Valentine’s Day has passed. I’ve always thought that a fresh goat cheese rolled in herbs and decorated on top would be a nice and novel Valentine’s gift. I stand corrected. I learned that goat cheese is not a substitute for the more conventional expressions of affection.

So, for some of us, we are thankful that Chocolate Gelato month still has a little more than a week remaining. But time is running out on this year’s selection: Chocolate Turtle, Chocolate with Balsamic Strawberries, Chocolate Rocky Ride and the others, then they’ll be gone until next February. Still enough time to make up for my earlier bad judgment.

Next week kicks off our three month run of the Argyle. The Argyle is a double cream cheese pressed into a log that’s about four inches long and one and a half inches in diameter. The cheese is then rolled in freshly toasted pinhead oatmeal. It is best eaten for breakfast, as a dessert or, for my British friends, at tea. To serve, I recommend letting the cheese come to room temperature, then cut the cheese into half inch discs and top the slices with jam, honey or maple syrup. The slightly tangy, slightly salty cheese is offset by the sweetness and the nutty flavor of the oatmeal.

We are planning on another home shipment of gelato for March and Josh is putting the finishing touches on several new flavors for the month. Still in development is Irish Mint Chip featuring his velvet smooth handmade chocolate chips, and what would March be without Guinness Gelato,  where Josh combines Guinness and sugar and very slowly reduces it down into a syrup which is then blended into the gelato mix.

Every February we feature a range of chocolate gelati, and every year we seem to have a surprise hit. This year’s big hit has been the Rocky Ride. It was born out of a passion for the handmade marshmallows from Zingerman’s Bakehouse and fond memories of the Rocky Road ice cream I ate as a child (although I believe my fondness was for my youth and less the ice cream). Josh has created an adult version that is jammed with marshmallows, roasted Virginia peanuts and tons of flavor that, even though it’s still available, I’m already developing fond memories for my future years.

One of my favorite new things is putting fromage frais, fresh strawberries (if you let the strawberries soften overnight with a sprinkling of Demerara sugar, it makes it much easier to blend) and honey in a blender and running on puree for a few seconds and drinking it down in the morning. I don’t really have a recipe, because I taste it and add more honey or fruit until it suits my taste that morning. You could also pour it over granola.

Still upcoming in February:
California food tasting with Aubrey February 23rd

Coming in March:
Quick, think of a food from Scotland. Lagavulin doesn’t count. Neither does Drambuie. Okay, Haggis does, but only barely. (Although I may be banned from any culinary group that hasn’t already done so-I love Haggis.) But the point is that Scotland is never going to be mistaken for one of the planet’s great food nations.

It is the unlikely inspiration for one of our favorite seasonal cheeses. Based on a Scottish cheese originating in the West Highlands during the 15th century, the Argyle is a rich double cream cheese which is pressed, then rolled in toasted pinhead oatmeal. As legend has it, a shepherd carried his oatcakes and cheese in the same lunchbox. One of the characteristics of a good oatcake is that it is very fragile. As the day wore on, the shepherd’s oatcakes shattered and covered  the cheese. And, like most cheeses, a new cheese was born from an accident.

The Argyle is about four inches long and an inch and a half in diameter. When it comes to room temperature, it can be sliced into discs and drizzled with honey or maple syrup as a breakfast cheese served on, of course, oatcakes or toasted soda bread, jam works well too.  Near the Isle of Skye, Drambuie is poured over the top of the cheese. To be honest, near the Isle of Skye, everything has Drambuie poured over it, but it does make an interesting dessert.

The Argyle is only around for a short time and best of all the arrival of the Argyle means that spring is just around the corner.

We’ll walk you through all the steps as you learn to make fresh mozzarella from finished curd (available at the Creamery) so you can do it at home! We’ll also show you some of the creative things you can make with it!

$35 person
January 12th, 19th, 26th – SOLD OUT
February 9th, 16th – SOLD OUT
March 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, and 30th
All classes 12-2pm at the Creamery

I don’t like February. Every mile seems like two in February.

So to help me get through this month, we are bringing back my favorite spring like cheese: the new and improved Sharon Hollow. This cheese is our biggest seller at the farmer’s markets, and if I close my eyes while eating one, I can almost imagine the warmth of spring. Not really – there’s eight inches of snow on the ground, it’s four below zero and I’m not nearly that imaginative. But at least I’m enjoying the cheese.

The Sharon Hollow is a very fresh, flavored cow’s milk cheese. Cow’s milk is gently pasteurized, then slowly cultured and set over twelve hours. The curd is then ladled into molds with alternating layers of garlic and chopped chives or garlic and fresh cracked telicherry black pepper. The cheese are then drained for six to eight hours, brined for thirty three minutes and allowed to drain overnight. They are then unmolded, topped with either chives or pepper and wrapped in paper. The paper allows the cheese to breathe and slowly expel more moisture.

This cheese is great just on a cracker or for the ambitious as a filling for ravioli.

The other thing that helps me get through the challenges of February is our Chocolate Gelato Month, which you can read all about on the gelato page of our website. The added bonus this year is, for the first time ever, we’re going to be shipping to people all over the country. So beginning February 1st you can go to zingermans.com and check out the selection this month.

Some of the most exciting new cheeses in the country and even the world are coming out of California, and our resident cheesemaker Aubrey recently visited with a number of these west coast dairy alchemists and will be hosting a tasting and description of these great cheeses on February 23rd. Space is limited, so reserve your spot now (734) 929-0500.

Really Fraiche Creme Fraiche. Phoebe has created the best Creme Fraiche I’ve ever tasted. If you’ve ever bought pre-packaged Creme Fraiche, I would suggest that it probably isn’t as fresh as it should be. It’s been packaged, sent to a distributor, then shipped to a store and sold. This can take several weeks and it’s traveled a lot of miles. Phoebe makes ours from fresh Guernsey cream every Wednesday and Saturday, meaning that it’s never more than three days old. It has a very, very rich fresh dairy taste.

Also, you can check out our new recipe Fromage Frais – creamy, fresh and light which we’ve dubbed “I can’t believe it’s not yogurt.”

Creme Fraiche vs. Fromage Frais – One of the most frequently asked questions is “What’s the difference between the two?” Creme Fraiche is 40% butterfat cream which has been cultured for about eighteen hours. It is very thick and rich with a similarity in consistency to clotted or Devonshire cream (for our British friends). Fromage Frais is 4% butterfat milk which has been cultured, set overnight then drained until it achieves the consistency of thick yogurt. It is great on vegetables, granola, fruit, made into a salad dressing, used to deglaze pans for a quick sauce and so on.

What else is coming up? We are currently working on a hard cheese with its origin from a turn of the century (19th-not the 20th or 21st) recipe for Cheshire cheese. Look for this to come out in early summer with a complete explanation of why we went back so far for the recipe.