The Cheese that Got my Goat

Do you like the stink of a good cheese? Does it make you think of your visits to small cafes in Paris and romanticize about wandering those cobblestone streets in the golden light of the early morning or in the drunken haze of night? 

For the longest time, I have been walking past this cheese stand at the local farmer's market, looking as I walk by, but never stopping to take a good look at what they have. What a mistake I made! I finally stopped. I can't believe what I found. Out of the cheeses I bought and tried, there was one that was a show stopper. It's new to the line-up and it's the one everyone wants apparently. 

The cheese is a semi-hard goat cheese, almost cheddar-like in consistency with a nice thin rind that stinks to high-heaven, but in a good way. What makes this little devil so good is that the rind is washed with Gravenstein apple cider vinegar. For those of you that know, this is an apple grown up in Sonoma County, Sebastopol to be exact. It's one of my favorite's too. So, the flavor of the cider soaked rind infuses into the body of the hard cheese, making an extraordinary complex flavor rivaling anything I have eaten in France. Cut the slices very thinly. Don't overpower your palate. Enjoy the flavor. Simply wonderful. A new favorite.

So, the Farm is Redwood Hills Farm. The cheese is simply called Gravenstein. I could not find this cheese on their website, but believe me, it exists. 

Call them or find them at your local farmer's market if you can.