Do you love goat cheese?

[QueenPeach]

After recently reading a post about how people "teach" themselves to like new foods , it makes me wonder whether I can actually acquire a liking for the food I dislike the most: Goat Cheese. So many people just adore it and I wish I could appreciate it like they can. To me, it tastes so so very game-y and have yet to get over it. Did you love goat cheese at your first taste?

[TwoPointers]

Yes - yummy! But there are very few cheeses I truly will not eat.

Don't forget our ovine friends as well - sheep cheese takes a tad more getting used to but when you get it - MAN, you got it and you'll never go back.

Sheep need love too!

[Midlife]

One other suggestion for goat cheese is a firm version from Cypress Grove (in California) called Midnight Moon. This is a wonderful goat product with a texture more like Muenster but great goat flavor. This dairy makes terrific chevre, but this particular cheese is somewhat unique and delicious.

http://www.cypressgrovechevre.com/che...

[Gio]

I'll add my love of GC here. I've used it daubed on pasta w/red sauce, on raw vegetables, and enhanced by torn nasturtiums from my garden and S & P it makes a lovely spread for crackers.

[nliedel]

Not the first time I tried it. It took a goat cheese souffle to win me over and now I like it, but I would not say it's love.

[QueenPeach]

Wow, I feel left out! I want to eat it and love it too. I guess I'll go to my cheeseshop and ask for the mildest "newest" ones and go from there. Adding some sweet sounds good too.

[coney with everything]

Whole Foods had a goat cheese with lemon on sale last week that was fabulous! You might give that a shot--the lemon counteracts the gamey flavor.

[Davwud]

I guess so. I love cheese. Period. So naturally I like goat cheese. Have ever since the first time I tried it.

DT

[Minnesotagrrrl]

I agree with trying it with something sweet AND with Humboldt Fog as my favorite goat.....currently I'm knocking the socks off my friends with a spread made from a combo of soft goat cheese, cream cheese and honey spun up in the food processor and served with a variety of crackers, dried fruit and nuts. Yummmmmm.

[jodymaryk]

I love Humboldt Fog! Also, I always keep some of the goat Gouda that they carry at Trader Joe's in the fridge. Actually, I have never met a cheese I didn't like!

[mamaciita]

I saw this addictive snack on the chowhound links around Christmas: rice crackers, goat cheese, and edamame. I made some with wasabi goat cheese from Capriole (local farm--Southern Indiana). Doubly addictive.

When I'm making a big batch for a party, I mix half cream cheese and half plain goat cheese (no farmers' market on my street this time of year), then add horseradish and wasabi powder to the desired pungency.

Might be a good starting point, with or without the horseradish and wasabi.

[Sean]

I hated it for years. I had a salad at Chez Pascal a few years back with battered fried goat cheese on it and have loved it ever since. Warm goat cheese is much more flavorful, oddly, than having it plain or cold, it cuts the gaminess and results in a tasty, creamy cheese...

[steinpilz]

Yes, but I also love lamb and I've noticed that in some parts of the US people really don't eat lamb, don't like the gamey flavour. I won't eat lots of goat cheese at one sitting however, and it is affected by aging so do try to get it when it's still fresh. "Crottins" are mild in my experience.

[Oh Robin]

Try it paired with something slightly sweet, like a slice of Granny Smith apple. Yum.

[scuzzo]

I don't think I did like it at first either, but I love it now. I think it is similar to plain yorgurt in flavor.

I find it fascinating the power of our brain in relation to our sense of taste.

[Vetter]

YES YES YES!!!

I recently tried a goat cheese that my non-goat-cheese eating mom even loved. Midnight moon from Cypress Grove. It's splendid snacky cheese with a gouda like quality. Mild but nutty and with a saltysweet tang.

[Harters]

My local producer - about 10 miles away.

http://www.delameredairy.co.uk/allabo...

[alkapal]

i love the subtle and silky bucheron
http://entertaining.about.com/cs/chee...

[Emme]

Nope. I still don't. It tastes rancid to me, and I can identify even a tinge in a dish, which ruins it for me entirely. Ive wanted and tried to like many different brands and serving suggestions, none bringing me over from the dark side.

[ms. clicquot]

I'm the same way. I can pick it out of anything. One time I ordered bruschetta, took a bite and realized immediately that the tomatoes were sitting on a thin layer of goat cheese. Another time, a waiter pointed out the cheeses on a cheese plate we ordered and described one as cow's milk. One bite and I knew he was mistaken, unless there was something really wrong with that cow. It tastes rancid to me and the 'off' flavour stays with me for a while. I really want to like it so I will keep trying and may try some of the suggestions here such as heating it or trying it with something sweet. I like pretty much all other cheeses, including sheep, oddly enough.

