Chèvre For The Season

Fresh chèvre takes advantage of spring produce

Chèvre For The Season

When people think about seasonal eating, fruits and vegetables are the first foods that spring to mind. There’s a world of difference between the plump ripe tomato plucked from the vine in July and the pale anemic import offered at the supermarket in the depths of winter. There are other produce changes in flavor and texture throughout the growing season — consider the new potatoes of early summer and their heftier autumn cousins, or compare the tender leaves of young kale to its robust, more mature version.
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The Evolution Of Laura Chenel

How a love of goats led to a cheese empire

The Evolution Of Laura Chenel

Laura Chenel’s was founded by its namesake in 1979, though starting a cheese company was not her initial goal. As a young woman, Chenel was someone who traveled a great deal and was an early adaptor of the belief that one should provide their own food. She grew and made what she could, and acquired some goats, too, in the process.

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Oregon’s Goldin Artisan Cheese

At Goldin Artisan Cheese, rustic, seasonal goat cheeses bring flavors of the Savoie to the Northwest 

Oregon’s Goldin Artisan Cheese

Childhood memories of local cheeses made in the Savoie region of the French Alps were a strong pull for Carine Goldin of Goldin Artisan Cheese, headquartered in Molalla, OR. Her formative years spent there with her cheese-loving grandmother, nearby dairy farms and creameries making local favorites like Tomme de Savoie, Raclette and Tome des Bauges stoked a taste for interesting, full-flavored cheese.

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Avalanche’s Hand Bandaged Goat Cheddar Slides to Success

Avalanche’s Hand Bandaged Goat Cheddar Slides to Success

It may be surprising to some that Aspen, CO-based Avalanche Cheese’s much lauded Hand Bandaged Goat Cheddar was inspired by not just traditional English Cheddars, but also Scottish cheesemakers.

Yet, it was 2006, the year Wendy Mitchell, the dairy’s co-founder and head cheesemaker spent living in Edinburgh, Scotland that served as the inspiration for this cheese.

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Discovering Lamb

One delicious taste can make all the difference

Discovering Lamb

A person’s first taste of lamb can be one of those great palate-changers, a moment when you realize there is a lot more for dinner than the same old steak. Fresh lamb shank, leg or loin has an earthy richness and complexity that can make a lot of beef and pork seem ho-hum by comparison.

Some rookies are introduced to lamb in the form of a rack or chop at white tablecloth establishments. Others have devoured a gyro with Feta or a curry dish at an Indian eatery without ever noticing that the craveable meat is lamb.

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