Raw Milk Goat Cheese

Hi guys,

I am not sure if you read my blog post on my weekend in Valle Maira, about when it rained so much that all we did was eat, but this is a side note about a very special place that we went to that weekend. It was after our huge late lunch. We planned on doing a tasting at a well known Goat Cheese Dairy/restaurant.

TASTING

My stomach was full but I found a centimeter of space for some (what I thought were to be mini cubes) of goat cheeese. When we walked into this beautiful modern but rustic wood living room at LA CHABROCHANTO we found 4 place settings at the table. Oh! another sit down meal…just what I needed!

FOOD

1) Fresh goat cheese made the day before

2) Fresh goat cheese made into a cream with extra virgin olive oil with wood oven baked rye bread from the mountains.

3) A green salad with fresh tomatoes and basil

The husband comes out and greets us with huge platters of about

4)10 different GENEROUS CHUNKS of goat cheese starting from the freshest and going around ending with the moldiest. OH MIO DIO!

I couldn’t say no so I took a mini bite out of each one.

5) Ironically the honey they put out on the table to taste with the cheese was from the producer featured in the book I am promoting Sovversivi del Gusto. His name is Floriano and he is famous for his local organic honey because it is the honey made at the highest altitude in Italy at 2150 meters!

6) I passed on the goat’s milk gelato but my friends didn’t …I had a little bite and yes..this too was delicious.

THINGS I LEARNED

– We eat cheese TOO COLD! He said as soon as we called in the morning to book they put all the cheese out on the table for us. To best taste its flavors, I guess like red wine I would say, you need to leave the cheese out!

– Again, It is ok to eat the dirty rinds… it just helps reinforce the good bacteria in your stomach.

– The goats don’t produce milk in the winter so they don’t have fresh goat’s milk in that season.

– That this beautiful warm family from Torino and Crissolo risked coming to this tiny little 3 house hamlet up in the mountains to live this lifestyle and is slowly making a name for themselves with this high class joint!

This truly was an amazing an authentic experience, not to mention the best goat cheese and the most, I have ever had!

check out their blog at www.lopuyvallemaira.com