If you love ripe, runny versions of bloomy goat cheeses like Humbold Fog or French Bucheron and you have a taste for truffles, head for the cheese department at Whole Foods on Westland Avenue in Boston or River Street in Cambridge.
In the past week, both stores were cutting wonderfully ripe wheels of Cypress Grove’s newest cheese-- Truffle Tremor. Imagine Humbold Fog with truffles blended into the paste, and you have this lovely addition to your cheese plate.
I’ve been taking small slices out of the refrigerator each afternoon to warm into lovely, soft piles of flavor that we scoop up with a spreader by dinner time.
Like Cypress Grove cheese maker Mary Keehn’s award winning Humbolt Fog, her Truffle Tremor begins as a dense flaky goat cheese. As it ripens, a creamy, buttery layer begins to form inside the rind. When fully ripe, it becomes a triple treat as the flavor developes from tangy in the flaky center, to powerful in the buttery layer to potent as you take a bite of the ripe exterior.
The truffles specks throughout the cheese complement without overpowering it as sometimes happens with a truffled cheese like Sottocenere.
This is an expensive cheese, but I would rather has a tiny taste of a great cheese than a large block of an average one. Ask your cheese monger for a taste to see whether Truffle Tremor is special enough, in your opinion, to justify the price.
I called Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and Russo’s in Watertown to ask if they were carrying Truffle Tremor. Formaggio said they don’t carry any Cypress Grove and Russo’s said, “not yet.” Please leave a comment if you find it elsewhere and let us know what you think if you try it.
Here is what some respected cheese folks have had to say about this cheese.
Cowgirl Creamery Library of Cheese
“The flavor of truffle comes through in this velvety goat milk cheese. The earthiness of the truffles combined with a creamery texture makes for another distinctive cheese from Cypress Grove.”
Full information at http://cowgirlcreamery.com/prodinfo.asp?number=TRUFFLE
Murray’s Cheese, NYC
“Humboldt County, California is home to towering redwoods, rocky coastline and cheesemaker extraordinaire, Mary Keehn. This mastermind behind Cypress Grove helped make goat cheese a staple grocery item where twenty years ago it was a rarity. These Northern Californians have enlightened us by tossing a handful of truffles into the fresh, flaky paste of their flagship cheese Humboldt Fog. Other cheeses might boast truffle 'flavor' or 'essence'. The Tremor is laden with actual black truffles. Subspecies tuber aestivum to be exact. Dense, cakey pasteurized goat cheese with a fine bloomy rind takes on a sexy richness with a few weeks of aging and fungi.”
full information at http://www.murrayscheese.com/prodinfo.asp?number=20312400000
San Francisco Chronicle
“ I'm not a huge fan of truffled cheeses, but there's no denying their affinity with sparkling wine. Cypress Grove, producer of the beloved Humboldt Fog, has recently launched Truffle Tremor, a ripened goat cheese infused with black truffle. Open a bubbly and you've got a party.” Janet Fletcher, Chronicle Staff Writer
full article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/30/WI48TFAQK.DTL
Cypress Grove
Finally, at the Cypress Grove site you can download a detailed sheet with serving suggestions, wine pairings, nutritional information and instructions on how to care for the cheese.
click here for http://www.cypressgrovechevre.com/cheeses/section_3.0.html
Here's the label with the details from my January 29, 2008 purchase.
