Thursday, November 24, 2011

Day 652: SCS Version 10.0, Dispatch # 2 - Sheep's Milk Cheeses

Happy Thanksgiving Fromagical readers! I apologize our SCS spotlights are a day late but that just means you get double the love today so lets get right to it! 

For today's SCS spotlight, we will look at a sheep's milk cheese from each locale. Sheep's milk is richer than cow or goat's milk, with a higher fat content thus providing you with a rounder mouth feel and an increased sense of weight on the tongue -- decadent and buttery but rustic and farmsteady. 

From Appleton Creamery in Maine, we have their Georges Highland, a three to five month aged sheep's milk cheese. A smooth snacking cheese with round buttery notes and a nice crisp barnyardy finish. Appleton Creamery, founded in the late 1970s, was one of the first creameries to set up shop in the northern state of Maine. For the first few decades of their existence, they strictly produced a line of goat's milk cheeses. However in 2004, they began producing a line sheep's milk cheeses of which their Georges Highland is one of. A very versatile pairing partner, this cheese can work with a nice glass of medium bodied red wine or perhaps a nice IPA. 

And what of our Greek counterpart?

How about Kasseri?

Kasseri is crafted from unpasteurized sheep's milk and is considered a pasta filata cheese (a pulled or stretched curd cheese). A semi-firm cheese aged for at least four months, Kasseri is creamy yet somewhat salty with a nice fullness of mouth feel. Great for cooking or snacking, this cheese will make you think of a mixture between an aged cheddar and a Parmesan. 

Stay tuned later for my Thanksgiving cheese selections!

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