Name: Taleggio
Brand: none listed
Place of Purchase: Wheatsfield Organic Co-op in Ames, Iowa
Country/Region of Origin: Italy
Price in Iowa: $12.17/lb.
Milk: cow's milk
Processing: cheese molded into squares, and is then washed in a special brine
Texture: soft
Color: straw-colored to orange around rind
Rind: washed
Aroma: WOW. Powerful. It isn't unpleasant, but strong dairy and wine, with some moldy/woody undertones.
Taste: Nutty, woody, tart wine flavors that grow stronger as you eat more. There are some other flavors underneath all of that that I don't fully recognize (something like wood, cherry, and vanilla, but faint)
Mouth feel: Buttery but unyielding paste.
Notes: Everytime I hear about some magically amazing cheese, I'm skeptical. I search for it and buy it, but I'm skeptical.
Tallegio is such a cheese. This Northern Italian secret is supposedly the first of the soft cheeses and is so protected that it's hard to get here in the States. Typically, they have to fly it in special. Don't ask me how the organic co-op got it, but they did. So I did. And boo-yah, this is a good cheese. Buttery, soft, spreadable paste. Extremely rich and complex flavor. I need to keep eating it to discover everything. Delicious.
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