By Peg Todloski, Specialty Merchandiser
This year, we’ve started bringing in small-batch, artisan cheeses a couple of times a month. We’re calling it our Special Delivery program: we bring in a limited amount of these amazing cheeses and sell them at a crazy-good price. When they’re gone, they’re gone, but not to worry, there’ll be something else on the way. Be sure to stop by our cheese counters to find out what Special Delivery we’ve received lately.
This week we unpacked 48 beautiful one-pound wheels of Nickajack, a toothsome, washed-rind cheese from cheese makers, Nathan and Padgett Arnold of Sequatchie Cove Creamery in Tennessee. The Arnolds produce farmstead cheeses that blend European traditions with Southern flair. Nickajack is an award-winning,* raw-milk cheese aged 60 days and washed in hard cider. It is flavorful with an aromatic, edible rind and a meaty, savory paste. Nickajack pairs nicely with sweet, hard ciders, pilsners, bacon, and mustards. Melting ability is top notch, so it makes a great addition to baked pastas or flavorful, earthy pizzas.
Nickajack is named for Nickajack Cave, a local cavern with a storied past. In addition to housing a large colony of endangered grey bats and being involved in Civil War era saltpeter mining, tourism, and intentional flooding caused by a dam, the cave is the supposed site of Johnny Cash’s attempted suicide-turned-spiritual enlightenment.
We expect these little wheels of deliciousness won’t be around for long, so be sure to come and get some while you can, you won’t be sorry!
* 2015 American Cheese Society – 3rd Place – Soft-Ripened Washed Rind Category