But man is it good.  Melt in your mouth softness, a nice smooth taste.  I wolfed my little brick down by itself and with apples.  Not your typical apple cheese, but wow.  I guess, since it’s so soft, you’d more likely be spreading it on crackers or bread.  But still, just fine with apples.  The taste is like a great vanilla ice cream, but without the vanilla flavor, and it isn’t really gonna melt.  Does that make sense?

It’s a mixture of cow’s milk and sheep’s milk, comes from Northern Italy.  High fat content, which may explain the awesome taste.  So who cares??

Looking around the web, looks like the 8oz brick normally goes for around $15.  Maybe Gourmet Garage isn’t above pulling a fast one with deceptive sale pricing signs.

It’s a good cheddar.  Good with apples.  A little dry with bread — but most cheddars are, aren’t they?

Apparently, sea salt crystals are added during the maturing process.  Hmm.  Nibbling here on the last few crumbs, I guess I can taste a little saltiness.  Not bad.

Nothing “salty” jumped out at me while I was eating big chunks with my apple, though.

Much more affordable than the Fiscalini — the Ferrari of cheddars.  But, maybe not quite as tasty.

This is an English cheese, pasteurized cow’s milk.  $9.99/lb at Fairway in September 2009.

Nonetheless, this is a good cheddar.  A very good one.  It is sharp, strong, not stinky, moist but definitely not soggy.  Goes great with an apple.  If you’re going to serve cheddar on a well dressed cheese plate, and dress up for the occasion yourself, then this is a good choice.

As decribed by Fairway:

“Supreme champion limited edition:  Cheesemaker Jorge Mariano Gonzalez.  Hand made.  Bandage-wrapped raw cow’s milk cheddar.  Voted best farmhouse cheddar at the 2002 American Society Award.  From Modesto California.”

A very good raw milk American cheese.  I do make an effort to look for these.  I need to find something equivalently tasty, but at a more modest every-day snack kind of price.

$19.96/lb at Fairway, NYC, September 2009.

Here is the Fairway description:

“Crafted in copper vats and aged on wooden boards in the Roth Kase cellars.  Made with raw cow’s milk.  This washed-rind cheese celebrates the Swiss heritage of the Roth family while capturing the unique territory of southern Wisconsin.  Aged over 12 months.”

Yes. Yes.  Blah blah blah.   Big deal.  They were drunk, or maybe the marketer is more accustomed to selling liquor.

On to the real question:  is it a good cheese?  Unless we  know what the territory of southern Wisconsin tastes like, mixed with a little Swiss Roth heritage aged on boards, we have no clue how this cheese will taste.

Well, almost none.  What caught my eye was “raw cow’s milk”.  That is almost always a guarantee of taste — just like “pasteurized cow’s milk” is almost always a guarantee of bland pablum mush in you mouth.

So, with high expectations thanks to the rawness factor, I bought a piece of this cheese, and found it to deliver.  It was very good.  It has a strong taste.  It is not stinky.  It is a hard cheese, hard enough to grate.  Probably very tasty grated into salads, or sliced onto fruit.   A great alternative to grated swiss cheese or emental, if you’re bored with those.  After chewing through it for a few nights, I finally finished it, and considered myself to be very lucky to have found this cheese.  It’s the first American raw cow’s milk cheese I have come across, and is not outrageously expensive.

Imagine that:  a pompous sounding cheese that isn’t.

$7.99/lb at Fairway in NYC in September 2009.

Anyways, googling the cheese, after it was all gone, led me to the history of Trappist cheeses and beers (and a number promotional recipes).  Trappists are Belgian monks who seem to have gotten quite good at cheeses and beers, and at marketing.  Well, they have a nice, informative site, with links to cheeses, recipes, and Trappist history.  Particularly funny are the “Moments Chimay“, a Chimay testimonials page with nearly 500 entries.  Most seem to praise the beer.  If I may just quote: “j’ai bu une trappiste de Chimay avec mon copain et néanmoins ami Christophe Colomb avant qu’il ne parte pour son long voyage vers les Indes. Il était tellement bourré qu’il eu du mal a trouver l’Inde …”

This is a good cheese.  After it has been made, it is marinated in an herb infused oil for around two weeks.   So, in addition to the yuminess of the cheese, you get all those thyme, taragon, and rosemary flavors.  Kind of like you’re biting into an herb encrusted focaccia, but the bread is not there.

What’s there is an almost hard, almost crumbly cheese.  I don’t like crumbly cheeses – they’re usually too dry -  but this one came through with just the right combination:  crumbly, but still moist!  How’d they do it?  Must be the marination.

Well, it worked for me.