I’m a blue cheese fiend. When it comes to cheese, I say, “Bring on the mold!” Well today, my cheese monger did not disappoint. I asked for something “creamy and mild… something between a Gorgonzola and Roquefort” and she said, “St. Agur” without hesitation.

Sure enough, St. Agur is one delightful blue cheese. It hails from the Auvergne region of France, the village of Monts du Velay. It’s a cow’s milk cheese and fairly young, which yields a nice, smooth and mellow flavor, not as bold as an in-your-face Gorgonzola. I noticed just a hint of pepper but virtually no sourness… it makes a killer dessert cheese. And the texture is spot on… creamy, but not too soft, it just melts in your mouth. It has such a great balance of texture and flavor, I think even those who aren’t as nuts about cheese as I am would love this one.

After yesterday’s unfortunate cheese experience I decided to play it safe today, with an old stand-by goat’s cheese, bucheron.

Ah, bucheron, you are almost chevre! It’s a typical goat offering, nothing offensive whatsoever, just pure goaty goodness. It’s actually a little bit more chalky than a chevre. And it’s round! It comes in logs, and how can you not like that? So you get a nice little round of goat cheese goodness.

I actually think the flavor is a little stronger than chevre, but not in a bad way. It has a nice, citrus-like tang in the aftertaste which does remind me a bit of the precious Humboldt Fog which is always a good thing.

Yes, after the “cheese whose name shall not be spoken” this was a very nice retreat into the familiar.

Oh, my. It was bound to happen… on Halloween, nonetheless. I’ve met a cheese I do not like. There. I said it.
This was an unfortunate one… it was recommended by someone who shall remain nameless. When I remarked that Humboldt Fog was a personal favorite, they suggested I try this one. I’ve decided they don’t like me.
Le Lingot du Quercy would be a raw goat’s milk cheese, but because it is younger than the 60 day aging requirement imposed by the FDA, it’s gotta be pasteurized. Damn them! Maybe. Perhaps, just perhaps, the pasteurization process is so offensive to this cheese that it injects the distinct taste of… hmmm…. ass? which so offends me.

The cheese does resemble an ingot. Whoo. That’s about as close to gold as it gets. It’s a pungent, tangy cheese with a flavor that might have reminded me of Camembert were it not for the overpowering tones of, well, ass. It’s a runny cheese, nearly liquid, in fact, you could almost eat it with a spoon. Yum! Spoonfuls of ass!

Okay, I’m just going to stop now. I did not like this cheese.

It’s time once again for a raw ewe’s milk cheese! Today’s offering comes from a UK dairy, Neal’s Yard and the selection is their Spenwood.

This is a hard, semi-dry cheese, made from unpasteurized ewe’s milk. The folks at Neal’s describe it as a “nutty, sweet cheese with a translucent appearance and a smooth texture.” I’d agree, for the most part. It does have a hint on a nutty taste to it, but I wouldn’t quite call it smooth… it’s harder, like a Parmigiano-Reggiano, but not as crumbly. It does have a pretty good “melt in your mouth” factor to it, probably as a result of a higher fat content. The flavor is very nice, mild, but with just an ever-so-tiny nod to cheddar that it makes a fine snackin’ cheese. Jolly good!

Today’s cheese was a Castelo Branco, which is another raw ewe’s milk cheese, this time from the Beiras region in Portugal. It’s a semi-soft cheese, light yellow in color, pocked with small holes throughout. Some reports I read indicated that it’s sometimes made with a mix of ewe and goat milk, although my cheese monger indicated this sample was ewe’s milk. The flavor is mild, but with a tweak of an acidic sourness, not quite citrus-like, and reminiscent of a goat’s milk cheese (with a much higher fat content). Definitely worth a try although not my favorite of the ewe’s milk cheeses I’ve tried so far.

Tonight’s cheese was Ossau-Iraty, which is a French ewe’s milk cheese. Wow, it’s good, good stuff. I’m surprised they let it out of France, they usually horde the best stuff. Ossau-Iraty is actually an AOC cheese (that’s Appellation d’Origine Controle) which means that it’s regionally produced under strict quality guidelines. The Ossau-Iraty is one of only 3 AOC cheeses made from ewe’s milk. (Another favorite of mine is Roquefort.)

This is only the third ewe’s milk cheese I’ve had, the second being this Swaledale Ewes Cheese in England. I have to say, I’m a big fan.

Like the Swaledale, the Ossau-Iraty has a heavier or thicker feel in your mouth than a cow or goat’s milk cheese. It has a mild, but distinct flavor, almost nutty, and I thought kind of like a very mild, much softer Parmesan. Another keeper of a cheese.

Tonight’s other cheese selection comes from the Cowgirl Creamery. This was the Red Hawk I picked up at The Cheese Stands Alone.

This is not a cheese for the faint of heart. It’s triple creamed, made from organic cow’s milk, with a rind that’s washed in brine and aged for six weeks. The result is a very full-bodied, salty cheese that is packed with flavor. It’s a soft cheese, with a reddish/orange rind and quite a pungent aroma.

If you are not a fan of pungent cheese, this one isn’t for you. Personally, I love a good strong cheese, so I found this right up my alley. Taking the advice of the cheese monger, I let this one warm up to room temp and it really blossomed. It’s extremely flavorful without being as over-powering as you might think from the odor. A very, very nice cheese. I’m definitely going to try more Cowgirl offerings.

From the Cypress Grove Chevre I sampled a goat cheese tonight called Humboldt Fog.

If you are a fan of goat cheese I would highly recommend this winner (Blue Ribbon at the American Cheese Society 2005). It’s made from pasturized goat’s milk with a white mold and has a line of vegetable ash in the center of the cheese. It’s definitely a goat’s milk cheese, although the “goat-ness” is very, very mild. It has a really great, lemony tang that lingers very pleasantly. The center is the consistency of a chevre, while closer to the rind it’s creamery (think consistency of brie).

Delicious.