Hello, my friends! Phew—it’s been a long week. I’m performing in a new show, and last week was tech week, with long nights and tiring rehearsals. My family was able to come see the opening show, though, so yay!
Lately, I’ve been leaving my “blogger mindset” and camera at home, so I can just take in the world and engage with the people I’m with a lot more. I have also launched headlong into exploring the world of studio photography lighting and creating some new backdrops for Miss Cheesemonger, so expect to see some extra experimentation with blog photography starting . . . now!
In the spirit of this period of creative searching and development, I want to share with you a cheese that I’ve loved for many moons now, Foxglove by Tulip Tree Creamery in Indiana. This cheese and this creamery first caught my eye at the Good Food Mercantile last year. Since then, I’ve found it hard to find near me, but learned that Gordon Edgar of Rainbow Grocery keeps it on hand almost constantly. It has earned a strong following among the Rainbow crowd!
So much the better, because Foxglove is one of the most stunning American cheeses I have met in recent memory! Tulip Tree Creamery was started in 2014 by Dutch cheesemaker Fons Smits and cheese professional Laura Davenport. The Tulip Tree in the company name combines those famed Dutch tulips and Indiana’s state tree, the tulip tree, in a fresh way. Tulip Tree Creamery offers a wide array of cheese styles, from soft-ripened (yummm), fresh (scrumptious!), and semi-soft. In the San Francisco area, I’ve mainly seen their soft-ripened cheeses. The care and well being of the animals that provide their milk is a high priority for Fons and Laura, and they operate a certified humane creamery. That means their source’s dairy cows have daily access to pasture, their food is hormone and antibiotic-free, and they have freedom to move around and engage in normal cow behavior.
As for the cheese itself—I had a great idea of making a gorgeous display with the cheese, but when I tried to unwrap it, the tacky rose gold rind stuck to my wrapping paper, and started to peel off. This was clearly a cheese that wanted to be seen solo, and take up its own space, which worked for me, because I’ve been in more of minimalist mood lately. Luckily, M. Cheesemonger was available to serve as a hand model and tasting companion. ^_^
If you serve this cheese, it will easily take over as leading lady on the plate! Its pudgy, rose gold square is delicate and inviting, even though its meaty, sweaty, tangy aroma may deter some. However, once people get a view of those glossy, smooth, creamy innards, their minds change. Foxglove is a double cream cheese, so there is extra cream added to the milk, which leads to extra melting textures once you take a bite. It’s also washed-rind cheese to encourage b. linens growth—that’s the rosy orange you’re seeing, and the tangy, meaty funk you’re smelling.
Ahh—that first bite! It just washes over the tongue, all thick, dripping, and radiant. If cheeses could be compared to cloth, Foxglove would be like the linen of double creams. And as for flavor, this is not like the ultra meaty, dense Livarot or Epoisses. Foxglove bounces, it skips across your tongue. It does have some funk, but I sense more mushrooms (maybe chanterelles?), tangy cream, and fresh cream than anything else. It’s as though the cream has made the made the umami in the cheese more buoyant.
Mmm. Bliss. There are some cheeses I get to round out a fancy cheese board, and some that I just like to eat over and over again. Foxglove by Tulip Tree Creamery is one of my “me” cheeses.
You can find Foxglove at fine cheese shops. Contact your local cheese counter to find out if they carry it! Visit Tulip Tree Creamery’s website to learn more about the creamery and their cheeses.
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