I've started working with two farms to bring in native Maine meat to the shop. I'm really excited about the fact that now, a customer can come into the market and purchase really beautiful ingredients for a whole meal. We have an opening for a retail shop on the first floor- as Spartan Grill has moved next door to expand. We are looking for a florist, butcher or spice and tea store/ business to move in. In the meantime, I've spent the last few years getting to know the farmers and their products. We now sell raw milk, native eggs, butter, veggies, cheese, condiments and meat that I get from the farmers. This comes with great changes in downtown. This year, next Monday, will start another Farmer's Market with new farmers. I understand that there are 17 trucks signed up for Mondays and 25-30 on Wednesdays! The Saturday market in the Park will continue by the farmers who meet here on Wednesdays. I am very excited to meet the Monday market farmers. I understand that a couple of my favorite cheese makers will be there too. So come on out to celebrate a growth of availability to purchase Maine grown food!
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It may currently be considered one of our best kept secrets, but at the rate word spreads in this town, it certainly won't be for long. For the past few months we've been one of the very few places in the Portland area to purchase fresh, local, unpasteurized milk. We're currently sourcing our milk from MOFGA certified Straw's Farm out of New Castle, Maine (Their website seems to be down but more information available here.)
While a majority dairy farmers rely on Holstein cattle for their unmatched milk production, Straw's keeps a herd of grass-fed Jersey cattle instead. Jersey's are a smaller breed prized for their milk's flavor and unsurpassed richness. It's a proven favorite among our customers for yogurt, kefir, and cheese making in addition to ice-cold drinkability.
The notion that raw milk is inherently dangerous is quickly being dispelled. Unpasteurized milk is unfortunately still illegal for sale in some states due to differences in opinions concerning its health benefits and safety. Resources arguing both side of the abound but the scales are quickly tipping in favor of raw milk's health benefits.
Ultimately one has to draw their own conclusions. Ask one of our many customers walking out the door (with as many half gallons as they can carry) and you may be swayed to draw that conclusion sooner rather than later.
We're currently receiving milk deliveries every Monday morning. In an effort to ensure freshness we order just slightly more than what has been reserved in advance. Call us at 207.228.2056 by Friday afternoon to ensure you're order will be available on Monday.
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Smoked Trout welcome back to our seafood case! After a short hiatus this tasty delicacy has arrived back in this week. This hot smoked brook trout by Blue Hill Bay hails from Brooklyn, New York and makes an excellent companion for that other great Brooklyn treasure – Bagels! In the past we’ve made a really killer bagel with cream cheese, red onion, and trout in pace of our traditional cold smoked Atlantic salmon. This fish really is a treat and I suggest adding it to pretty much anything from your omelette in the morning to your mac and cheese in the evening! Cheesy Ghost writer
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New in the shop: Pepato is a sheep milk cheese with peppercorns in it from Italy. It is aged for about 6 months and is as dry as Piave, but more crumbly. It has what they call “ a mouth feel” (really the texture you feel in your mouth) that is silky. The sweet of sheep milk is nicely balanced with the spice and bite of the peppercorns. Usually I don’t like peppercorn in cheese because it often covers up the taste of the cheese, but Pepato has a wonderful balance. Speaking of peppercorn, we have just added to our meat counter Pastrami from NYPD that we are hoping to marry to our Ruby Kraut from Maine’s Thirty Acre Farm. Soon we will have our own unique Horton Rueben! We have also added a Californian made Pancetta: pork aged about 3 months and rubbed with peppercorn. Pancetta is considered the Italian version of bacon, made from the belly fat, is generously rich. Pancetta is lovely with pasta, though we are trying it in our collection of recipes for Pocket bread, soft tortillas and Brooklyn Bagels.
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We have just started carrying “Samoon” made right here in our Community Kitchen. A gentleman from Iraq, thirty years a baker, has started making them. He speaks almost no English, but his wonderful joy and energy speaks clearly. He works in the middle of the night, baking in his Tandoor oven, so as we walk into the Market in the morning we are greeted with heavenly smells. Samoon is a oblong shaped air pocket bread. We slice it the length, open it and fill it with any of our wrap ingredients. We hope to soon have a panini grill to make unique hot grilled cheese Samoon air pockets. Can you imagine melted Goat Gouda, Cotswold, Appenzeller, Piave, or even a blue like Point Reyes Blue! We will make these Grilled Cheese Pockets filled with yummy compliments- Carmelized walnuts, fig spread, Marcona almonds, dried cherries, Freedom Farm’s organic shallots, Maine wildflower honey,…..
