Get Yer Goat!

Whole Foods, Town & Country, MO, July 29th ... A Goat Cheese Tasting Class!!!

So, here's the scoop taken directly from Whole Foods class description: they are often the most loved as well as the most maligned cheeses. Goat Cheese can be refreshingly simple and incredibly complex. In this class we will indulge in both ends of that spectrum as well as some in-between! Wabash Cannonball anyone? And quench your thirst with a little white Bordeaux or Zinfandel!!

The cost per person to attend?

$20, which not only buys many peanuts but now covers a plate o' cheese as well.

Bring on the goat-ey goodness!!!

To make up for being a wee bit late to the last class, we decided to get to this one early. Apparently goat cheese really is misunderstood because there were only five other people signed up for this class aside from Jay and me. As far as the class aspect of this event goes, I wish Whole Foods would provide a pre-printed list of the cheeses and the creameries or dairies or fromageries that they're produced at because I always have to ask more than once where the cheese is made and what the hell it's called and oh, by the way, can you spell that for me?

Twice?

Thanks ... it's hard simultaneously losing my hearing and my IQ at the relatively young age of 38.

Aside from the above mentioned inconvenience, this class was as educational as the last one. All of the cheeses were new to us and the presentation was very picturesque. Just like at the last class we tried nine different cheeses; in addition to that there were some fruit compotes, chestnut honey, balsamic-infused olive oil, fresh Italian bread, and goat butter to sample along with a sparkling white wine from New Mexico and a Sauvignon Blanc from Argentina.

The first four cheeses were all from the same farm: Rollingstone Chevre in Southwest Idaho ... the Snake River Valley if that means anything to you. It doesn't mean much to me although I am not so geographically challenged that I haven't heard of the Snake River. One of the interesting tidbits I picked up about Rollingstone is that they don't use distributors - if you want their cheese you must order it directly from them because all of their products are shipped directly from the farm.

Goat Cheese Torta with Dried Cranberries & Walnuts - This evening I discovered that I don't like stuff in my cheese just as much as I don't like stuff in my food. The cheese part of this cheese (there's just no other way to describe it) was creamy but there were big hunks of nuts and chewy cranberries getting in the way of my thick, cheesy enjoyment and so I passed it over to the hubby, who really seemed to like it.

Goat Cheese Torta with Fresh Basil and Pistachio - What gives with the effing nuts??? This is a cheese tasting class, not a nut dipping seminar! Some of us don't like nuts. Some of us can't eat nuts. Some of us might be allergic to nuts. And some of us have intestines that explode when nuts are introduced into the culinary landscape. Needless to say, I didn't really eat much of this cheese either. It does not bode well for the evening when you're 0-fer-2 on goat by-products with seven left to sample.

Brandywine (Banon style aged goat cheese) - Now this is more like it! The cheese is aged in a mixture of brandy and hard cider and then wrapped in grapeleaf. The taste is difficult to describe but the texture was divine ... thick and creamy. I believe that I had some kind of fruit compote with this, but I don't recall exactly what it was - it was good, though and paired well with the cheese providing a nice mix of sweet and savory.

Idaho Goatster (aged goat cheese) - A handmade Italian-style cheese suitable for grating, it's flavor and texture were similar to a parmigiano reggiano. This was my favorite of the four cheeses from Rollingstone. Yummmmm!

On a personal note, I was disappointed to try four cheeses from the same goaterie. The first two cheeses especially - the tortas - the only difference between them was the stuff they'd been stuffed with. I would have liked to have seen something from Cypress Grove or even Laura Chenel just to give us all a bit more exposure to different producers and styles. I know that the assumption was that those are goat cheese producers that everyone's been exposed to but I beg to differ. This is Stinktown after all, most people here think fancy cheese is called Velveeta.

Next up: Jalapeno Chevre - What can I say about this cheese? Nothing. I had to give this one to the hubba and pass unequivocally on the side serving of chili-infused honey. Jason is a big fan of spicy foods and he said that this was tasty, with a good spicy kick that was really enhanced by the chili-honey. But I really liked his next statement: "This cheese was gouda but not gouda because it was goat-ey."

Capra Sarda - Hello! It's an Italian goat cheese from Sardinia, Italy, and while it's good on its own, when paired with some balsamic-infused olive oil and placed on a slice of bread it's a little piece of heaven for the tastebuds. Definitely one of the highlights of the evening.

California Crottin - This goat cheese is produced by Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery in the very earthquakey state of California. This one had a rind and a fluffy texture and dare I say, a more earthy taste than the previous goat cheeses we'd tried so far. I didn't like the rind as much as the inside of the cheese, but I also discovered another woman there that night who scrapes cheese out of the rind just as much as I do!

Brunet - This is made from 100% pasteurized goat milk from the Piedmont region of Italy - it's a dense, creamy cheese with a salty, tangy flavor. We paired this with some chestnut-infused Italian honey and hubba hubba, it was incredible!

Montenebro - This is a Spanish goat cheese that's rolled in ash. It's no humboldt fog ... it tasted like stinky blue cheese to me and I had to swig the rest of my wine to wash the horrid taste from my mouth. Jay thought it was tasty but said it's just not something you typically expect from a goat cheese and definitely not something we'd seek out for purchase.

And so ends our second cheese class with Whole Foods. It was good but we both agreed that the first one was more enjoyable, in part because we like the soft, blooming cheeses more than the cheese we tried on this evening. I was personally disappointed that we didn't sample Wabash Cannonball, especially since it was the only cheese mentioned in the class description. It felt a little like a bait and switch, and I stand by my earlier assertion that sampling four of nine cheeses from the same farm is unappealing and unimaginative.

We have one last cheese class scheduled with Whole Foods ... this one is supposed to be Super Fancy Cheeses. I guess we'll make that decision for ourselves once we see what they have to offer. Stay tuned for more cheesy goodness!!