Culture Magazine

38 culturecheesemag.com B E S T C H E E S E S 202 2 6 CLOTHBOUND GOAT CHEDDAR Stepladder Ranch & Creamery Cambria, Calif. On this dairy's website, you can meet all 40 of the LaManchas whose milk went into this cheese, the first batch of which was developed and aged just in time for the 2022 ACS Judging and Competition. The goats and cheesemaker Robin Profitt took home Gold in the farmstead goat's milk category. It's made like a traditional English cheddar, where the curds are milled, salted, and bound in muslin before aging, which for this cheese is about six months. It has a milky aroma and a tart bite that's smoothed out with herbaceous notes from the goat's milk. CAYUGA BLUE Lively Run Goat Dairy Interlaken, N.Y. Like all cheeses made at Lively Run, one of the longest operating goat dairies in the country, Cayuga Blue is made by hand in small batches. Marbled throughout with blue mold as deep in color as the Finger Lake it is named after, this ACS First Place winner in blues made from milk other than cow's has texture closer to Roquefort than Stilton. Its classic blue tang is balanced by the earthy richness of goat's milk, says cheesemonger Andrew Sylvester, of the Adams Cheese Shop in upstate New York, who admits it is one of his favorites. GLADSHEIM Asgaard Farm & Dairy Au Sable Forks, N.Y. This raw goat's milk gouda is almost as pretty as the scenic pictures painted by mid-twentieth-century American artist Rockwell Kent on the farm where this cheese is now made. Aged in on-farm caves, it has a complex, subtly sharp flavor, with notes of toasted milk and an earthy broth. The texture is pleasantly dry and granulated. Both taste and texture played into Gladsheim taking home First Place in the American-made, internationally styled open category in the 2022 ACS Judging and Competition. Photos: Gladsheim by Lisa J Godfrey 6 Month Clothbound Cheddar by Lori Rice CAYUGA BLUE + DRIED FRUIT OR GINGERBREAD Sylvester of Adams Cheese Shop suggests pairing this cheese with sweet, non-acidic dried fruits like dates, figs, and pears on a cheese board. Or on gingerbread for dessert. Sweeter wine and beer like Rieslings, English brown ales, or German doppelbocks are a good match, too.

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