Give This Cheese Its Flowers
We chatted with Black Radish Creamery about an enchanting floral-rind cheese.
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Cheesemonger Chat
All About Alp Blossom
By Erin Edwards
Periodically, we’re going to write about something we ate—a single dish, a beautiful ingredient or a favorite snack—that got us thinking.
Recently, it was cheese.
I had popped into the Downtown wine shop Accent Wine to buy a few bottles one day, when I heard rustling in the back room. A couple minutes later Accent’s owner Greg Stokes emerged holding a lovely cheese plate.
Talk about impeccable timing. Would I like to try some? Why, yes. (He’s playing with the idea of cheese and wine pairings at the shop.)
One cheese in particular stood out to me both for its looks and flavor: a pale yellow cheese whose rind was decorated with edible pink, yellow and purple flowers. (It gives new meaning to a “bloomy” rind.)
The cheese I lucked into sampling that day is called Alp Blossom, produced in Germany by cheesemaker Albert Kraus of Hofkäserei Kraus. Local cheesemonger Black Radish Creamery carries it at North Market Downtown.
“Covered in confetti” is how Anne Reese, co-owner of Black Radish, describes Alp Blossom’s photogenic look.
But tasting this cow’s milk cheese is like a “roller-coaster” she says. Disorienting but enjoyable at the same time. The semi-hard interior (or paste in cheesemonger terminology) is meaty and savory, like a bone broth. Then, a bite into the rind is like taking a pull of herbal tea from a warm mug.
The rind is beautiful, yes, but what makes the cheese so special is the raw cow’s milk—from Allgäu breed cows—used to make it, Reese says. Alp Blossom is indeed an expression of the land on which those cows graze.
Once cheese ages for about six to seven months, and then 13 different Alpine wildflowers and herbs (including lavender, cornflower, rose, marigold, chervil and marjoram) are hand-pressed into the washed rind at the last minute. Over time, the petals can lose their vibrance, so the maker includes a small packet of fresh petals that the shop can apply to the floral rind.
Black Radish carries Alp Blossom ($34 per pound) year-round if it’s available—Reese says it has a bit of a cult following—and despite the cheese’s springtime exterior, October is the perfect time to enjoy it. This month, I think the cheese would go great with a toasty, Märzen-style beer; for wine, Stokes recommends pairing it with a German Trollinger or nice French Grenache like Gigondas.
“The cheese itself is very fall,” Reese says. “Good for soup weather.”
Here are two other “floral” cheeses available at Black Radish:
Julianna
A semi-hard aged goat cheese rolled in herbes de Provence, calendula petals and safflower petals. Maker: Capriole (Greenville, Indiana)
Geissblütenzauber (Goat’s Flower Cheese)
A mild, ivory-white, semi-hard goat’s milk cheese with an herb-covered rind. Maker: Güntensperger (Bütschwil-Ganterschwil, Switzerland)
Have a recommendation for a cheese that’s available locally? Let us know in the comments or email erin@columbusfoodadventures.com.
Notes
Around the Columbus Food Scene
On Monday, Oct. 7, Law Bird is hosting a pizza party with their new collab partners Wolf Pizza, a pop-up pizzeria slinging sourdough Neapolitan-style pies. Pizzas will be available 5-10 p.m. or until they sell out.
In case you missed it, local micro-roaster Royal Flamingo Coffee brought home four silver medals from this year’s Golden Bean, dubbed the “world’s largest roasting competition.” Royal Flamingo also placed third in the overall competition. You can sample the winners in person at Royal Flamingo’s cafe, open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at 945 King Ave. (inside I Like It Like That bar).