February 22, 2005
First Annual Independent Food Award
My award goes out to....The tastiest cheese with the hippest logo: Lamb Chopper, from Cypress Hill Chevre.
It's the only cheese that dares sport the motto: "Born to be mild".
Here is a cheese that dares to be different. Not only is it one of the best darn gouda style cheeses you will find, but it sports a unique, boldy different logo. The eye-catching graphic is of a lamb with sun glasses cruising along on a Harley. In that respect, it is a truly original cheese. As ar as I know, it's the only cheese that has a logo!
But don't simply stop and admire the logo- dig in! Lamb Chopper is another delicious product of the same people that brought us our beloved Humboldt Fog. Made from 100% sheep milk, Lamb Chopper won the recipeint of the Best Product of Aisle at its debut in the 2004 Winter Fancy Food Show. Its quality is exactly on par with what you would expect from artisan cheesemaker Mary Keehn. The flesh is a gorgeous egg-yolk yellow. The interior is a flavorful gouda-style, rich, creamy, but with just the amount of acidity to bite you back. I've been nibbling away at the section that I got. It's delicious with dark, strong wines (I tried it with an Argentinian Malbec, which may not have been ideal). I think it would be an excellent beer cheese, and SF Chronicle's Janet Fletcher (see my post from yesterday) suggests pairing it with a Sierra Nevada Stout.
Ironically, though the logo conjures an image from the heart of modern Americana, this cheese is one of two made by Cypress Grove that are not made locally. Lamb Chopper is made in Holland, to Keehn's precise specifications. The other cheese is Midnight Moon, which also sports a unique logo. It is only in Holland that she has found the abundance of consistently high quality sheep milk that she requires. It ages quietly in the caves of Holland, where it can age properly, before it is shipped to California for the finishing touches.
I think its exciting that cheesemakers are distinguishing themselves through their label, not afraid of having a little fun with their cheese. So many cheeses look the same to me, with their gentle pastoral scenes depicting a cow, goat, or sheep on some idyllic farm. I associate these images with European cheese, which in large part the artisan cheese movement in California has mirrored. But Lamb Chopper is something different. Like the cheese, the label is not afraid to make a statement, though some may find that statement too quaint or ridiculous, and not suitable for a cheese of that caliber. It's time we had fun with our cheese- it's not all culture and seriousness, but fun and deliciousness.
Posted by anne at February 22, 2005 07:00 AM | TrackBack