Moonchego

Producer

Silvery Moon Creamery

Country

United States

Region

Maine

Size

7 in diameter x 4.5 in height

Weight

4.5 lbs

Website

www.silverymooncheese.com

Milk

Cow

Treatment

Raw

Classification

Firm

Rennet

Microbial

Rind

Flavor Added

Style

Alpine-style

Flavor

Flavor added to rind

Silvery Moon Creamery is located at Smiling Hill Farm near Portland, Maine, which has been in the Knight family since the 1700s. The Knight’s Holstein cows graze outdoors seven months per year, and in the winter they eat haylage from the farm’s pesticide-free pastures.

Silvery Moon Creamery was born in 2003 from a partnership between cheesemaker Jennifer Betancourt (who first learned the art of cheesemaking at the Squire Tarbox Inn on Westport Island, and later at Cornell University), and the Knight family. Today cheese production continues under the direction of Dorothee Grimm, who was born and raised in Germany and worked for years as a researcher in microbiology. After moving to Maine, Dorothee took cheesemaking classes from different local cheesemakers and made yogurt and cheese at home before applying for a position at Silvery Moon. “I still work in microbiology, pampering the good microbes and keeping the bad ones out,” Dorothee says. “But now, I can eat the results of my work at the end of the day.”

Moonchego is a cow’s-milk adaptation of the traditional Spanish sheep’s milk cheese Manchego. Matured at least four months, wheels are rubbed with a paste of olive oil and smoked paprika early in the aging period.

Tasting Notes

Aromas are nutty and salty. An initial sweetness gives way to a funky, syrupy combo with the crumbly, aged texture of the cheese. The multiple layers of flavor distinguish themselves, but both have the same lactic, sour face-scrunching effect.

Pairings

Pair Moonchego with a Spanish red such as Tempranillo or Garnacha. Or serve it alongside quince or fig preserves.