Three Superb Imported Cheeses

This past Sunday, I run into Brent Delman (TheCheeseGuy.com) at a kosher foodie bloggers meetup, having met him before, having interviewed him on my radio show and having him sponsor our Shavuos contest for this year, it was natural we would get into a conversation. Of course, it centered on… you guessed it… cheese! We spoke about his latest cholov Yisroel offerings: Scamorza, Aged Havarti and Bastardo del Grappa.

The Scamorza is a new product and the one I had wasn’t even been labeled yet, it also did not make it to the photo above, because (I shamefacedly confess!) it did not last long enough for me to remember to take the picture for this post. It was originally made only from buffalo milk, though today it’s made from from whole cow’s milk (sometimes mixed with small amounts of sheep or goat’s milk). It’s basically a slightly salty type of mozarella, though smoked (in a smoker with cherry wood chips), unlike other smoked cheeses the smoke is not overwhelming. Rather, it’s balanced perfectly with the natural flavors. Creamy and with a somewhat nutty taste.

Aged Havarti (pictured above) is a cow’s milk cheese with a supple, elastic texture, with a sharp, intense tangy flavor tempered with creamy butter notes.

Bastardo del Grappa (also pictured above), used to be made with sheep, goat and cow milk mixed together, hence the name “Bastardo.” Today, it is produced by mixing cow’s milk from the previous evening and letting it settle during the night, with the milk from the morning. It’s got a strong flavor, with sweet notes and is slightly aromatic.

My favorite is the Scamorza and I can’t wait until I find it  in a store near me, meanwhile, I’m more than satisfied with the other two pictured above.

CS