When we think of Cheshire we think of the crumbly, light peach colored cheese of Shropshire, England. All right, most everyone else thinks of a grinning cat, but in the cheese world, Cheshire is exemplified by the Appleby’s of Shropshire. Many more years ago than I care to admit, I was able to spend time making a cheese near Fishgard, Wales with a great cheese maker who, having tired of his role in the symphony in Manchester, purchased a farm and set out to make cheese in the remote, rain drenched Welsh coastline. Leon Downey resurrected and refined an old Cheshire recipe, which yielded slightly different results than the usual Cheshire. The recipe had disappeared during World War II due to its fast ripening nature and the government’s inability to rapidly distribute the cheese during those food-rationing years. Our first batches of this raw milk, aged cheese is now ready for eating. The cheese has a slight tartness that goes very well with chutney or preserves on Zingerman’s Bakehouse Farm bread.

Finally-we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. For most people in the Midwest that means the end of winter and spring is in sight. In the myopic world of cheesemaking, it means that our long drought of goat milk is nearing its end. Todd and Howard McDonald’s goats have begun to kid which means that the milk will soon be flowing. This means that we’ll soon be able to make enough of our award winning Detroit St. Bricks and Lincoln Logs to meet the requests.