Get Your (Local) Goat (Cheese)

Alberto Aurilio

Recently there have been a lot of developments in the local production of goat cheese.  Most cheese lovers are familiar with the most common variety, fresh chevre.  This is the versatile soft, creamy white cheese that most every goat cheese producer started out with.  It borrows its name, chevre, from the French term for fresh goat cheese.  As these fresh cheeses have become a standard for the American cheese lover, new aged versions of these chevres have begun to make their way to market.  This is of particular interest because the bold flavor of these cheeses excites the American palate in a new way.

Here in New England the growth of chevre production has continued to blossom since the 70’s.  Barbara Brooks began her Seal Cove Farms goat dairy in Lamoine, Maine in 1979.  A true pioneer, she has been producing farmstead cheese for almost 30 years from milk from her herd of 125 Toggenberg and Saanen goats.  As if tending a herd, making cheese, and marketing weren’t enough, she has begun to age some cheeses.  The folks at the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company came on the scene shortly afterward.  They provided the chefs of Boston fresh chevre for their restaurants. Now they have also begun making several ripened cheeses.  Some others here in Massachusetts began experimenting with ripened cheeses right away.  Westfield Farm in Hubbardston, MA  began making some unusual blue mold ripened cheeses.  Valley View Farm in Topsfield, MA also has produced soft ripened items from the start.

There has been a tremendous learning curve not just for the farmers and cheese-makers, but for the consumers as well.  With local products, especially new ones, the greater effort has been put toward bringing the end user closer to the origin of what they are about to eat.  It seems to close the circle of this earthly toil.  Certainly, an appreciation of the complexity of the process lends to a more gratifying experience.  Hopefully, these descriptions below help. If not, or, if you are curious there are some links below to get you in touch with the producers themselves.

Seal Cove Farms has been aging two cheeses that are somewhat old world and intense.  The first is a small two to three ounce round called Seal Cove Tomme.  It is firm, straw colored, and aromatic.  Its dense paste is somewhat crumbly when it is on the dry side and bursts with flavor and aroma when it melts on the palate.  The second is Chevrachon.  This small wheel is slightly less than a pound and is made from a blend of Seal Coves goat milk and some cow’s milk.  It is dense and rustic with a rich texture.  The creamy cow’s milk blends nicely with the underlying goat flavor.

Vermont Butter and Cheese Company has invested tremendous effort to bring us three aged cheeses that are reminiscent of their French predecessors.  The Bijou is a small round nugget of concentrated goat flavor.  It has a blond molded rind that lends to its fragrant aroma.  It can continue to age at home to the ripeness you desire.  The Bonne Buche is a small disc ripened with a dusting of vegetable ash.  A
traditional ripening process is used to bring this softer more delicate cheese to its perfect state.  Although the perfect state varies depending on the consumer.  The last, but, grandest is their Coupole.  This round cheese is larger and has a dome dusted in ash partially covering the blond molded rind.  It too is compact and intense and can be eaten at various stages.  It is large enough that one can enjoy the stronger riper rind and the creamy white interior.

Westfield Farm produces several aged products at their dairy in Hubbardston Massachusetts.  There are two that stand out.  The innovative Capri Classic Blue Log is an American original.  Not ripened in any traditional style this cheese is basically a fresh chevre with a blue mold rind.  The same blue that you find in your sharp blue cheese is coaxed to develop on this fine white log.  Because it is to be eaten fairly young the blue exhibits a lively, more mild flavor.  Its counterpart Hubbardston Blue goat cheese is a round disc of about 5 ounces.  It is also ripened with the same blue mold.  The difference being that the curd for this recipe is lactic.  So as this cheese ripens the curd becomes runny and creamy.  Both are uniquely delicious. 

The newest producer being presented here is Valley View Farm.  A small farmstead dairy operating in Topsfield Massachusetts.  Milking strictly Nubian goats they achieve a milder more creamy cheese than some other goats’ milk.  They produce three ripened goat cheeses.  The Topsfield round is the smallest, about 4 ounces, but perhaps the most intense.  It is has a delicate mold rind that is aromatic and balances well with the snowy white interior.  Its larger counterpart the New Meadows ripens to a more soft consistency and tends to have a pleasant mushroom flavor while the Topsfield Round, which is eaten younger remains on the nuttier side.  The Highlander is a small truncated pyramid with a bloomy rind.  There is something about this shape that truly lends perfection to a ripened goat cheese that cannot be described.  You just need to cut one corner to corner and have a taste.