Queso de Verano
- Producer
- Silvery Moon Creamery
- Country
- United States
- Region
- Maine
- Size
- 3 in length x 3 in width x 0.5-1 in height
- Weight
- 0.5 lbs
- Website
- www.silverymooncheese.com
- Milk
- Cow
- Treatment
- Pasteurised
- Classification
- Semi Soft
- Rennet
- Microbial
- Rind
- None
- Style
- Fresh
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.”
Queso de Verano was first conceived as Westbrook White, a fresh cheese topped with a bay leaf. Not really pleased with the bitterness of the bay leaf and having recently received a request to produce a queso freso/queso blanco style cheese, the team decided to drop the bay leaf and sell the fresh cheese under another name. The cheese’s new Hispanic name, which translates into “summer cheese,” echoes its similarities with fresh Mexican styles, while the cheese remains a versatile product, serving as the “base cheese” for Silvery Moon’s Casco Bay Dulse and Rosemary’s Waltz cheeses.
To produce this cheese, the milk is first gently batch pasteurized – at a lower temperature for a longer period of time than in a continuous pasteurizer -- in an effort to preserve the integrity of Smiling Hill Farm’s raw milk and to produce a more unique and flavorful cheese. The milk is then cultured and renneted, and the curd is cut and ladled into molds without further heating. After draining for 20-24 hours, Dorothee and her team unmold the cheeses and leave them on draining mats for another 20-24 hours. While on the draining mats the squares are dry salted, then they’re packaged and sold within two months.
Tasting Notes
With warm milky aromas of fresh curds and butter, Queso de Verano has a moist and springy texture that crumbles a bit in the mouth. Taste is pleasant, mild and lightly salted, with a hint of citrus.
Pairings
Pair this cheese with a Sauvignon Blanc or serve it in a summery salad.
