This month’s Special Delivery cheese is Red Row, a raw cow’s milk cheese from Caromont Farm in Virginia.
Gail Hobbs-Page and Daniel Page maintain a herd of goats at Caromont Farm in Esmont, Virginia. In addition to their goat’s milk farmstead cheeses, they make cheese using cow’s milk from nearby Silky Cow Farm in North Garden, Virginia. Gail shared her devotion to providing a good life for their animals; she can see the goats outside of the dairy window while making cheese from their milk.
Red Row is a raw cow’s milk cheese that’s aged on the farm for a minimum of 60 days. The three pound wheels are washed with local hard cider from Albemarle CiderWorks: “Jupiter’s Legacy” contains 20 varieties of estate-grown apples. The resulting cheese is semi-soft with a complex flavor and reddish rind. It’s soft velvety texture balances with beefy, umami notes. It is assertive and earthy, with an aroma of native cider yeast on the rind.
Using hard cider to wash cheese is a tradition used in many regions of Europe. Albemarle County is the center of Virginia apple production, making the technique fitting for the Red Row cheese. The combination of Silky Cow milk and Albemarle CiderWorks cider, aged at Caromont Farm, is a true expression of Virginia terroir!
For a limited time, Red Row cheese is available in our stores for $16.99/lb (regularly $22.99). Try it this Friday at our demo tables in stores (4 to 7), and buy some while it lasts.