Bayley Hazen Blue and La Tur

Bayley Hazen Blue
I love blue cheese! I have a suspicion that I am slightly allergic to penicillin which gives me a slight high after eating a wedge, but probably not. It's just that good. I picked up Bayley Hazen Blue, a raw cow's milk cheese made by Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Virginia. I was first impressed by the many veins of blue and the raw milk (I have not tried many raw cheeses). It smells like dry grass, dandelion root and, near the rind, honey. The texture at touch is sticky and soft. In the mouth it will crumble along the veins and then melt. The taste is smooth and dry. It's not too salty with the earthy blue veins being slightly mild, not astringent, and mixing seamlessly with the sweet Ayrshire cow's milk.



La Tur

This mixture of cow's, sheep's, and goat's milk hails from the Piemonte region of Italy. This is a young, soft rind cheese that yields the tastes of mushroom, acorn and sweet milk. It is soft and gooey around the edges and is perfect with some rustic bread or baguette. My favorite part of La Tur is the texture. It changes from light and fluffy to rich and gooey as you move from center to rind. The sheep's and goat's milk adds a brighter tone to the cheese and this allows one to eat far more than expected. That's a good thing.