Barossa Valley Cheese Co. La Petite Princesse

We head back to South Australia and in particular the Barossa Valley for a new (to me at least) cheese-maker called Barossa Valley Cheese Company.

Just an hours drive north from Adelaide you'll find the Barossa Valley - an area that is most known for it's wonderful wines so it's not that surprising to find that it was a winemaker that turned cheese-maker.

While working the vintage in Bordeaux, Victoria Glaetzer found her focus moved to the artisan cheese of the area and when she returned to Australia five years ago she decided to start her own cheese-making business in partnership with her mother.

The milk, both cow and goat, is sourced from nearby dairies and they produce a small range of hand-made soft white mould, washed rind and fresh style cheese. I should note that Barossa Valley Cheese Company just won the Champion Washed Rind Cheese section in the 2007 Australian Grand Dairy Awards for their Washington Washrind.

Cheese: La Petite Princesse Camembert de Chèvres (Goat Camembert)
Location: Cheese Cellar - 67B Murray Street, Angaston, South Australia

I must admit in all honesty I did buy this cheese for it's label. It's cute, what can I say?

In the hand you can feel a bit of give in the cheese it isn't one of those firm rounds - with maturation you get the sense that it will be one of the wonderfully gooey types of camembert.

There's a lovely fresh aroma of grass and milk. It's white mould rind is speckled with a patina of age. I find the rind to be quite fragile and very thin - the rind isn't overpowering at all, just offering a richer and more intense flavour.

When I sliced this cheese it had only been out of the fridge for 15 minutes so it's not going to be excessively runny. Of course if you are serving it as part of a cheese platter you'll leave it out to let it reach room temperature - if you are suffering through summer naturally enough you wouldn't leave it out for such a long time.

The sweet and silky smooth core is wonderfully complimented by the rind and it's distinctively goat but does not have any of those bitter goat elements that can be found in some goat cheese. There's a mouth filling creaminess followed by an appealing tang to round out the experience.

I may well have bought it for the label but I'll buy it again for the taste.

Originally published here

Holy Goat Mature Skyla

I'm back with another Holy Goat cheese - this time it's a hard goat cheese called Skyla.

Cheese: Holy Goat Mature Skyla
Location: Sutton Grange Organic Farm, Victoria

Unwrapped you'll find a cheese almost devoid of any moisture and covered in a whitish rippled skin - this white mould skin will darken with age and intensify in flavour but it's perfectly edible so don't go cutting it off.

When sliced you can clearly see the darker ring surrounding the typical white goat cheese. There's a bite to this but no more than a good aged cheddar - it does tend to dissolve in the mouth and the skin is somewhat buttery for want of a better word. It slices easily without being brittle at all. It also shows good balance between saltiness and acidity - neither taking away from the purity of the milk.

Possible uses - served as in as part of a cheese platter, sliced thickly and baked into savoury tarts or as I did with this particular cheese, grated for the Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Muffins.

Originally published here

Udder Delights Chevre

I've returned to the utterly delightful Udder Delights for for a taste of their Chevre.

This is a fresh goat cheese - presented as a log. There's also an ashed and a herbed version available. It's pressed but still has a softness to it - your fingerprints will definitely show in this.

I seem to repeat myself when it comes to goat cheese - but what does strike you is the whiteness of the curd. The outside is slightly moist - you could probably compare it's feel to say a buffalo mozzarella.

It is sliceable though it will crumble somewhat as you can see but it's also very easy to spread. These qualities do make it more useful in the kitchen as it opens up the range of applications. As slices you could add it to tarts and the like, or serve it as is on a cheese board or treat it like a fromage frais.

Tastewise, it's a little more "goaty", slightly sharper in taste, though still extremely creamy in the mouth with an appealing tang.

If you'd like to know more about Udder Delights head over to this post.

Originally published here