This Cheese Doesn't Suck: Haystack Mountain Queso de Mano

    Colorado is bursting with goat cheese makers these days.  Goats are a hardy creature well suited to the harsh climates of Colorado.  From perennial favorite Avalanche Cheese Company, to today's feature Haystack Mountain, there's a goat cheese for every taste.  

    Queso de Mano was the first raw milk offering from Haystack Mountain.  Drawing heavily from the goat and sheep cheese of Spain, Queso de Mano bears a strong resemblance to the famous Spanish goat cheese Garrotxa.  Starting with the vaguely fluffy, dusty grey rind, which carries with it a damp earthy/goaty aroma.  The paste of the cheese its self is supple and springy.  Giving way to a toothsome cream when young and a bit more dry fudge crumble when aged.  Flavors of blanched almond, sun dried grass, and minerals weave together to form a pleasing nod to those Spanish cheeses Queso de Mano is inspired by. 

    Aged 4 to 12 months makes this cheese perfectly in season for late summer.  Depending on the wheel, the milk used to produce Queso de Mano was made from either sweet spring grasses or the herbs and flowers of summer.  Either way this cheese wins and so do you. 
    Queso de Mano can be found regionally in the western U.S. and is perfect paired up with a locally brewed Colorado pale ale.

Avalanche Cheese Company: Lamborn Bloomer

 

     The Avalanche Cheese Company has become something of a summer time darling around The Board and Wire.  Made locally to me in Basalt, Colorado, cheese can't get any fresher than this.  Well, unless it's aged on purpose, you get the idea.  My current obsession now that June is fully upon us is the Avalanche Lamborn Bloomer.  

    

    Those lady goats grazing on the Western Slope in Paonia are getting the best of the spring grasses and flora.  As a result the milk produced is rich in flavor and nutrients.  Making it ideal for creating bloomy rinded, milky, fresh cheese.  Hence, the Lamborn Bloomer.  

    Based on the Robiola style cheese of Italy it oozes out of its light, snappy rind.  Lactic and creamy at first bite it blossoms into floral and fresh-mowed grass.  Finishing gently with subtle flavors of citrus and yogurt.  Best served with seasonal fruit (right now, strawberries, get 'em while they're good) and slices of soft french bread (not crackers. do yourself a favor on this one.). 

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Parmigiano Reggiano + Honey

    Local Colorado clover honey and The-Real-Deal Parmigiano Reggiano.  This is what love looks like...and tastes like.  I'm ever the sucker for the simplicity of food.  This particular pairing goes along with my "put some honey on it" opinion of cheese.  When lacking any other fancy-pants pairings for impromptu cheese plates honey always comes to the rescue.  Yes, even on Camembert. Yes, I know it's weird.
    All things aside adding honey to Parmigiano really punches up the flavor of both.  the nutty, salty, crunch of the cheese is magnified by the dense, intoxicating, astringent sweetness of the honey. 
   Try this pairing with different types of honey for totally different flavor profiles!  Honey with lavender, orange blossom honey, or honey with chilies, to name but a few. 
Try it out! You won't be sad.

Vine Street Brews.

Lookit that lace.

Mountain Sun Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen.  

 Playful citrus, clove, and candied banana notes.  Circus peanut even made a brief show.  All kickin' flavors when it comes to a well rounded Hef.  The only beer to end a 100 degree high desert day.  Pair with Humboldt Fog, Lamborn Bloomer or a nice puck of Capricho de Cabra

Preview Friday #1

A little look at what's coming up this week on The Board and Wire.  

I'm pretty stoked about what's in the works for this week.

Don't touch that dial.

The Good Stuff.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Avalanche cheeses.  

Most notably the pillowy fluff of their fresh Chevre.  Since I'm pining for the return of The Guy (he's doing business type things out of state) I decided to cope by buying myself some fancy-type cheese.  But what's a lady to do when a plain log of Chev isn't enough?  Naturally she scrounges in her refrigerator (in the back and slightly above the crisper) and produces magic. 

That's what.

To elaborate this Chevre is rolled in paprika and chopped fire roasted tomatoes w/olive oil, garlic, and herbs.  A tiny salad of spicy/bitter greens adds a zing of contrast.  Of course my security blanket of a cheese platform, cracked pepper water crackers, balances it all out.  

I do suspect 7 out of 10 times I take cheese anywhere, that cracker comes with me.  

This time it had the pleasure of delivering that fine, fine Chev concoction to my face.  

Which, naturally, soothed my pining.  

Still, a log of cheese is a poor substitute for a Fiance. 

Mozzarella. Bar.

Handmade Fior di Latte.  c/o charmingitaly.com

That's right, you heard me. Mozzarella. Bar. Whoa.  Thanks to a sudden inability to spell the word mozzarella (as i was preparing for a totally different entry regarding the same cheese) I blithely typed the first few letters into my Google search bar, also known as my personal spell check.  The fourth option Google listed for mozzarella was "Mozzarella Bar Boulder".  I may have blacked out for a half a second out of sheer joy.  The world seems so complete now.  A world where the soft, milky, briny, creamy lactose packed fresh curd perfection known as mozzarella never stops coming.  Where I can belly up to a bar and stuff myself with Fior di Latte until tears of happiness blur my vision.  Currently I am devising a way to beat the Mothers Day crowds and go to this font of dairy wonder*.






*Don't fret Osteria Marco! I will only cheat on your house made burrata a teensy bit.  I'll always come back to you...

This Cheese Doesn't Suck: Avalanche Chevre

It's springtime on the Front Range.  The woodpeckers are making a ruckus, the rivers are just starting to swell with snow melt, but most importantly the goats that are herded out here are in the middle of kidding season.  What does that mean exactly? It means the goat milk is flowing!  Finally the first batch this year of fresh chevre from Avalanche* is now available!!! This cheese is worthy of those 3 exclamation points.

It's those little logs. c/o Avalanche

 It is hands down the best chevre I have ever had the pleasure to consume.  Some chevs end up with a dense clay like texture (which is not a bad thing, however).  This little log of goat cheese goodness is actually fluffy all through, with springy moisture and melts as soon as it hovers over the tongue.  Amazing, right?  It has the classic citrus note of a chevre but on a much subtler scale.  It's creamy paste brings up notes of lightly sweet fruit preserves, cut green grass, and hint of winter alfalfa.  In Englishy speak: It's damn fine cheese. Go eat some. Right. Now.


*Avalanche lets their does have some maternity time before & after they kid.  Hence we don't get any fresh chevre from them during the winter months.  Those long, long months where we all craves the milky delicioussss...*drool*....  But I digress.  They love their animals and even elect a "Goat of the Month" rather than an "Employee of the Month".  Three cheers for excellent animal husbandry resulting in oh-so-happy animals!

Arroyo: March's Goat of the Month. c/o Avalanche