Cheese of the week: Shankleesh

Name: Shankleesh

Brand: Ziyad

Place of Purchase: Pammel Grocery in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Lebanon (via Cicero, IL)

Price in Iowa: $2.59/pound

Milk: cow

Processing: skimmed cow milk yogurt (Laban) is mixed with acid, strained, rolled into balls, dried and allowed to age.   The balls are coated in thyme and pepper and stored in olive oil.

Texture: Semi-soft

Color: Green with red specks, pale white on the inside.

Rind: Natural coated with Thyme, pepper and salt.

Aroma: Very mild dairy

Taste: Tart, salty, tart.

Mouth feel: Crumbly and moist pate.
 
Notes: Shankleesh is typically served with a Middle Eastern breakfast called a meze.  This SOUR cheese is mixed with tomatoes and cucumbers, probably to cut the salty and sour taste.  I think that this cheese would work great in a salad, maybe in a pita with a LOT of veggies.  It might even go well mixed with eggs.  But I just popped one in my mouth and between the acid and the salt, I drank about 2-liters of water.

It's yummy.  It's strong.  Be careful.

Cheese of the week: Chaubier

Name: Chaubier Cheese

Brand: none listed

Place of Purchase: Wheatsfield Organic Co-op in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: France

Price in Iowa: $13.57/pound

Milk: cow and goat

Processing: cooked, pressed and the rind is washed.

Texture: semi-firm

Color: straw yellow

Rind: Washed and natural

Aroma: strong dairy, woody, nutty, spiky (goaty)

Taste: warm umami, nutty, sharp dairy, piquant (goaty)

Mouth feel: Firm then yielding, rich, creamy
 
Notes:  This two-milk cheese is renowned for its strong, persistent, goat cheese flavor.  I've had several varieties of goat cheese over the past year, and the spiky piquant tang in this cheese is pretty intense.  In the foreground you have the nice, cozy nutty flavors of a good, aged cheese.  But then there is this BAM of something, which I assume is goat kick.  It's a good cheese, and supposedly great on sandwiches and melted over sausages.

Cheese of the week: Santa's Choice Gouda

Name: Santa's Choice

Brand: Beemster

Place of Purchase: HyVee Foods in Pella, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Holland

Price in Iowa: $12.59/pound

Milk: pasteurized cow milk 

Processing: Gouda processing with more than 18 months of aging

Texture: Semi-firm

Color: Caramel

Rind: Natural

Aroma: Very mild dairy

Taste: Warm, nutty, tart, woody

Mouth feel: A firm, creamy paste with some protein crystals
 
Notes: After I brought this home, discovered that it was just repackaged Beemster Classic gouda.  But, since I haven't had that yet, it wasn't that big a deal.  This cheese is Beemster's premier gouda, aged for at least 18 months, and renowned for it's flavor and consistency.  I found it funny that the Beemster US website was touting their low fat gouda line.  Guaranteed to be low fat and lactose-free.

FYI, all cheeses aged longer than 5 months are pretty much lactose-free.

This gouda was top-notch an good enough for a king.  Which is probably why Beemster is the official cheese of the Dutch royal family.

Libation of the week: Maine Root Sarsaparilla

Name: Maine Root Sarsaparilla 

Brand: Maine Root

Place of Purchase: Wheatsfield Co-op in Ames, IA

Country/Region of Origin: Portland, Maine

Tasting Conditions: Chilled in the bottle

Price in Iowa: $2.59

Description: a light, foamy root beer

Flavors: minty, woody, anise, and of course sarsaparilla  

Mouth-feel: Very light and foamy, probably the most delicate root beer I've had

Aroma: Sweet sarsaparilla  

Notes: Maine Root is a beverage company that stresses simple ingredients with a green outlook.  They have several beverages listed on their website, but the Co-op only had the Sarsaparilla, which is fine with me.  I grew up in Western New York, and the Northeast is famous for its old world soft drinks.  My son loves getting real birch beer when we go to visit my folks.  I've had a lot of sarsaparilla drinks in my day, and most of them have been too heavy or too sweet.  This beverage is not sticky or cloying.  It has a light, robust headiness and a clean, spicy flavor.  If you can find it, I highly suggest trying it.

Maine Root Sarsaparilla 12 OZ

Cheese of the week: Tasty Lancashire

Name: Tasty Lancashire

Brand: none listed

Place of Purchase: Wheatsfield Organic Co-op in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Lancashire County, UK

Price in Iowa: $11.99/pound

Milk: pasteurized cow

Processing: multi-day processing using the Gornall method, followed by at least 12 weeks of aging.

Texture: semi-soft

Color: straw yellow

Rind: natural

Aroma: mild sharp dairy

Taste: Sharp, nutty, robust dairy bite

Mouth feel: Moist and yielding, creamy but not crumbly
 
Notes: This was a flavorful cheese with a nice, moist paste on its own.  BUT, then I melted it and spread it over fresh bread (which is what you are supposed to do with Lancashire cheese).   It spread smoothly across the bread, forming a nice glaze.  The nutty flavors were more pronounced after heating, providing a richer, smoother flavor overall.

Cheese of the week: Seahive Cheese

Name: Seahive Cheese

Brand: Beehive Cheese Company

Place of Purchase: Wheatsfield Organic Co-op in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Utah

Price in Iowa: $18.78/pound

Milk: pasteurized cow

Processing: sharp cheddar processing with sea and mineral salt, plus wildflower honey, rubbed onto the rind

Texture: semi-firm

Color: straw yellow

Rind: Rubbed with salt and honey (see photo)

Aroma: mild dairy, sweet

Taste: extra sharp, sweet, complex salt flavors

Mouth feel: a nice firm paste, moist without being crumbly
 
Notes: The Beehive Cheese Company was founded by a pair of lawyers, who gave up their litigious lifestyle to save the local creamery.  Now, they make artisan cheeses by hand and play with untested flavor combinations.  This SeaHive Cheese is one such experiment.  The added sweetness of the Utah wildflower honey would have been enough, adding a delicate sweetness to the cheese.  But the use of the mineral "seabed salt" increases the complexity of this cheese a thousandfold.  Since sea salt is actually a dozen or more different kinds of salt (as opposed to table salt which is just sodium chloride salt), using mineral salt adds other ionic components to the flavor profile.  Since tastebuds are essentially ion and molecular detectors, novel signals are sent to the brain from the potassium, calcium and magnesium ions.  This creates a very complex and unique flavor profile that will make any taster pause and savor this cheese.  Beehive also makes several other cheddars with unique rubs that are worth trying (like their barely buzzed espresso-rubbed cheese).

SeaHive White Cheddar Cheese - 6 oz

Cheese of the week: Cranberry Wensleydale

Name: Cranberry Wensleydale

Brand: none listed

Place of Purchase: Wheatsfield Organic Co-op in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: England

Price in Iowa: $13.89/pound

Milk: pasteurized cow

Processing: Milk from Yorkshire, grass-fed cows, aged for 3 weeks

Texture: Semi-Firm

Color: Bone white with cranberries

Rind: Natural

Aroma: Fruity and clean dairy

Taste: Creamy and tart fruitiness

Mouth feel: Soft and yielding paste
 
Notes: This cheese is light and sweet, almost like a fruity fudge or a flavored butter.  This cheese would make a great addition to a Thanksgiving or Christmas cheese plate.  It's mild flavor and fruity demeanor would make it pleasing for any palate.