Anise Lavender Tomme (Aged Chevre)
Anise lavender tomme
I like lavender just fine. There’s a bunch of dried lavender hanging in my bedroom because the aroma reportedly helps you sleep. It smells lovely, even if that isn’t true.
Obviously, I like cheese or this blog wouldn’t exist.
I can’t think of any lavender flavored food….tea, maybe? Send comments if you know of something that you’ve tried and is good. But I was willing to branch out a bit, so here I was with perhaps the weirdest cheese I’ve tried so far. I can now categorically state that, personally, the two should never meet.
In true chevre style, the paste is pure white, although this particular cheese was covered in yellow wax. Flecks of anise are clearly visible in the paste and the aroma is unmistakeably of lavender. As for thetexture, it’s soft, like a firm ricotta.
It’s an acquired taste! The lavender flavor was very upfront. It felt like licking a bar of soap. I have to say that lavender is great for soap, shampoos and candles. Not for cheese.
These cheese is made by Rollingstone Chevre in Idaho. Their website says the cheese is excellent as an accompaniment to poultry and lamb or as an addition to sauces. If you love lavender and you love cheese, give it a try.
Quick Facts:
$24.99/lb
Goat cheese
Microbial rennet
I’ve had this cheese–had to try it, and with a bunch of grapes in my bag, it wasn’t so bad, but it’s no beehive buzzed or super aged gouda…
You asked what lavender is good in, and I know of one specific thing (it is NOT NOT NOT tea–eww, it RUINS teas!): creme brulee… still has to be subtle–not like this strong flavor–but I’ve had incredible creme brulee with delicate lavender…
The other thing? Espresso… many of the best roasters take fresh lavender and will put it atop the pressed espresso then make the brew. It doesn’t taste like lavender in the end, but it certainly does add a layer that is intriguing and pleasant so long as the bean is a top notch one already (and the lavender, too–Sequim, WA is where most all ours comes from).
Forgot to mention… this cheese, while it is pasty at normal temp, DOES make a very neat salad addition… either get it colder or simply take a butter knife to a thin (quarter pound or so) wedge and make little crumbles… can be added to a dressing the way bleu might, but it shouldn’t be, of course, used for the “ranch-like” bleu cheese dressings… more like this with a tarragon-citrus vinaigrette atop a mixed green salad (where arugula actually has a place in my life) with cranberries (preferably not sweetened), candied pecans, and really not much else, maybe some fresh ground pepper… between the spinach/arugula/radiccio blend, the tarragon and tang of the vinaigrette, the tart fruity cranberries, and the sweet and nutty pecans all glazed and such… there’s already a lot of good flavor, so the cheese instead of a bleu is actually really nice–when I got a sample home, eating it solo wasn’t going to work for more than a tiny bit, so that’s what I thought to do, and it truly was good… and I actually DISlike lavender in 99% of things and am allergic to the flowers fresh or dried… eating it is okay, but I can’t have a floral arrangement with the stuff or I go sneezing and itching and puffy eyed in a hurry!
Thanks for visiting my blog and for your comments Laura. Lavender in coffee roasting? (I nod sagely). Mmm, yes, I can see how that might add some layers of subtlety.
I have to say, the “Barely Buzzed” Espresso-Lavender cheese Beehive Cheese Co. is amazing! But, like you said, it’s in combination with coffee flavors.
Try Cypress Grove’s Purple Haze, it too is a lavender goat treat!