Prairie Fruits Farm fresh goat cheese
This chevre style cheese is as fresh as it gets. Made from pasteurized milk, culture and a tiny bit of rennet, the curd is gently ladled into cheesecloth-lined baskets and allowed to drain overnight before adding sea salt. We offer the fresh cheese unadulterated or blended with herbs or cracked pepper. We also produce fresh soft cheese in rounds that are decorated with seasonal fresh or dried herbs or edible flowers, all grown on our certified organic farm. These change with the seasons. This cheese is meant to be eaten right away, and probably won't last long once you put it on a nice piece of baguette bread.
We sell soft (chevre) fresh cheese available in 6 oz. containers:
- Plain
- Blended with cracked pepper
- Blended with herbs de Provence
- Blended with organic sun-dried tomatoes grown in our garden (seasonal)
“Prairie Blazing Star Banon”
This is a take off on the chestnut leaf-wrapped banon of Haute Provence France. Prairie Fruits Farm's version is an “all Illinois” banon. We start with a modestly aged goat cheese round (approximately 10-14 days ripened). It is wrapped in tree leaves (maple, sycamore—or whatever is in season) from our farm's savannah that have been soaked in Illinois' Alto Vineyards Chambourcin wine. The banon continue to ripen in their wine-infused cocoons for 1-2 more weeks. The result is a delicate, slightly aged cheese infused with wine at the surface. They range in size from 2.5-4 oz.
“Angel Food”
“Angel food” is a bloomy rind cheese made in the style of a French coulommier. It is similar to camembert in its creamy texture and sometimes downright gooey on the inside. The cheese is made from pasteurized goat milk, cultures including Pencillium candidum and rennet and is aged for 3-5 weeks, producing a delicate flavor. Sizes range from 5-8 oz.
“Little Bloom on the Prairie”
Similar to our “angel food,” this is a white mold ripened cheese made in the style of French camembert (only it's with goats' milk). Slightly pungent, creamy with a silky paste core, this cheese is aged for 5-6 weeks. Sizes range from 8-14 oz. rounds.
“Prairie Burn”
This is an ashed, soft-rinded goat cheese, aged for about 6-7 weeks. Since the ash tends to neutralize the acidity of the cheese and draw out more whey during aging, this cheese is a bit mellower and more firm than the Little Bloom on the Prairie.
“Krotovina”
This is a soft-rinded aged goat cheese with an ash layer in the middle. It is aged for 5-7 weeks. Drawing from her roots as a soil scientist, cheese maker Leslie Cooperband searched for a name that captured the buried ash layer nature of this cheese. Krotovina is the Russian soil taxonomy term for a buried darkened layer found in certain native soils. As with the other soft rind cheeses, Krotovina retains the creamy exterior with a nice ash-layered pasty core.
New cheeses in 2007
“Huckleberry's Blue”
Huckleberry is one of our does with a blue-grey coat. Her namesake cheese is a raw milk goat blue aged for 3-5 months. It’s creamy texture and natural washed rind will melt in your mouth (and makes a great blue cheese-caramelized onion pizza!!) The first batch of the 2007 season will be available in July.
“Raw milk tomme-style cheese”
This cheese is in development, and we expect to debut it in June. It will be a washed rind, semi-hard cheese inspired by the rustic alpine farmstead cheeses found throughout Europe. Given that central Illinois is anything but alpine, we will give this cheese a prairie grounding.
