I was starting to get worried about being able to find locally made cheeses in Kansas, after looking place, after place, after place, and only having found Alma cheese curds. Cheese curds.....can be good, but aren't exactly what I'm looking for! It's been an endless source of frustration for me, the cheeses available for me to order. I want local! I want more artisanal! But sometimes, the prices are ridiculous, and local cheeses are non existent in my order guide-which leaves me at square one. So, when in doubt, head to the farmers market!
I have always had this strong feeling that the artisan cheese revolution in the states is almost completely based around goat cheeses. Cypress Grove is all goat. Vermont Creamery's best are goats (Bonne Bouche? That cheese is GOOD- and almost doesn't doesn't taste like goat cheese, but is!). Sam has talked about a neighboring farm that makes goat cheeses. And yep, you guessed it- Landeria farms produces goat cheeses! I realize that this probably is starting to sound like I have something against goat cheese; I don't! I never used to think that I liked it, but I really do love fresh chevres. Like I mentioned before, one of my current favorites is Purple Haze- goat, lavender and fennel seeds.
Anyway, Landeria farms confirmed my suspicions- that there are not very many local cheeses producers in my area. But there's them! A half hour drive away, they breed, raise, and milk their own goats- and then produce goat cheeses! She told me that she had suggested to another goat-raiser that he start making flavored chevres- and he said no! So, she decided to make some! She had a multitude of goat cheeses available- three pressed, cave aged cheeses, a variety of flavored fresh chevres, and a couple with bloomy rinds!
Flavored chevre wise, there are harissa, garlic, plain, honey rosemary, cajun, dill and sundried tomato basil. For the aged ones, she had a gouda, swiss, and jack available. Anyway, we tried pretty much all of them, and picked up the garlic, harissa and sundried tomato basil ones!
At the Merc, the local co-op, these sell for $5.99. From her directly, each 4 oz container was $5. Not bad! The aged cheeses were, of course, a bit pricier. But we'll cover those ones next time!
So, these flavored chevres are basically like a spread. I suppose that the closest comparison would be to the premade spreads that you can buy at supermarkets- Allouette, that sort of thing. But, as it is fresh chevre, it still has that tang, that bite that fresh goat cheeses do. It is crumbly, and yet very easily spread on a good crusty bread. Unlike a lot of fresh chevres, the flavoring runs throughout. It's not just on the outside rind (there is none), or just in the center. Mixed throughout = an extremely flavorful spread!
(it almost looks like a homemade playdough, doesn't it? )We'll start with what was the simplest (to me, at least): the garlic. I am a garlic fiend through and through. I love garlic. I don't think that such a thing as "too much garlic" exists. My only quip with this one was that it's the only one to have only one flavor. I love the mixing of flavor found in all of Landeria farm's other chevres. We made some burgers and spread this on top, and it was gooooooood.
(I only caught a picture of it once it had been partially demolished by hungry boys)The favorite amongst the boyfriend and his roommates, was the harissa. I had never heard of harissa before, but a little quick googling tells me that it's a Tunisian spice. The woman at Landeria farms said that he son does something within the realm of culinary arts, and he has passed on the knowledge that harissa is going to be the up and coming spice of the year. And, yep, it was good. I'm a wussy when it comes to spicey things, and the boyfriend loves it as hot as he can get it-so this was great! Not too much for me, enough for him. It smells absolutely HEAVENLY too. We ate this one with a Kansas City made sourdough, and it disappeared SO fast. A hit!
(doesn't it look AWESOME!?)Last, but absolutely not least, was the sundried tomato basil chevre. A restaurant that I love back home does a sundried tomato pesto, that I love, so it's really no surprise that this one was my favorite. In fact, even after having it for breakfast and a snack yesterday, I just polished off the last of it as a pre-dinner snack. It's tomato-ey. It's garlickey. It's basil-ey. It's just all around good. I'm almost wishing that I had tossed it in some pasta with some chicken too!
Like I said, these all kind of remind me of store bought spreads-but better. Nothing is lost in the fact that they are flavored. Smooth, creamy (and yet crumbly?), and delicious! Even though their flavors are all very distinct, they are all still so delicious and obviously, fresh chevres.
Stop by again soon for a review of Landeria farm's aged gouda, and the ONLY GOAT SWISS made in the States!
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