Le Tastevin Wine Club - Notes on Cheeses – September 18, 2013
The cheeses tonight are both young Goudas from Whole Foods and Plum Market. The Baguettes are from Whole foods. And the desert cheese is a Danish Blue Cheese from Costco.
Melkus 237 Raw milk Gouda with Truffles is an artisanal made young Gouda with the flavor and impact of real Black Truffles. Melkbus mean "milk can" used in earlier times to transport fresh milk from a specific farm to the creamery and pays homage to the fact this cheese is an artisanal cheese made only from one farm. Recipes and methods used adhere closely to the traditions of Dutch Farmhouse cheese production. The cheese is pressed into a wheel and sent to the City of Gouda for aging in a 98 year old aging facility. Each wheel is stamped with a unique identifying number. Our cheese is made more unique by the addition of Black Truffles and Truffle Oil to provide a more pronounced flavor. The texture is dense and very firm with a golden, straw colored . interior dotted with the occasional eye or hole and flecked with tiny white crystalline bits in addition to the Truffles. Flavors are smooth and rich with notes of butterscotch, sweet cream and delicate hints of Brazil nut and dried apricots.
Parrano, a cows milk cheese from Uniekass in the Netherlands, is a cross between Gouda and Parmesan. It has a mild and nutty taste, combining salty and sweet flavors, and has a semifirm texture and a smooth, golden color. Made from pasteurized milk, Perrano is produced in 20 pound wheels, and is aged for 5 months, unlike most Gouda which are aged for years. Combining the flavor of an aged Parmesan with a pliant texture, it is marketed as an Italian-style cheese. (It is advertised as "a Dutch cheese that thinks it is Italian"). However, Parrono is technically a Gouda cheese with a more pronounced flavor. It is a versatile cheese pairing well with many fruity wines including Pinot Noirs. Parrano won a gold medal at the 2006 World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, Wisconsin for "Best in Class Gouda", and was first runner-up for the World Champion Cheese Title.
