Photo by Marika Mirren Simple Pleasures by Alex Jones No food tantalizes eaters quite like cheese. I’ve been sourcing and selling artisan cheeses produced on small-scale farms and dairies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for seven years, and it still makes me smile whenever a farmers market shopper slows down as they approach my table
MoreIf you find yourself with a free weekend this fall, consider a day trip to Milford, N.J., home to Bobolink Dairy & Bakehouse. There you’ll meet Jonathan and Nina White, who make rustic farmstead cheese and bake loaves of incredible bread, like duck-fat ciabatta, in their wood-fired oven. Back in 2005,
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Valley Thunder is a cheese with a split personality, pairing the sweet-as-evening smell of a Parmigiano with the bright bite of a true cheddar. Raw sheep’s and cow’s milk collude in this heartthrob from Valley Shepherd Creamery.
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If you’re a fan of Beatrix Potter, then you probably remember Jemima Puddle Duck, a character in many Peter Rabbit stories. If there’s a young reader in your house, this might be the perfect time to introduce this tender morsel of cheese with a pleasing, grassy character.
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Calkins creamery in honesdale makes a brie-style cheese called Noble Road that has garnered a cult following. But the creamery also produces a Gouda-style heartthrob with a nutty swagger, which is just as fabulous. If Robert Redford were a cheese, he’d be this one. Old Man Highlander even has a leathery exterior. Inside though, it’s
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When Kristian Holbrook named his mixed-milk robiola “Hummingbird,” he couldn’t have chosen a more perfect image. Like its namesake bird, this soft cheese is bright and delicate, with a nectar-like flavor profile that calls to mind vanilla and citrus. At one week, Hummingbird has the consistency of airy cheesecake; at three, the center liquefies and
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Since spring, I’ve had a crush on Cherry Grove. This sustainable farm in Lawrenceville, NJ, produces some of the area’s most interesting raw-milk cheeses, and Toma Primavera—a rustic washed rind with an exterior that looks like a flower pot—tops my list as a picnic staple.
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In Pennsylvania and other states around the country, goat cheese is undergoing a renaissance. In her recent book, Goat Cheese (Gibbs Smith, 2008), Maggie Foard points out that, nationally, the number of licensed goat dairies has jumped from “a handful” 20 years ago to “over 200” in 2007.
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