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I found a photo of myself at thirteen. I had just moved from North Carolina to Maine, and I didn’t know many people. I was in King Middle School and turning 13, becoming a real teen. My parents let me have a teenage party in the basement. It was 1969, and I thought the coolest thing in the world would be to have fondu at my party. It had alcohol in it. The old fondu recipe included kirsch and white wine. There was only the classic recipe back then. Emmental,Gruyere, kirsch, white wine, and nutmeg. Those of us who remember the 60’s remember this taste with fondness. There are friends I have in Portland still who now own their own businesses and have their own families who remember this birthday party with delight. We danced and felt we were being “bad”. That taste brings back memories for all of us. Fondu fell out of popularity for decades after that. It seems to be coming back in the last couple of years, but of course, in a new way.
With all the European cheeses now available, fondu has become a very creative thing to do. A couple of years ago, I was asked to offer fondu at a fiddlehead gathering. I offered a Gorgonzola blue cheese fondu to dip the fiddleheads in. It was a hit. Now when customers come in and ask about fondu cheeses, we offer all sorts of possibilities. You really only need to have good melting cheeses, and also you can expand your dipping possibilities to steak and vegetables instead of the traditional bread. I like to try using Leyden, a Dutch cheese with caraway and cumin seed, Raclette, a raw milk, semi-soft cheese originating in Switzerland but best from France, Gorgonzola, of course, from Italy, and Cheddar. Alcohol could be beer, red wine, cider, or any variation of white wine. Spicing is wide open. People are continually experimenting. Basically, fondu is a blast and we’ve been selling it hot in the winter on our Fondu Fridays, because it is a cold weather comfort food.
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Warning, dog lovers! Yes, you love dogs, and you also love cheese. But I’ve had many stories over the years. The holidays are upon us, and you’re ready to buy that most special cheese. You come to my shop when I’ve stocked up on the most cheese for the year. The selection’s fantastic. You’ve sampled a number of beautiful artisan cheeses, from Maine, Spain, and Italy. You’re willing to pay for the best. It’s a special occasion.
The Garroxta from Spain is a perfect example. Goats on the southern coast of Spain graze on wild rosemary and thyme. The flavor comes through their milk. A natural rind, beautiful cheese; the taste is complex, rich and lovely. You’re hooked. You buy it. I’ve told you have to let it sit out for at least an hour to get the full flavor. But I don’t know you’ve got a dog. You take it home. You love your dog. It’s a beautiful, well-trained, purebred dog that gets the best of everything. You’re busy, guests, it’s the holidays. That most delicious, aromatic cheese is sitting all by itself out on a table, warming, getting perfect. But it is not alone, it has a new friend, your dog. If it had been just a regular Brie or a 3-month red wax Gouda, or even a Lappi from Finland, it wouldn’t hurt so much, but the Garroxta! Yes, it’s inevitable, your dog does get the best of everything, including the taste of goat’s milk permeated with rosemary and thyme. All of a sudden, you’re happy with whatever consequences your dog suffers, after consuming the entire wheel in 5 seconds. I promise I will have some Garroxta left for you at the shop.
Filed under: Cheese and Meats by kris
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I have raised my kids alone for the last 10 years. The twins just went off to colleges this fall and I have a very quiet home. I was so excited when they first moved out. I cleaned and cleaned, sometimes with a shovel and black construction bags. Room after room got assaulted. Rugs got thrown out. Everything got white washed, I moved furniture around, I staked the house out as MINE. One son said that I could not touch his bedroom period. I am saying ok for now. The other son said it was ok for me to hit his room. I was gleeful. The room stunk. “Sock turds” are socks that were once sweaty and dirty. They were ripped off of some boy’s foot and flown across the room. Eventually they collect dust and become encrusted and are hidden from view under beds or furniture. I figured my son must have an incredible collection somewhere. I bagged everything, cleaned his sheets, washed and vacuumed. I could not get rid of that stinky feet smell.