[KevinB]

I have a love/hate relationship with this cheese. I love Greek salads (whether it's the North American version with iceberg lettuce, or the more traditional horatiki with cucumbers, tomato, onion, olives, and feta), and if either version is devoid of feta, they aren't worth eating IMHO.

On the other hand, I once ordered an intriguing sounding lamb cheeseburger, where the cheese used was feta. One of the few times in my life I couldn't get past the first three bites.

Finally, we rarely go to the many Greek restaurants in Toronto (and we have some very good ones here) without ordering "saganaki" - flaming cheese served tableside. The cheese used is usually a mix of sheep and goat milk, and it tastes great.

[Kelli2006]

I love goat and sheep's milk cheese. The stronger the flavor, the better I like it.

[Midlife]

Two words: Humboldt Fog

Loved it at first taste. Cypress Grove also produces a version with truffles (Truffle Tremor) that is very good, but I like the pure version better.

[im_nomad]

I've had this experience with a couple of cheeses.....maybe pre-dating my appreciation for stinky cheese...but also pre-dating my fondness for red wine, which i couldn't drink for years because it meant an instant migraine (evidentally you grow out of some things)...many of the cheeses i love now go well with wine. However, the first time i tried goat cheese, and feta, i really really didn't like it, it smelled to me like stinky socks. (same reaction to stilton btw....which i can't say it's a favorite..i can appreciate it with port etc, depending on the variety). I love the stuff nowadays. I seek it out at farmers markets, and there's often some in the fridge.

Goat cheese often comes in different varieities, or rolled in different things, so it might help try a few. One which is fine, but doesn't work for me, is a cranberry cinnamon rolled variety. Not a fan of sweet cheeses. Also, how have you served it? I remember seeing an epicurious recipe with a mushroom soup with crostini and goat cheese.....also the breaded fried variety to top salad...could be a few options. Maybe you're just not eating or drinking the right things with it.

I have one friend who can't barely look at the stuff....instant nausea upon tasting. There is a "different" taste to it......perhaps it's like the cilantro thing...maybe some people just can't tolerate it.

[Cheflambo]

I was raised on the stinky cheeses, and fed Nauvoo bleu cheese as a toddler. Im told I like it then, but as a child I decided it smelled like someone had already eaten it (so to speak). Now as an adult I absolutely ADORE bleu, roquefort, gorgonzola, et al. Cant get enough of it.

The first time I tasted goat cheese and its delightful "tang", I was hooked. If I see a dish on a menu that has goat cheese in it, that's the one I will invariably order. There are two different types of goat cheese in my fridge at this very moment, and I have plans for at least one container this weekend. Yes, my name is Cheflambo, and I am a cheese-a-holic.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Loved it at first bite. Will love it till the day that I die.

The only variable needed to select Andean goat's milk cheeses is the amount of salt--many have too much.

[cackalackie]

For years, I thought it tasted like dirt. Now I absolutely love it.

[chefschickie]

Yes! I absolutely loooove goat cheese!!! Right at the first try.... BUT I only like the fresh one, the slightly aged one tastes (as you said) too gamey...

[Harters]

As far as I can recall, I loved it first time (but its so many years ago, I couldnt be sure). It is a distinct taste - that's what's good about it. hate the mild stuff you get - no point in eating that!

[Pampatz]

It depends on the cheese. If it is too strong, I swear that I smell the straw on the bottom of the pen in the cheese. A nice mild goat cheese is delicious.

[Val]

Absolutely loved it my first time! I adore it on crackers with a glass of red wine, also love some crumbs of it over a dark green salad. I tend to love strongly flavored foods anyway, so I wasn't surprised that I loved it at first bite!

[nemrac]

I loved it at first bite (on a salad). One of my favorite appetiers is a spread I make with goatcheese, sundried tomatoes, basil, olive oil and pine nuts. Great served with chunks of good quality bread or pita bread.

[Humbucker]

See this thread:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/473078

[enginerd]

No, it took a few tried before I totally fell in love with it. But I didn't hate it when I first tried it, I just thought it was not a very delicious cheese. I love it the most on salads. That is usually how I eat it now.

I am not sure if you can go from disliking more than any other food to liking it. Kind of a big jump!