Bubbly-Worthy Cheese Pick #2: Truffle Tremor

After two days of creamy cows-milk cheeses, we turn today to the equally luscious goats-milk cheese from California’s Cypress Grove: the multi-award winning Truffle Tremor. This earthy, rich cheese is always a delight.

Truffle Tremor and its fans (with cheesemaker Mary Keehn)

To really impress your guests, go all out and serve a truffle-themed cheese board with a trio of Truffle Tremor, Tartufo salami from Creminelli, and truffle honey. Add two more cheeses, perhaps Rogue River Blue and Beecher’s Flagship Cheddar, to cut the richness (and round out your West Coast cheese trilogy). Serve with a dry sparkling wine from California.

It’s hard to imagine a more decadent way to ring in the New Year … but we’ll try with tomorrow’s #1 bubbly-worthy cheese pick, so stay tuned!

disclosure: I received free samples of Creminelli salami. No other compensation was received, and as always, all opinions and reviews are strictly our own.

 

Sally Jackson Goat Cheese, and Honey Pairings

Last night the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah began, and it is customary for the holiday meals to include apples dipped in honey to symbolize the hope for a “sweet” year ahead. As your C+C bloggers are 1.5 parts Jewish (yours truly is only Jewish-by-marriage), we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on some of our favorite cheese and honey pairings*. While it’s practically passé to sample blue cheeses with honey, its sweet touch brings the best out of a wide range of cheeses. One of my favorite breakfasts is a piece of toast spread with ricotta cheese and honey. The tang of goats’ milk cheeses, sharpness of an aged cheddar, and bite of a stinky blue can all be tamed and complemented with a little drop of sweet honey.

And it just so happens one of the reviews I’ve had in store is Sally Jackson goat cheese, pictured here with … honey.

Sally Jackson is one of the pioneers of American artisanal cheese, having started her small Eastern Washington dairy farm during the Carter administration. Her small herds of goats and sheep are joined by three dairy cows, and she makes small batches of hand-crafted raw milk cheeses which are shipped to a select handful of retailers. I snatched up the Sally Jackson goat cheese at La Fromagerie earlier this summer, and wasn’t disappointed. (There are no cutesy names here, the cheeses are simply known as goat, sheep, or Guernsey.) This lovely round, made from the milk of Alpine and Nubian goats, is wrapped in grape leaves which enhance the fruity, herbal flavors in the milk. The cheese is dense, moist and creamy with an unexpected bright flavor. And as mentioned, it goes wonderfully with a drop of honey — and some wine.

A few other cheeses we’ve enjoyed with honey here on CheeseandChampagne:

Cashel Irish Blue, in a radish and pear salad with honey vinaigrette

St. Pete’s Select, a Minnesota blue

Narrangasett, Rhode Island ricotta, which I consumed by the bowlful topped with honey and berries

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar with a honeycrisp apple

and of course you can’t go wrong with the honey-rubbed Sea Hive cheddar from Beehive Cheese Co. (review coming soon!)

What’s your favorite cheese to drizzle with honey? L’Shana Tova!

(*of course, if you keep kosher, you’ll have to reserve the cheese board for dairy meals. also, these cheeses are not necessarily kosher themselves, as they may contain animal rennet. end disclaimer.)