The Springtime Bloom... even in our cheese department
Along with enjoying the blooming crabapples and lilacs, we’re also enjoying a local “bloomy rind” cheese this month! Champlain Valley Creamery’s bloomy rind cheese, Organic Triple Cream, is the cheese of the month through our Cave to Co-op special.
Bloomy rind cheeses have a mold culture added to the milk during the cheese-making process. After the cheeses have aged for just a few days, you see the surface “bloom” with soft velvety rind. That bloom is the mold growing through the surface of the cheese (in only the most delicious way). Through the next couple of weeks as the cheese ages, that same mold works its way through the body of the cheese, creating an ultra-creamy interior.
The Champlain Valley Creamery takes that creaminess to a buttery level by producing the Triple Cream with both whole milk and cream.
Carleton Yoder, the cheese maker behind Champlain Valley Creamery, sources all his organic milk from a neighbor’s farm, Journey’s Hope Farm in Bridport, a certified organic dairy farm. As it is an organic dairy, the cows are out on pasture eating grass for much of the year. In fact, much like other pastured dairy products, the triple cream has that slight buttery yellow tinge created by the beta carotene in the milk of pastured cows.
I’m looking forward to serving it with the first local asparagus of the season which we’ve got a limited supply of today in the produce department!
Roast Asparagus with Champlain Valley Triple Cream
serves 4
1 bunch fresh asparagus, washed, ends trimmed
1 Champlain Valley Triple Cream
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh herbs (thyme or oregano), chopped
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Pre-heat oven to 450º. Mix the olive oil, herbs and seasoning in the bottom of a baking dish just big enough to hold the asparagus in one layer. Gently toss the asparagus with this mixture. Roast in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes until not quite done. Remove from oven and crumble the Triple Cream evenly on top of the asparagus, return to oven and cook until the cheese is melted. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil and serve immediately.