All day I’ve been thinking about it: the triangle of crusty-edged blue I bought yesterday at the Fair Food Farm Stand in Reading Terminal Market. After launching this blog with a Wisconsin blue, I felt the need to pay homage to something local. At the Farmstand, Albert – who is also known as “Picky” of Messy & Picky blog fame – gave me an approving nod and said, “That’s a good blue. It’s nice and mild.”
With a name like Blue Suede Moo, I did not expect “nice and mild,” but today was a warm spring day and I took a walk under the cherry blossoms, so a spot of mild cheese seemed like the perfect nightcap…er…cheesecap?
Blue Suede Moo comes straight out of Pennsylvania cheese country, from Keswick Creamery in the Cumberland Valley. Keswick runs a raw milk CSA – yeehaw!— and would you believe this blue is one of the few true raw milk blues made in the U.S.?
Alas, I had such high hopes for Blue Suede Moo. You know how I love a sharp blue, one that’s creamy and not too dry, with a nice balance of sweetness and tang. Well, the Moo was just as Albert had prepared me to expect – it was mild. It was not the least bit like Elvis. The rind has a fabulous leathery look, and the cheese has the most elegant blue veins running through it, but the texture is grainy. The flavor doesn’t gyrate the way the flavors of a deep, dense blue do. Even Monsieur Fromage frowned behind his whiskers.
Well, I’ll tell you what I did. I made myself a wee martini, using the cucumber gin I love from Hendricks. It has a touch of rose water. Just a touch. And when it’s spitting cold and served with a salted cucumber slice, it’s better than a sitz bath. Wouldn’t you know that cucumber martini – so icy, so delicate – was just the thing to bring out the croony notes in this blue? I flopped down on our velvet couch and had a proper duet of cheese & martini, and something occurred to me: maybe there is an optimal time of day to eat certain cheeses. The Blue Suede Moo is definitely a nighttime cheese. It’s perfect before bed – not too sharp, not too stanky. You can steal a nibble and still be ready for sweet kisses.
