Months ago, when I first started the Queso Suizo Project, a friend asked me to select my favorite cheese thus far. At that point, I felt I didn't have enough cheese in my repertoire to give a satisfactory answer -- but maybe that was just an excuse for not having found one that I was crazy about.The time has come, and I am now ready to share my truly favorite cheese thus far. For the most part, I have been sampling cow's milk cheeses, with a goat cheese thrown in there. I've now deduced that perhaps cow's milk doesn't do it for me because my favorite is this semi-hard sheep's milk cheese.
Labeled "Hirtenkäse," or herdsmen cheese, it has by far won my heart. Earlier this week, Isaiah and I enjoyed it with some green grapes. We exchanged no words, just mmms. Its black rind was a bit off-putting at first, but when I read the label and noticed it was made with sheep's milk, I knew I had to give it a try. It's salty, buttery, and rich. Of all the cheeses I've tried, this one really gives the impression of melting in my mouth.
Bottom line: My very favorite.
To my readers in la Suisse romande, I've been looking for some good cheeses from your region, but can't seem to find them here. The cheese counters in these parts tend to carry mostly local cheeses. I will continue my search...
Being still fairly new in this cheese and chocolate country I'm never sure what cheese to buy. (Chocolate of course is not a problem, they're all good!) I will now go look for this Herdsmen cheese and try it. Thanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteMmmmm. Sounds really heavenly. I think that cow's milk cheese generally doesn't excite me either. Goat cheese is great but I'm afraid Chicago is too far away from your Swiss Valley to sample that Herdsman cheese.
ReplyDeleteTo get a feeling of "la Romandie", I would try out the Tête de Moine (Jura bernois, Jura), the Vacherin Mont-d´Or (Vaud) und the Fromage Chaux-d'Abel (Jura Bernois) and of course both the Gruyère and the Vacherin fribourgeois (Fribourg)
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda, Where did you buy this cheese? Was it at a Migros or Coop? I went looking for it yesterday but didn't find it... Instead got Winzer Classic, a semi-hard cows milk cheese treated with red wine. The red wine made it sound interesting! It was good.
ReplyDeleteHey Anneliese, sorry for the delay...
ReplyDeleteThat red wine cheese sounds so ineresting - will have to look for something like that.
Anyway, I got this sheep's milk cheese at Migros. I didn't find it in the section near the other dairy products nor from the lady behind the cheese counter. Directly next to the counter at "my" Migros is a display of cheeses that the cheese counter people pre-slice and wrap, which is where I found the cheese.
Thanks Amanda! I will go and have a look again!
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