Farmhouse Archives | Cheese Atlas

Idiazabal

Cheese Atlas — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 05:55:50 +0000

In the Basque and Navarre regions of Spain, sheep’s milk cheeses dominate. And Idiazabal might just be the best one of them all. Read on to learn how it’s made and what it tastes like.

Where does Idiazabal come from?

Idiazabal is a traditional, farmhouse, pressed uncooked cheese made from raw milk of Latxa or Carranza sheep in the Basque and Navarre regions of northern Spain. The cheese gets its name from the local village of Idiazabal.

In summer, their sheep migrate to higher pastures to graze on new grass. During those months, the artisanal cheese makers milk the sheep, make the cheese and leave it to mature for a minimum of two months.

How is Idiazabal made?

The cheese has a compact texture, with a few pinprick holes. It is dry, but not too crumbly with a pleasantly oily mouthfeel. The characteristic, smoky flavour is the result of the cheeses having been stored near the fireplaces. There were no chimneys in the simple mountain huts, so the cheeses absorbed the sweet, aromatic smoke. The taste of the cheese is reminiscent of burnt caramel and bacon.

How to serve Idiazabal

Traditionally, the locals enjoy this historic cheese on toasted bread, over salted crackers or grated in salads. Idiazabal pairs well with a simple red wine like Tempranillo, dry cider, or Saison beer.

Thank you for reading

Thank you for reading this post about yet another amazing artisanal cheese. Have you tried this cheese before? Drop us a comment below with your thoughts.

If you enjoy learning about new cheeses, you can subscribe to our newsletter below. You will hear from us about once a week as we share new cheese profiles with you.

Finally, keep scrolling to find some more cheeses and recipes that have been recommended for you. Keep it cheesy!

The post Idiazabal appeared first on Cheese Atlas.

Venus Blue: Australia’s Best Blue Cheese

Cheese Atlas — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 10:34:09 +0000

Wedge of Venus Blue – Cheese Atlas

Amongst the rolling hills

Venus Blue is a sheep’s milk blue cheese made by Prom Country Cheese in South Gippsland, Victoria.

Nestled amongst the rolling hills in the lush Moyarra Valley, lies the Brandon family farm. The farm is home to a small herd of 150 grass-fed sheep which are cared for and milked by Bronwyn and Burke Brandon.

How Venus Blue is made

Undoubtedly, the farm’s ewes produce an exceptionally creamy autumn milk that is perfect for cheese making. As a matter of fact, Burke exclusively uses this seasonal milk to make their signature cheese.

Furthermore, he uses in-house cultures that have been sourced from the ewes’ own raw milk and vegetarian rennet. As a result of this, Venus Blue is a celebration of the local South Gippsland terroir.

Afterwards, he loosely packs the resulting curds to create an open texture. This allows the mould to form beautiful blue pockets during maturation. Finally, the wheels spend a minimum of 5 months in the cellar before being released for sale from January to August.

Flavour profile

Venus Blue has a greyish-white natural rind wrapped around an off-white soft and creamy pâte that is mottled with pockets of blue.

Moreover, its robust aroma is reminiscent of fresh grass and barnyard. Despite its robust aroma, this blue cheese has a mild and savoury flavour with a very soft finish.

How to serve

Enjoy with blueberries, dark chocolate and a late harvest Pinot Gris.

Moreover, this multi-awarded cheese is the perfect blue for a cheese platter but can also be a spectacular addition to a salad or pasta.

The post Venus Blue: Australia’s Best Blue Cheese appeared first on Cheese Atlas.

Big B

Cheese Atlas — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 05:28:45 +0000

Takes you to a barnyard in Tasmania

Big B is a semi-hard cheese made by Tongola Cheese in Southern Tasmania.

Tongola Cheese is a small farmhouse dairy that was established by Hans Stuz and Esther Hausemann in the late 1990’s. The Swiss natives moved to the hills overlooking the Huon River, purchased 16 acres of land, and a small herd of Toggenburg goats. Eventually, they added a dairy and tiny cheesemaking facility to the farm.

Best of both worlds

Moreover, the name Tongola is inspired by their experiences in the Swiss Alps living in tongolas (little huts). Back then, they would bring the local farmers’cow to the alpage pastures and make cheese.

In 2017, the cheesemaking facility moved to nearby Leap Farm. Kate and Iain Field took over the business and now make an incredible range of farmhouse goat’s milk cheeses on their farm. Actually, their goats descend from Hans’s and Esther’s herd.

One such cheese is Big B. They make this cooked curd, semi-hard washed rind using pasteurised goat’s milk. Its maturation period lasts for a minimum of 3 months. During this time, the affineur painstakingly brushes and washes every single wheel by hand.

Overall, this process imparts a unique aroma to the cheese. At 3 months, it has a rugged reddish-brown rind with a pronounced barnyard, earthy aroma.

How to pair Big B

Enjoy with some cherry paste and a glass of Shiraz or Merlot.

The post Big B appeared first on Cheese Atlas.

Langres: Champagne & Cheese

Cheese Atlas — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 23:58:00 +0000

Protected by an AOP stamp

Langres is a traditional French soft washed rind cheese that has held an AOC stamp since 1991 and an AOP stamp since 2009.

Effectively, the AOP dictates that it can only be made in the Bassigny and Langres communes in Champagne-Ardennes. Moreover, the milk has to come from Montbéliarde, Simmental or Brune cows that are pasture fed for a minimum of 6 months a year.

A traditional farmhouse cheese

The recipe has been largely unchanged since the early 19th century when Langres was almost exclusively a farmhouse cheese. Fresh cow’s milk that is still warm from milking is renneted and the mixture is left to curdle in sandstone pots. Once the curd is formed, the young cheese is transferred to terracotta moulds called fromottes.

Afterwards, the formed cheese is then removed from the mould and laid on plane tree leaves. During maturation, the affineur never turns the cheese.

As a result of this, the signature fontaine forms on top of the cheese, which is a tiny concave dip. However, the affineur does regularly wash the wheels of cheese with a brine and annatto solution which produces a wrinkly orange rind.

What Langres tastes like

Despite its pungent aroma, Langres is actually quite mild on the palate. While it is much milder than the most famous French washed rind, Epoisses de Bourgogne, this brainy cheese still has incredible depth.

As a matter of fact, its flavour ranges from mild savoury notes to complex tastes of beef broth and bacon.

How to pair Langres

Celebrate the local terroir by pairing with Champagne. You can even pour a small amount of Champagne into the fountain and let it soak through the cheese.

Furthermore, Langres pairs beautifully with a white or red Coteaux Champenois.

Thank you for reading

Thank you for reading this post about yet another amazing artisanal cheese. Have you tried this cheese before? Drop us a comment below with your thoughts.

If you enjoy learning about new cheeses, you can subscribe to our newsletter below. You will hear from us about once a week as we share new cheese profiles with you.

Finally, keep scrolling to find some more cheeses and recipes that have been recommended for you. Keep it cheesy!

The post Langres: Champagne & Cheese appeared first on Cheese Atlas.