Baricelli Cheese Company

[NancyH]

Our local Slow Food Convivium enjoyed a holiday cheese tasting at the The Baricelli Cheese Companyon Saturday, December 15.

Cleveland is very lucky to have this treasure - Chef Paul Minillo searches the world for unique cheeses and offers them at retail from his climate and humidy controlled Cheese Vault:

Our first plate was warm, to feature the Bellwether Farms Sheep Ricotta.

Stuffed Shell - ricotta, salt, pepper, Italian parsley & lemon zest; tomato sauce

First Room Temp Cheese Plate

Starting at 9 o'clock is the Lake Erie Fresh Goat Cheese, which offered a fluffy cloudlike goodness. At 12 o'clock is the Oakvale Farmstead Habanero Raw Milk Gouda, followed clockwise by Fiscalini Farmstead Lionza Raw Milk Cheddar, Bellwether Farms Carmody, and finally, the Lake Erie Blooming Rind Goat Cheese, which was quite young. Chef Paul described these as the milder cheeses.

Second Room Temp Cheese Plate

Starting at 12 o'clock and going clockwise, we enjoyed the Cowgirl Creamery Pierce Point, Uplands Cheese Company's Pleasant Ridge Raw Milk Reserve, Meadow Creak Dairy's Raw Milk Greyson, Roth Kase's Gruyere Surchoix and Roth Kase's Buttermilk Bleu.

These stronger cheeses surprised me a little bit - I usually find Gruyere too strong for my palate, but I really enjoyed this one. In fact, I liked all of them very much - except the rind of the Cowgirl (but I again polished off the creamy inside - yum!) and, try as I did to like it, the Bleu. And the two Bleu lovers at the table said it was a very mild Bleu. Oh well, I did my best before gifting it to my tablemates!

I have a more complete report with more photos on my blog: Fun Playing With Food. Also, Edsel has more photos from the afternoon here.

I was grateful to have the oppportunity to sample real, quality cheese that is also handled properly. Of course, Baricelli's restaurant menu features the Cheese Company Cheese, but it is also fun to play with them yourself (and they are darned good eaten straight).