A sweet nibble with the gobble
If cheese is part of your Thanksgiving menu, it should be American cheese, right?
Alongside the celery ribs, olives and deviled eggs on the relish tray, consider a wedge of BellaVitano Gold, a Wisconsin original.
The producer, Sartori, patterns most of its repertoire after Italian classics, a nod to the Sartori family’s heritage. But BellaVitano Gold, an aged cow’s milk wheel, doesn’t taste like anything I know from Italy.
Maybe, if pressed, I could imagine it as the love child of a young Gouda and a young Parmigiano Reggiano. It has the sweetness of the former and the orangepeel scent of the latter. But then it goes its own way.
Made with pasteurized cow’s milk from several Wisconsin farms, a 20-pound wheel spends about a year in the aging cellar. Over that time, it develops a thin, dry rind and a firm, butter-colored interior with many small openings.
The aroma is peculiar but not unpleasant, a robust pineapple or tropical-fruit scent that I don’t typically associate with cheese, mingled with a more familiar note of caramel.
Note the uncommon texture, too. The interior breaks cleanly into moist clumps or clusters, as if fracturing along fault lines. It doesn’t crumble like other cheeses with this much age.
On the tongue, it is waxy yet creamy, with some of the crunchy protein crystals that can develop in long-aged cheese. The flavor is gentle and frankly sweet, with a fruity tartness in the finish.
Sartori uses starter cultures developed in house — it doesn’t buy cultures, as most creameries do — and I have to believe that explains some of those
unusual aromatic attributes.
BellaVitano Gold lacks the layered, multidimensional character that I hope for in cheeses of such long maturation. I tire of its sweet, uncomplicated taste pretty quickly, but given its modest price (around $17 a pound), it’s still a good value. And you only want a little nibble before the turkey, anyway.
Look for BellaVitano Gold at Rainbow Grocery, Haight Street Market, Harvest Hills Market and Mayflower Market in San Francisco; Pasta Shop, Berkeley Bowl and Country Cheese in Berkeley; Pasta Shop in Oakland; Draeger’s in San Mateo, Menlo Park, Los Altos and Blackhawk; Eric’s Gourmet in Menlo Park; and Piazza’s in San Mateo.
The cheese is mellow enough to work with a dry red wine of moderate intensity, such as a relatively lightweight Zinfandel, but a malty bock beer, such as Ayinger Celebrator, would echo its sweetness.
Next up: Spring Brook Farm Reading, a new washed-rind cheese from Vermont.