Cypress Grove Chevre: A Junky Reviews All-of’em

The best thing EVER happened to me last week… My SO was sent on assignment to Eureka and brought me a great big bag of the good stuff!!

Yeah, I know… Brownie posts belong on the Home Cooking board…but Humboldt County is famous for another addictive substance, Humboldt Fog cheese and it’s maker Cypress Grove Chevre!!!

I’ve always really liked Goats Milk Cheese, but it wasn’t until I had a cheese plate featuring a Humboldt Fog that I fell in LOVE… I was always a brie and blue person… but Humboldt Fog was the ultimate hybrid of all three cheese. The oozy funky rind. The smooth sharpness of goat cheese, the layer of ash in the middle. adding a touch of moldiness…

Since then I’ve tried a couple of their other cheeses. The Purple Haze, creamy spreadable goats milk cheese that is peppered with pollen and lavender, adding a citrusy, herbal taste. I once had a wheel of this and a baguette for lunch… it was the best lunch I had all week… LOL!

Another was Midnight Moon, which was an imported firm Goats Milk Cheese. It’s flavor is amazingly assertive. I had in a sandwich and it was wonderful. But was inspired by the flavor to use the rest of it to make my first quiche… dang… it was PERFECT for it…

And knowing my growing love for Cypress Grove Cheese, when my SO found out he was going up North and staying within walking distance of their farm, he made me write up a list of their cheese I hadn’t tried yet.

The only problem was, when he got there and told a few folks his plan, they kinda gave him the bad news… first, Cypress Grove does not do tours and aren’t too fond of vistors… which was made evident by the BIG no trespassing sign at their entrance. Second… They don’t have a store on site… Nevertheless, SO continued on his mission, arrived to their offices and charmed them by relating them stories of his Humboldt Fog loving girlfriend back at home who was telling all her friends that he was bring back to her all of their cheeses, yes… ALL-OF’EM!!

They gave him the nickel tour and told him that the two co-ops in town would have all the cheeses and THEN more on the list… in fact, they told him one of the Co-ops just got an order of new cheese that DAY, including a brand new cheese! And so, off he went, packed them up and him being a HUGE Arlo Guthre fan, I imagine he flew back to L.A. humming a little tune that goes something like this…

“Flying into Los An-gel- EZ!
Bringing my sweetie a bag full of Chee-ZE!”

And this what was in that wonderful bag…

* Mad River Roll: Very similar to Humboldt Fog except the round shape has the thin rind coated in ash and then the center is just pure white creamy goats milk cheese. Very similar to the complexity of Humboldt Fog, but you get the intense flavors starting from the outside and gets milder towards the center.

* Lamb Chopper: One of the Sheep’s Milk Cheese. Very butter with the most gentle sharpness. Awesome in sandwiches (Better than Midnight Moon), probably even better melted.

* Eew-F-O: Their other Sheep’s milk cheese. This is slightly grainy cheese with an even sharper flavor. This would be an real nice contrasting piece in a cheese plate or again work pretty good in a quiche or in the place of parmesan in an alfredo…

* Goats Milk Cheddar: This one was great, but not what I expecting. I expected an insanely sharp cheddar, instead it was a bit mild. LOVED the texture though, buttery. I was planning to make Mac & Cheese with it, but since it’s a bit milder than I expected, instead I left it with SO with instructions to make Tuna/Salmon Melts with it… He’s in for a treat! :)

* Fog Lights: My absolute favorite of the bunch. This was the new cheese that SO actually had to WAIT for the Co-Op to put into their system before they allowed him to buy it (He came in the same time as the shipment from the farm!) and it was WORTH the wait. Sold in a little rind covered cake and also dusted with Ash, the goat cheese inside is the freshest, creamiest, best tasting I’ve ever had… the texture and bite was just OUT of this world… I’m having the rest for dinner tonight… LOL!!

* Mt. McKinley: Even harder and sharper than Eew-F-O, but made with goats milk. It defiantly needs to be used as a garnishing cheese… I’ll have fun thinking of what to finish using it with…

*And finally Bermuda Triangle: This cheese is not only stunning on a plate, but was my second favorite because it was SUCH a knock out. It, again, took elements from Humboldt fog and changed them up… in this case, it has more than DOUBLE the oozy, sharp, amazing rind with just a touch of creamy goats milk in the center… SO didn’t care for it since he’s not into SUCH strong flavored cheeses. But to me, it was just heaven…

And so after sampling all those wonderful cheeses (along with some local smoked and dried salmon and some California grown asparagus) I got a sense of pure calm and happiness was over my entire body… and the best thing is that I don’t need to go Humboldt county for my next bag… my dealer has their own website site right here…

http://www.cypressgrovechevre.com/

--Dommy!

[Melanie Wong]

That's exactly how I like my Humboldt Fog. At the stage where there's just a bit of ooze under the rind and the rind starts to collapse. That's worthy of addiction, and not always easy to find at that stage.

I'm positively drooling after reading your review! I'm a huge fan of their cheeses, especially the H. Fog and Midnight Moon. Thanks for letting us know about all the up and coming new varieties - I'm going to keep a sharp eye out at my local cheese counter!

Laurie

My trip allowed me most of the day to explore the area and I had a chance to head up north of Arcata to Trinidad. While wandering around there I found Katy's Smokehouse. which was a purveyor of smoked seafood. They have Smoked Albacore, Swordfish, Sturgeon, Scallops, Oysters and especially Salmon. I brought home home some of their Brown Sugar Cured Salmon and an extra Black Pepper Salmon Jerky. Both were excellent. Instead of delicate thin slices of smoked salmon we had big Filets which were well seasoned and smoked which produced a filet which was not oily or "fishy' but a perfect accompaniment to the Cypress Grove Cheese.

I think they catch all of the seafood Locally and if you are up their they offer King Salmon fishing excursions.

The Salmon starts out at about $25 lb but it was well worth it.

Take care

-P,

Link: http://www.katyssmokehouse.com/

Nice report. I love Humboldt Fog so I'll keep an eye out for Fog Lights. Since you love goat cheese so much, I recommend trying to find raw milk Juniper Grove Buche from Oregon, which is the best goat cheese I have yet found in America.

Link: http://pnwcheese.typepad.com/cheese/2...

Thanks for posting that! I have LOVEd the Purple Haze for years, and recently discovered the Lamb Chopper. I do not not care for Humbolt Fog, however, because I abhor blue cheese or anything remotely similar.

Reading your post, I am tempted by the Ewe F O and the Fog Lights. Will I enjoy those, or is there any blue-ish hint to either?

Thanks so much...can't wait to hit that website!

I think you will like Fog Lights if you love creamy Goats milk Cheese... It's just the creamest tangiest I've tried. It's going to be hard for me to save up the bit I have to serve in a salad at a dinner party I'm having this Saturday! :)

Also, if you like Lamb Chopper, check out Midnight Moon, again, it has more of a cheesy punch.... :)

--Dommy!