Lily's Boots: Pairing Goats' Cheese with Flowers

As I mentioned earlier this week, my fabulous Mother is in town, traveling all the way from the Midwest to be here. So, this week I get to play "Lily, the Tour Guide" (as well as "Lily, the Good Daughter"). Naturally, I have plans to take Mom on a tour of the flower farm. But today, I actually want to share a little bit about another farm tour we had the pleasure of taking: Yesterday, we took an exclusive tour through Cypress Grove Chevre, whose cheese recently won two "Best of Class" awards in the 2010 World Champion Cheese Contest.

Cypress Grove Fresh Chevre

While Humboldt County is perhaps most well-known for having the highest concentration of Redwoods in the world, it also has some of the finest, freshest culinary fair imaginable. Since its humble beginnings in 1983 when "Cheese Master" Mary Keehn founded the company using goat milk she had raised for her family, Cypress Grove has grown to become a major player in this fabulous local feasting scene. It has also built itself a name in the national cheese industry, winning one award after another for its unique tasting, expertly made and cleverly named(!) cheeses.

So naturally, when given the opportunity to get an inside glimpse of Cypress Grove's operations, I jumped on it!

Entrance to Cypress Grove

When my Mom, my sister and I arrived at the picturesque farm yesterday afternoon, we walked right into a full Cypress Grove cheese tasting, complete with baguette, fig jam and of course, some of the Cypress Grove team. They welcomed us in like family and joked that this was something they do everyday. I couldn't help but fantasize about setting up daily tastings of edible French Tulips or Hyacinths with an array of Cypress Grove cheeses in the desk across from mine, but I digress... (By the way, that was just a fantasy. Please DO NOT eat Frenchies or Hyacinths!)

After our tasting, we were taken over to the viewing section of the production room. Here we saw where the cheese is strained using cheesecloth, packed into molds, turned out, and stored. We also saw the production team doing group stretches in between turning sessions of the five-pound Grande Humboldt Fog! They make a concerted effort to stay limber in order to the turn the large hand-packed cheese wheels, which require daily rotation for about 10 days in order for the surface to properly ripen within the mold. (For a more detailed description of how the cheese is made, click here.)

Cypress Grove Production Room

During the tour, I was quite impressed with the cleanliness of the facility, the comradery and humility of the team, and the local emphasis of the company (Cypress Grove is provided with milk from about eight local farms in Humboldt). I also noticed a few parallels between fine cheese production and cut flower production - really! Here's how producing goats' milk cheeses is similar to producing fresh cut flowers:

1. Both cheese and flower production processes require precise conditions, such as exact temperature settings and daily tending, for maximum product quality;

2. Both processes span several days (even months for flowers) before products are ready to ship; and

3. Both processes result in products that possess the supernatural power of making people happy! (I couldn't resist throwing that in there.)

Having tasted and seen the production of some of my favorite goats' cheese, I feel pretty lucky to have worn my Boots this week. Thank you very much to the folks at Cypress Grove. My family thoroughly enjoyed the experience!

Please be sure to look out for Cypress Grove Chevre in your local upscale or natural foods stores. I promise, you'll be glad you did!

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