at 5 a.m. on a summer’s day in June, the folks at Rogue Creamery spent their morning in southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, picking Syrah grape leaves that will be macerated in local pear brandy from Clear Creek distillery — to later serve as an earthy wrap for the creamery’s Rogue River Blue.
Tied with a raffia ribbon, it is Rogue’s seasonal gift to Blue cheese lovers, released on September 23, 2015 and available through the beginning of 2016. Aged from nine to 18 months, Rogue River Blue can credit its popularity to attention to detail, including its unique grape leaf wrapping, seasonality and farmstead milk from Rogue’s own pampered cow milk dairy.
A shoe with a Stilton wedge heel is the latest tactic being used by the Cambridgeshire village of Stilton in the United Kingdom to get its Blue Bell cheese officially recognized. Resident Richard Landy is seeking to overturn an October 2013 decision refusing to recognize the cheese as Stilton by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Why buy the cow? For brothers and cheese-makers Andy and Mateo Kehler it wasn’t about getting the milk for free. Their farm in Greensboro, VT was the result of “the quest for meaningful work in a place we love,” says Mateo. For more than a century, members of the Kehler family maintained a summertime romance with Greensboro, a sleepy village nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains. So in 1998, the brothers consummated their relationship with the town by buy-ing the out-of-business Jasper Hill Farm.
As Americans became exposed to some of the great Blue cheeses of Europe, the demand for higher quality in domestic blues followed. There were several fine blue cheeses already being produced in the United States 20 years ago, but they simply did not have national recognition or appreciation. The same held true for many other fine American cheeses; the quality was already there, but most everyone seemed to think that our cheeses could not compare with the Old World varieties.
For most consumers, the day is long past where the only place to purchase specialty cheese is a high-end specialty store. The news reports are filled with speculation as to how Amazon’s expected takeover of Whole Foods might impact both organizations and their offerings. That is for the future… immediately, though, consumers are being offered...
As I sit here, I’m finding it difficult to write an editorial about cheese when so many people are facing devastating circumstances from Hurricane Harvey. One of the first things that comes to mind is how we take basic necessities for granted – clean water, medical care, safe places to gather, our homes and food...