Not far from the US-Canadian border, in the Skagit Valley, is the unincorporated town of Bow, Washington. Bow is located on Samish Bay between Seattle and Bellingham. Depending on your sea level, you can view the San Juan Islands of the Puget Sound; you can enjoy the view of Mount Baker, Chuckanut and on a clear day you can see the Olympia Range to the South and the Canadian Coastal Range to the north.
This is where Rhonda Gothberg and her family live and Rhonda makes her premium, farmstead goat cheeses.
Rhonda grew up in the area and it was her dream to own a goat and make cheese for her family. In 2001, she and her husband, Roy, began to live her dream when they became the “Stewards” of 40 acres of flat, fertile farmland. The farmhouse required lots of repairs and renovations and the family lived in RV-style trailers for months and rented “honey wagons”… yep, Rhonda and Roy were “living the dream”. A new barn was completed in 2003 and that’s where Rhonda does the milking and cheesemaking of her 22 purebred, registered Lamancha does. (Of course it started with only a mother and doe kid pair in 2002 to be used for family milk… and from there it grew…that’s the way it is with passions…)
Recently Rhonda, The Lady and I all became Facebook friends… what???… Of course I have my own Facebook profile and fan page…and this surprises you why???… I have my own blog, why wouldn’t I be on Facebook… I had my own Twitter account for awhile but The Lady and I “negotiated” and it was decided we would consolidate both our accounts into just the one cheesemonger…it’s that opposable thumb thingie again that makes The Lady the Alpha Cheesemonger around here… I do the heavy lifting and she takes all the credit… humankinds… but I digress… The Lady says I do that a lot… it’s called feline free association… aka… annoying The Lady… but I digress…
Rhonda sent The Lady and your favorite Feline Foodie…that would be me… her Chevre and five wedges of her cheeses for me to taste and share with you my thoughts…
Let me start with the evolutions of The Man and The Lady. As I reported last week, The Man has evolved into trying new sausages that The Lady buys at the Hawthorne Fred Meyer. Also, as reported here over the life of my blog, The Lady has not been a big fan of goat cheese but she is little-by-little realizing that there are goat cheeses and then there are goat cheeses… Rhonda’s cheese fall into the latter category…
The Lady prepared a plate of the six Gothberg cheeses Rhonda graciously shared with us. The first cheese was Rhonda’s fresh Chevre. While The Man was busy swooning, The Lady and I were busy sharing our delight at this amazing cheese. The Chevre was creamy, smooth and had a light, lemony taste. You can taste the goat; but in a good way (unlike that English Goat Cheddar I reviewed last year). We spread this cheese on 34° Whole Grain Crispbread Crackers and it was a perfect pairing. The cracker added rather than detracting from the enjoyment of the Chevre.
With plates, I usually reserve my Paw rating to the entire plate; but this time I just have to rate each cheese separately. I give Gothberg Farms’ Chevre 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).
The second cheese on the plate was the fresh Feta. As you may recall, The Man is not a big feta fan. Well, the swooning continued. He loved this cheese. The feta (as with most goat cheeses) is a stark white (think Mediterranean stucco houses) with a smooth texture and a mild taste with just a bit more pleasant bite than the Chevre. Rhonda has another winner with the feta. The Lady drizzled our second tasting of this cheese with a little honey and it was divine.
I give the Gothberg Feta 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause… well you know… that’s all I’ve got).
Next up were 3 Goudas: a Raw Milk Gouda, a Young Gouda and an Aged Gouda. The raw milk Gouda was grassy and earthy; the Young Gouda was very smooth tasting and the Aged Gouda was sweet and nutty. Of the 3, the Aged was a hit with The Lady; The Man was quite taken with the Raw Milk version. As for me…I liked them all and I give them 4 Paws…
The last cheese on the plate was the Aged Cheddar and this one turned out to be The Lady’s favorite of the six. This cheese was creamy and the taste was simply perfect. Again, we have a 4 Paw winner.
Overall, I must give the entire Gothberg Cheese Plate 4 Paws out of 4 Paws. And I commend Rhonda on finding her bliss and these cheeses scream her passion and love for her goats and her cheeses.
You can become a fan of Gothberg Farms on Facebook and you can learn more about Rhonda and her cheeses on her website/blog.
You can buy Gothberg Cheeses at Sheri LeVigne’s new Seattle Cheese Shop, Calf and Kid in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. You can also buy them at the farm and a few Farmers’ Markets. A list is available by clicking here.
FTC Full Disclosure – The cheesemaker/manufacturer sent me their product, hoping I would review the product/cheese.
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