An East Coast Cheese Tasting. Food Photography by misscheesemonger.com

An All East Coast Cheese Board

Hello, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well! We’re almost to 1600 followers on Miss Cheesemonger’s Instagram account, which is AMAZING!!!! I get to interact with so many of you cheese friends on there! If you haven’t joined yet, do it now!

Today, we’re sharing an east coast cheese spread, or, as I like to call it, lunch. After M. Cheesemonger, my jewelry designing friend Kim from Porcelain & Stone, and I visited Dancing Goats Dairy by Newbury, MA, we stopped by the absolutely stunning Appleton Farms in Ipswich for a quick visit, then headed home (keep scrolling down for our visit photos!). Prior to that, we had visited Formaggio Kitchen just a few blocks away. Kim’s fridge was bursting with cheeses, and we needed to finish them up before leaving.

An East Coast Cheese Tasting. Food Photography by misscheesemonger.com
Thank you, Kim, for helping me set up the photo session!

From Dancing Goats Dairy, we had cheese maker Erin’s fresh chèvre with sea salt, the everything bagel chèvre, and beer jelly chèvre. The fresh chèvre was full of umami, with minimal tang. I loved the smooth, thick texture that just coated the tongue like frozen custard. I’d definitely use it in place of sour cream or cream cheese anywhere!

An All East Coast Cheese Tasting. Misscheesemonger.com.
Dancing Goats Dairy’s Chèvre with Sea Salt with Blushing Tart Jam From Doves and Figs. Kim of Porcelain and Stone made that beautiful little spoon!

Dancing Goats’ everything bagel was like a garlicky everything bagel, minus the bagel. There were poppy seeds, sesame, garlic, onion—all the normal everything bagel toppings. Maybe it’s my bagel-deprived, California-dwelling side talking, but I wanted to take that cheese back to SF with me to spread on our homemade bread.

An East Coast Cheese Tasting. Food Photography by misscheesemonger.com
Everything Bagel Chèvre by Dancing Goats Dairy.

I think the real gem in the Dancing Goats crown was their beer jelly chèvre. Made with Newburyport Brewing Company’s Plum Island Belgian White Ale, the jelly had an almost champagne-like delicacy, and rosy floral perfume. We all agreed that we loved it.

I think the real gem in the Dancing Goats crown was their beer jelly chèvre. Made with Newburyport Brewing Company’s Plum Island Belgian White Ale, the jelly had an almost champagne-like delicacy, and rosy floral perfume. We all agreed that we loved it.
Beer Jelly Chèvre from Dancing Goats Dairy.

From Appleton Farms, we tried their Pinnacle and triple crème. Pinnacle, a tomme-style cheese, was fairly mild, slightly earthy in flavor, but with a nice toasted almond finish. The rind is a gorgeous mottled brown, orange, and green, and there are small eyes throughout the paste. M. Cheesemonger kept saying he wanted to melt it into his omelette, but he had already made it.

An All East Coast Cheese Tasting. Misscheesemonger.com.
Pinnacle by Appleton Farms.

The triple crème, a bloomy rind, soft cheese, was a creamy, buttery delight that was as spreadable as Nutella on our toasts. Next time, I wouldn’t mind trying it with some pears and Marcona almonds.

An All East Coast Cheese Tasting. Misscheesemonger.com.
Appleton Farms’ Triple Crème.

Our only Vermonter (besides Kim) was Sterling by Sage Farm Goat Dairy. Begun by two sisters, this beautiful cheese is modeled after Valençay, truncated pyramid shape and all. Its paste was wonderfully fine in texture, as smooth as chocolate milk, and it had a charismatic, full flavor. I would love it on my cheese plate, or melted over some filet mignon.

An All East Coast Cheese Tasting. Misscheesemonger.com.
Sterling by Sage Farm Goat Dairy
An All East Coast Cheese Tasting. Misscheesemonger.com.
A piece of Sterling with some Taza Chocolate’s chocolate-covered espresso beans and Doves and Figs Blushing Tart jam.

To accompany everything, we had some chocolate-covered espresso beans from Taza Chocolate, Blushing Tart jam from Doves and Figs, and toasted bread. Kim made up some tea, and M. Cheesemonger made a mushroom omelette, French-style. Kim brought out her beautiful Laguiole knives, and one gorgeous Turkish knife, and all her pretty plates! It was a perfect meal, and a perfect way to get a sense of East Coast terroir.

An All East Coast Cheese Tasting. Misscheesemonger.com.
M. Cheesemonger and Kim!
An All East Coast Cheese Tasting. Misscheesemonger.com.
Partaking in all the cheese! Kim made that gorgeous red-flowered spoon you see here.
An East Coast Cheese Board. Misscheesemonger.com.
More cheese eating in action!
An All East Coast Cheese Tasting. Misscheesemonger.com.
Looks like a delicious lunch to me!

If you liked this, you’ll want to see my tasting of Jos Vulto’s cheeses from New York!


 

Appleton Farms, Ipswich, MA

219 County Road, Ipswich, MA 01938

Open daily. Check their website for hours and more information.

A Farm Visit to Appleton Farms. Misscheesemonger.com.
Visiting Appleton Farms. What a beautiful location!!
A Farm Visit to Appleton Farms. Misscheesemonger.com.
Watching a herd of cows crossing the road before us.
A Farm Visit to Appleton Farms. Misscheesemonger.com.
Cows and farm workers on the move.
A Farm Visit to Appleton Farms. Misscheesemonger.com.
The cows were so gentle! I loved watching them.
A Farm Visit to Appleton Farms. Misscheesemonger.com.
Hello, hello, pretty cows.
A Farm Visit to Appleton Farms. Misscheesemonger.com.
At Appleton Farms in Ipswich, MA.

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