Skip to main content

Formaggio Friday 4: Bonnyclabber's Moonshine

By

I noticed this a few weeks ago, but had other cheeses on my shopping list. Finally, after a few Twitter exchanges with fellow foodie, Twitter pal, and fromage lover Raul N., it was down to the wire and The Cheese Shop was almost sold out. We were warned that there was one round left. So I headed down there and - just in case he got there after I did - I made sure to leave a piece.

This cheese hails from the Middle Peninsula in Virginia, made by the Bonnyclabber Cheese Co. on the Sullivan's Pond Farm. Semi-soft, this cheese is wrapped in corn husks that have been macerated in White Lightnin moonshine and is aged for over two months.

Since I'd never had the cheese - or moonshine - I decided to do some reading. Interesting history!

'White Lightnin' is a brand name of moonshine which was historically called white lightning, mountain dew, hooch, or white whiskey. In the 1600s colonists used their excess corn to distill a clear corn whiskey. In 1920 Prohibition was passed, liquor was outlawed, and alcohol production moved underground. Produced in stillhouses in the remote hills of the South, corn whiskey was transported over backcountry roads by the light of the moon, earning it the name "moonshine."

While the history of the liquor fascinated me, I have say that the cheese did not. It was okay, but - in my estimation - not worth the ticket price. At over $50 a pound, I expected to be dazzled. I wasn't. Thankfully, I have 48 more weeks of my Formaggio Fridays project. I'm sure I'll discover some winners.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Jenn EricksonJanuary 26, 2013 at 4:45 PM

    Bummer that the cheese didn't meet up to it's interesting story and history. Have you tried
    Uplands Cheese Company's Rush Creek Reserve? It's one of my current favs, although I'm not sure if they have it at the Carmel Cheese Shop.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hot Chocolate Agasajo-Style {Spice It Up!}

By
photo by D For my Spice It Up! kiddos this week, I was looking for an exotic drink to serve while we learned about saffron. I found a recipe from food historian Maricel Presilla that mimicked traditional Spanish hot chocolate from the 17th century where it was served at lavish receptions called agasajos . When I teach, I don't always get to shoot photos. Thankfully, D grabbed my camera and snapped a few. Ingredients serves 14-16 1 gallon organic whole milk 3 T dried rosebuds - or 2 t rosewater 2 t saffron threads, lightly crushed 3 T ground cinnamon 3 whole tepin chiles, crushed 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise 1 C organic granulated sugar 1 lb. bittersweet chocolate Procedure In a large soup pot that can hold a gallon plus, combine milk, dried rosebuds (or rosewater, if you are using that), saffron threads, ground cinnamon, chiles, vanilla beans, and sugar and warm over medium heat till it steams. Whisk to dissolve sugar, then lower heat an...
183 comments
Read more

A Cheese Board Anchored on a Trio of Italian Cheeses + A Pinot Nero from Alto Adige #ItalianFWT on CulinaryCam.Com

By
I am in the process of migrating over to my new domain. Come on over to read " A Cheese Board Anchored on a Trio of Italian Cheeses + A Pinot Nero from Alto Adige " for December's #ItalianFWT.
Post a Comment
Read more

Frozen Art Gourmet Ice Cream

By
As we headed inland from the coast, I cringed as the temperature gauge in the car for outside temp climbed into the triple digits. Ugh. I'm a rather wimpy central coastal Californian who begins to wilt when it's 70 degrees outside. Thank goodness for air conditioning and a planned ice cream stop. When I parked the car outside Frozen Art Gourmet Ice Cream in Santa Rosa, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We knew that we still had to get to the campsite...and set up our tents in the heat. But we were going to enjoy the cool, sweet treats from Frozen Art first! Michoacana ice creameries are the equivalent of Starbucks in Mexico; they're ubiquitous. Purists, however, claim that operating a true Michoacana ice cream shop require ties to Tocumbo. It's estimated that almost ninety percent of the Tocumban population is currently employed in the ice cream business from making ice cream itself to making equipment. But the real art of Tocumban ice creams: imaginat...
Post a Comment
Read more