Day 546 : SCS Dispatch Version 7.0, Dispatch #2

Better late than never...yesterday seemed to get away from me what with internet issues, torrential downpours and well life in general. So let's get right back at it this morning and have our second dosage of Virginia and Ireland's SCS. Each of today's cheeses has been perfected over the years, their ratios and recipes developed and changed for well over a decade. These are cheeses that have been tested time and time again till the cheesemakers who produce them reached the appropriate level of satisfaction and pride with their product.

Twelve years of work at Meadow Creek Dairy in Galax, Virginia, surely has perfected their Appalachian -- a cooked and pressed curd cow's milk cheese aged for a minimum of two months with a penicillium mold exterior and light hay hued interior. Smooth, silky, and buttery with bright citrus notes and an excellently earthy farmsteady finish. Supple and semi-firm, it is reminiscent of a French style tomme cheese.  Great served as part of a cheese plate or melted in a sandwich or a pasta dish. Enjoy with a glass of Pinot Grigio!

Image courtesy of www.gourtmet-food.com

And what of its Irish counterpart?

How about Gleann Oir hailing from County Tipperary? A six month aged pasteurized goat's milk cheese with a natural rind. A fantastic example of an Irish original farmstead cheese crafted by a family that has tended to their farm land for four generations and have been making Gleann Oir and perfecting this cheese since the 1980s. Firm with an bright ivory interior and a gray-ish natural exterior, Gleann Oir has those classic lactic goat-y moments of citrusy grassy lightness with a rustic barnyardy feel from its aging process in the farm's caves. 

Image courtesy of www.murrayscheese.com

Wouldn't it be interesting to have had the opportunity to taste each of these cheeses in each stage of their development? See where the cheesemakers started and where they ended up?