Welcome to Zingerman’s Creamery’s Cheese Shop, the only place in town that you can get hand-made cheeses and gelato mere feet from where they were born.  We are proud to offer not only our own products but also great cheeses, dry goods, and charcuterie from our favorite producers around the world.

We truly believe that you can really taste the difference in the products we make and sell and invite you to come on down and see for yourself.  As always, we encourage you to taste anything you see that perks your interest and if you aren’t completely satisfied with your purchase, we will do what ever it takes to make you happy.

Cheese Shop Specials!

July’s Cheese of the Month – Fresh Goat Cheese

This cheese has a wonderful, really light, fluffy texture, and a cool creamy, super fresh flavor. ON SALE ALL MONTH for $3-off each pound!

serving suggestions
Spread it on toasted bagels or caraway rye, serve it with celery sticks, use it to stuff Piquillo peppers, mix with honey and eat by the spoonful. It’s ideal for stuffing pasta with, or as a topping for already sauced pasta. Bake it into a goat cheese and tomato tart. Any way you eat it, enjoy!

Daily Specials – Mozzarella Monday! … Pimento Cheese Tuesday! … Gelato Wednesday!  Full details are in the sidebar to the right.

Just Arrived!

Here’s just a few items that have just arrived in the Cheese Shop.

Martelli Pastas

The Martelli family makes these fantastic pastas in the tiny Tuscan town of Lari.  They insist on using only the hardest durum wheat flour and extrude their pasta through a traditional bronze die, allowing it to firmly grip the sauce.  The Martellis give their pastas plenty of time to dry thoroughly and this is one of the most important steps.  The slow dry makes the texture nice and chewy and the flavor more intense.  These pastas are not a mere vehicle for the sauce, but have wonderful flavor even by themselves.

Available in 1.1 lb. bags of i Maccheroni and gli Spaghetti for $10.99 each.

Queso de Vare

A Spanish goats milk cheese that hails from Asturias, a rugged and mountainous region perfectly suited to goats.  This little gem has swiftly become a staff favorite and one of our quickest-selling cheeses.  It has a very clean flavor that is subtle yet full.  Great with a glass of white wine and amazing with a hunk of mountain bread.  These little 1 pound wheels of goodness are giving Garrotxa a run for its money.

The Creamery’s Pimento Cheese

Okay, this isn’t a new one.  But, this rich and savory Southern tradition has laid some pretty deep roots in Ann Arbor over the past few years.  Made with 2-year raw milk cheddar, sweet roasted Spanish red peppers, cayenne, sea salt, and Telicherry peppercorns, pimento cheese is becoming quite the cult phenomena around town.  This is one of the few things you can find across several Zingerman’s businesses and rarer stll, each one of us makes it ourselves.  The recipes are similar but each of us puts our own little spin on it.   Which is the best?  Only you can be the judge and nothing sounds better to me than going on a pimento cheese tour of the ZCoB.  Just be sure to arm yourself with enough Bakehouse soft pretzels to get you through the day…

Luciano’s Lemon Gelato

One of our best selling seasonal flavors and definitely a staff favorite around the Creamery, Luciano’s Lemon is back in the case for the summer.  Made with gobs of luscious Bakehouse lemon curd folded into fresh gelato, this flavor is crisp and refreshing with just enough tartness to balance the sweet.

You can grab some by the scoop when it’s in the case or by the 12 oz. drum.  A perfect match for a thick slice of blueberry pie…

The Ypsi

While this one hasn’t technically just arrived, the last several batches are probably the best we’ve ever tasted.  Everything seems to have come together thanks to a few tweaks made by our diligent cheesemakers.  The Ypsi is our take on the traditional French crottin.  They have a wonderfully creamy texture when young which develops into a firm, fudgey paste with a few weeks of age.  Definitely give this one a taste the next time you are in the cheese shop.

La Quercia Pancetta Americana

You might have tasted this one when producer Herb Eckhouse was in the house for Camp Bacon.  The Pancetta Americano, referred to as “bacon sushi” by Herb, is made with only 3 ingredients: sea salt, spices, and pork from their neighbor Jude Becker’s Becker Lane Organic Farm and can be cooked or enjoyed as is.  We have some pre-sliced and by the slab, a great addition to our City Goat, Cream Cheese, and many more!

Oh, these cold, rainy, late November-early December evenings.  They make me want to put on twelve layers of long underwear and go into deep hibernation.  Or, equally as comforting, much more delicious, and far less solitary: make a warming pot of fondue!  As luck would have it, a big, beautiful piece of Emmentaler, the classic Swiss cheese with a light yellow hue and plenty of holes, has recently arrived in our shop and is begging for the fondue treatment.  (It’s also begging to be part of a Reuben, alongside corned beef, Russian dressing, sauerkraut, and rye bread, if that’s more your style.)  This Emmentaler has none of the sourness you sometimes get from vacuum-sealed versions; it has a very slightly sweet, balanced flavor and practically melts on your tongue.  Combine it with a healthy hunk of Comte, a nutty, French gruyere-style cheese from the Jura Mountains, a bit of flour, a clove of garlic, and a couple cups of white wine and you’ve got the makings of a fantastic pot of fondue.  Rub your pot with the garlic, cut the cheese into small cubes, get your stirring arm ready and invite your pals to come watch the magic happen as the cheeses melt down together into the ultimate comfort food.  Gather ’round the fondue pot, stab cubes of crusty bread with fondue forks and dip away!  Guaranteed to beat back the winter blahs, at least for a while.
Make it in your pajamas for extra coziness.

***Read more about mountain cheeses and fondue recipes in Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating!***

Cheese Tidbits: Keep a lookout for info on our next Creamery cheese tasting (including lots of pairing ideas, cooking tips, and creamy bites to eat) coming soon!

Gelato Tidbits: Now that the Zingerman’s Coffee Company has opened its doors right next door to us, your scoop of vanilla gelato has a new best friend: just take your scoop on over and have the talented baristas cover it with a shot of hot espresso.  It’s called an affogato.  It’s terrific.