One of the many things I have not had the chance to write about was some of the wonderful cheese we bought at the U-district Farmer’s Market ["University District"] in Seattle over Thanksgiving weekend. There were four different cheese booths that we got to try, but for now I’d like to concentrate on Estrella Family Creamery, which, for me, really stood out.
Truly artisan, hand-made cheeses, Estrella produces a large variety of raw milk goat and cow milk cheeses. Kathy and I were fortunate to have the chance to try, and purchase, their wonderful cheeses, which are difficult to get here in California. Although we tried two or three of the cheeses, we ultimately ended up getting some of their Valentina, a raw-cow’s milk cheese which has a taste and consistency not unlike a Gruyère. We brought this back to my brother and sister-in-law’s house to enjoy along with my parents who were also visiting Seattle.
A side note to this is that California’s Artisan Cheese Festival [March 20th -23rd, 2009 in Petaluma] hopes that Estrella Family Creamery will be able to come and represent its self, and the state of Washington at the festival. They’re thinking about it, but as you may or may not know, it is often difficult (not to mention costly) for artisan cheese makers to leave their farm and travel. You can read all about Estrella’s true family approach towards cheesemaking in their wonderful “about us” section (click on “our story” from there). Again, can’t stress enough that I hope they’ll be able to participate in March so that you too can try their amazing cheeses (provided you come the the festival; get your tickets ASAP!).
In other Cheese News for the day, there’s a review of the new book; “American Cheeses” by Clark Wolf in today’s SF Chronicle Newspaper. In case you can’t pick up a copy of the paper, here’s a link to the review.