One Cow, One Cheese

Yes, "Wrapped and Covered Week" was officially over last week, but this one is just to special.  It comes from the Jackson Farm in Oroville, WA and expert cheesemaker and farmer Sally Jackson.  And this cheese is so special that the milk to make this cheese all comes from a beautiful Brown Swiss cow named Renata.  The cheese is, of course called Renata.  How great is that!  When Renata is sick, there is no Renata cheese (which happened a while ago when she nibbled on a wire and got a case of "hardware disease).  Luckily, Renata is doing well at the moment, and her amazing cheese is available if you know who to ask.  I asked my friend Andrew over at Andrew's Cheese Shop for a chunk to try.  I'd been wanting to try it, and since it is wrapped.

Anyway, Renata is one heck of a cow.  Whatever she's snacking on in the fields is amazing.  I swear she's eating herb salad rich in parsley and sorrel.  According to the website, all the cows graze in the farm's aspen pasture every day.  How dreamy!  This cheese has a bit of the tang that comes from a washed rind cheese, but none of the sticky-ness.  Darling Husband thought it was strong enough to compete with "the white part of a blue cheese."  I didn't think it was quite that strong, but it was really creamy, nutty, tangy and herbal.

The leaves certainly keep the cheese moist, which I think helps make it so creamy.  You can't eat them, though.  In fact, if you've ever rolled your own cigarette or smoked an unfiltered cig, picking out the leaf bits out of your teeth  whilst eating cheese reminds one of picking tobacco leaves from your teeth during your smoke.  A gross analogy, I know, but it's what came to mind.   (Yes, I used to occassionally indulge.  No more - clouds the ability to taste cheese!)  The mold layer under the leaves isn't really that tasty, and the texture is a little mealy.  Not for the faint of heart, but not terrible.

I think I might really enjoy Renata as a bit of cheese toast, but at $38/pound, it would be a little more extravagant than my current budget will allow.  For now, I'll enjoy it with a little Cabernet Franc and a cracker.

Cows Work Hard Too!

The same way it takes 3 goats 3 days to make one little cheese, it takes the milk of an entire herd of cows a whole day's worth of milk (say 100 gallons) to make one 10 pound cheese! It makes sense if you think about it. Milk is a liquid, and cheese is mostly a solid. In the process of preserving a liquid as a solid (more on the technicalities of this later, I promise!), a lot of liquid volume gets removed. This removed liquid is called whey, and it isn't a part of most cheeses. So, the more milk, the more cheese. However, just like with wine, if the milk is collected from lots of cows that are eating different things, and living in different flavors, it might be hard to get a distinctive flavor out of the cheese.

The other night at Andrew's Cheese Shop, I learned about a very special American cheese called Renata. Renata is from Sally Jackson Cheeses, and Renata is made from, well, Renata. Renata is a Brown Swiss cow, and ALL of the milk in Renata cheese is sourced from this one very sweet cow. Renata cheese isn't that big a round, as you might imagine. You can't really expect her to make that much milk all on her own! http://www.sallyjacksoncheeses.com/cowslide.html (and click "next" three times to see Renata!) I thought it was kind of cool to know what the cow looks like that is working hard for your cheese, but the DH somehow thought that it was a little weird. Maybe its a guy thing.

We didn't get to taste the Renata. The cheeses are too small and precious to give away at a tasting. *sad face* BUT, we did get to taste another cheese that really highlights the creativity of cheese makers dealing with temporary milk shortages. The Morbier (more -be-yay) is a washed rind, delicious, creamy, grassy tasting cheese that made me think of the scene in The Sound of Music where they are dancing in the hills. My tasting companion, SMcG thought it tasted like "cow pasture poop," so always remember that everyone's tastebuds are different! Anycow, this tasty or poopy cheese, depending, was traditionally made with 1/2 the milk coming from the evening milking and 1/2 the milk coming from the morning milking, with a layer of ash between the two layers to protect the evening cheese overnight. So pretty! I love this one because I can just imagine the cheese maker going "Crap! I only have enough curds to half fill the mold halfway. I guess I'll just cover it overnight with a little ash and finish it off in the morning!

Sweet cheese dreams for the Morbier cheese maker, Renata, and you!

Photo from Flickr, Taylor149 http://www.flickr.com/photos/taylorrussell/2722358071/