The Valley Fromage Blanc
- Producer
- Dairy Goddess Farmstead Cheese
- Country
- United States
- Region
- California
- Weight
- 6 oz
- Website
- www.dairygoddess.com
- Milk
- Cow
- Treatment
- Pasteurised
- Classification
- Soft
- Rennet
- Vegetable
- Style
- Fresh
- Flavor
- Flavor added to paste
“I’m a dairy farmer first,” says Barbara Martin, who founded Dairy Goddess Farmstead Cheese in 2009 after nearly losing her family’s fourth-generation Holstein herd to rising operating costs. Having dabbled in home cheesemaking, Martin converted her husband’s 260-square-foot office into a Grade A processing plant and began crafting fresh, unripened cheese from the farm’s non-homogenized, slow-pasteurized milk, using vegetarian rennet and cheesecloth hung by hand.
Martin’s attention to ingredients shows in The Valley Fromage Blanc—blended with homemade peach preserves, chopped almonds, and honey, “all of the best things we grow here in the Central Valley of California,” she says. Martin crafts just two 125-gallon batches of fromage blanc in six varieties per week.
Tasting Notes
All Dairy Goddess farmstead cheeses boast a mild, smooth tang and fluffy, light-as-air texture, thanks in part to Martin’s “happy cow” feed: grains and grasses grown on-site, plus fresh citrus, almond, and other nutrients daily. But sweet fruit and savory nuts set The Valley Fromage Blanc apart at competition. “Not every batch is exactly the same,” Martin says. “You might get a big chunk of peach in there, which is a real treat.”
Pairings
The Valley Fromage Blanc sings on plain crackers, “but I love it on gingersnaps,” Martin says. She also enjoys it with apples, pears, figs, and dates. Wilson Creek Winery in Southern California serves the cheese alongside almond champagne—but really, any bubbly will do.
