Raw Milk and Vegetarian-Suitable
As mentioned on occasion, The Lady likes to visit and check out the competition (think: spying) and she recently wandered into Whole Foods in the Pearl District of Downtown Portland. This is a nice store with a terrific cheese kiosk. The Lady likes to check out their small morsel basket for cheeses she and I haven’t gotten to know. On one of her recent adventures making the rounds with The Man who, if truth be told, doesn’t really think much of these trips but humors The Lady because… well, with 30 years of marriage, The Man had to learn to tolerate certain traits and The lady has “traits” that require “tolerating”… but I digress…
She brought home a small morsel of Appleby’s Cheshire, a traditional English cheese that dates back to the Twelfth Century and Roman occupation. Gary Gray and the Appleby Family continue to produce this raw milk cheese on their farm milking their own Friesian-Holstein cows.
This cheese is a bright orange color (annatto seed is added) and is crumbly and even a bit flakey, in a good way, of course, not in a Lindsay Lohan flakey kind-of-way…
Because it is a raw milk cheese, you can taste the minerals and grasses of the land in the Hawkstone region of England where the Appleby Family Farmstead cheese making operation is located. The taste is full-bodied and savory and melts well on the palate.
The Affineur for this fine cheese is Neal’s Yard Dairy which buys cheese from about seventy cheesemakers in England and Ireland which they sell from their two London shops to shops and restaurants around the world.
I give Appleby’s Cheshire 3 paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
Serving Suggestions: You can do most anything with this cheese: it’s great on a cheese plate; you can cook with it; you can melt it on toast… it’s a very versatile cheese.
Wine Pairing: This full-bodied cheese needs a full-bodied wine like a Pinot Noir or a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Beer Pairing: Pilsner or Lager
Source: Raw Cow Milk
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