Teleeka

Producer

Tomales Farmstead Creamery

Country

United States

Region

California

Size

3 in x 3 in x 1.5 in

Weight

6 oz

Website

www.tolumafarms.com

Milk

Sheep
Cow
Goat

Treatment

Pasteurised

Classification

Semi Soft

Rennet

Animal

Rind

Geotricum

Style

Soft-Ripened (Brie-like)

Years ago, before husband-and-wife duo Tamara Hicks and David Jablons started making cheese in Marin County, California, the pair traveled to Italy and ate the famously oozing cheese known as La Tur. They loved it so much that they tracked down the creamery in the hopes of meeting the cheesemaker. “We thought: we can do a local version,” Hicks says. “And we held onto this idea for almost a decade!”

And so many years after purchasing Toluma Farms’ 160 acres of rolling green hills, launching a sheep dairying operation on the property, and later building Tomales Farmstead Creamery, the duo released Teleeka. It’s the first cheese they’ve made using three types of milk: from Toluma’s herds of sheep and goats, plus creamy Jersey cow’s milk that’s sourced from a neighbor’s farm two miles down the road.

Like all of the Marin County-based creamery’s cheeses, this one’s name, which translates to “three,” draws from the language of the coastal region’s original inhabitants: the Miwok. “From everything we’ve come to learn about this tribe we know they took excellent care of the land,” says Hicks. “Since we have so many school age tours, we wanted to educate people about those who lived on this land and had such great respect for it—and also teach some of the few words that are still known.”

Tasting Notes

This cute little moldy cube has a thick, oozing creamline and a fluffy popcorn-yellow inner paste. Aromas are of cultured butter, grass, and acid. We love how the buttery creamline plays off the slightly gamy, bitter inner paste, the cow’s milk lending a general creaminess while tempering the more barnyardy sheep’s and goat’s milks.

Pairings

Tamara Hicks suggests pairing Teleeka with sweet maui onions and truffles.