I make it a habit to rummage the cheese counter at specialty food stores looking for intriguing blues. Recently I found a ridiculously delicious cheese and I’m praying that my Whole Foods doesn’t run out before I can get back to buy everything they have left.
Called Blue Paradise, and made in Mineral Point, Wisconsin by the Hook’s Cheese Co., it’s a double-cream, cow’s milk wonder that stopped me in my tracks. Double cream means it contains milk and cream, and has a milk fat content of between 60 and 75 percent. That also means that the texture is seductively creamy, soft and silky.
Paradise Blue’s flavor is divine, with both a subtly flavored, cream-colored “background” and assertive blue veins that explode with robust, well-aged goodness.
This is a blue I want to eat straight from the plastic wrap, which is what I am doing as I type. It’s also amazing on pear wedges, beet salads, hamburgers, and roasted fingerling potatoes. For instant gratification, just spread a tad on a Mary’s Gone Crackers Original or Black Pepper cracker. These wispy wheat- and gluten-free crackers are thin enough to let the cheese flavor have center stage.
Crafted by Tony and Julie Hook of Hook’s Cheese Co., the Paradise Blue was introduced to their line in 1997. Before that, the couple (the Web site says they were college sweethearts) was winning awards for their cheddars since the late ‘70s.
I paid $19.99 a pound for the Paradise Blue at Whole Foods. It’s also available for about $24 a pound on-line at Vivant Fine Cheese. Or you can visit the Hook’s Web site for instructions for email, phone or Fax orders. (There’s a five-pound minimum from the farm so band together with your cheese-loving friends.)
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