There is a whole category of cheeses fondly referred to as “stinky feet cheese”. These are washed rind cheeses. They are soft-ripened cheeses whose rinds have been rubbed or immersed in a solution of brine, wine, beer or grape brandy. Taleggio, Edel de Cleron, Vacherin Fribourgeois, and of course, Stinking Bishop, to name a few great ones. This helps to flavor the soft interior all the way into nutty and beefy flavors. The aromas of these rinds are far stronger than the interior, and rotten eggs or stinky feet comes to mind. Of course, don’t eat the rind, as you will then not be able to taste the lovely interior.
Anyhow, I noticed that I had left my computer bag in his room, and it too smelled terrible. I opened it to find that I had forgotten some of the Oka cheese that I brought back from Canada in the bag months ago. This is not a good way to keep cheese. It was a beautiful washed rind cheese when I got it in Montreal, and smelled just perfectly stinky back then.
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The two of us get out on the water or up to the mountains every weekend if we can. Now that I am an “empty nester” we can take overnight trips. This one was to an island in Casco Bay and my partner capsized. Not his fault, it got pretty rough out there, but we were very well equipped, even the Coast Guard and firemen said so. Without going into a lot of detail, let’s just say we tested the local ocean rescue system a lot that night. We ended up with 6 rescuers stranded with us on the island. Boats got stuck, one sunk, one got a gash in it and took in water. I was just worried, rightly so, that my partner might have hypothermia after being in the ocean for 45 minutes. So instead of having our gourmet dinner for 2, we had six guys around a huge bonfire and we shared our supper. Fresh lobster, asparagus, sweet potato, 8-year old Canadian Cheddar and Sake – well, no Sake, they wouldn’t let us have the Sake, something about hypothermia). They were a bit skeptical about the Fontal, but the firemen loved the Cheddar!
Cheddar, like wine and women, gets better with age. The best “vintage” Cheddar you might find in a regular grocery will be about two years old. That is the youngest Cheddar we sell. Right now we are selling nine different Cheddars at the shop. Habinero, Horseradish, Two year Vermont, Four year Vermont, Grafton Maple Smoked, Dubliner, R &R Silvery Moon Creamery Cheddar, Bandaged Vermont Cheddar and the Canadian 8 year Cheddar. I love the Portland Fire Department and I am happy to know that they love my cheese!
P.S. Bee Keeping festival on the second floor of the Market House, with free classes and day tablers sellng bee and honey products. You can call me at the shop for details
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Cheese is not my profession. It may be my passion, but it’s not what I was trained for. One of my sons is transferring to the University of Maine at Orono. I went there too. I got a degree from Orono after 7 years of undergraduate education at 5 different schools and 3 different majors. My degree is a B.S. in Education, with an art education major. I have no idea what that means, but I bet we all can have a laugh at a “B.S.” degree. I taught school and didn’t like my fellow teachers. I couldn’t see spending the rest of my life doing that. I farmed for 10 years. During that time, I also worked at my father’s smoke house, Horton’s Smoked Seafood in Waterboro, Maine, which – yes, he’s my Dad, but it was the finest smoked seafood business in the country. I’m still trying to get his secret recipes out of him. My children were raised on kohlrabi and smoked salmon. Farming and the smoke house were my real education.
My father and I opened the shop to sell his salmon 11 years ago. We brought in cheese to accompany the salmon. They do go great together, particularly a soft goat cheese or a triple crème. We found more people ate cheese than salmon. At the time, I could tell the difference between Gouda, Cheddar, Brie, and Swiss Emmental, and that was about it. My dad retired and I took over the shop. From then on, I learned about cheese by saying “YES” to absolutely every suggestion my distributors made, at least once. So my training is 11 years of buying and tasting and saying “YES.”
Why say all this? I know the taste of over 400 cheeses, very well. I choose about 200 to keep in the shop. I love to help people to find their way to the right cheese, for them, for the occasion. My experience is entirely hands on, and I appreciate the artistry of the cheese makers, particularly of the Maine Cheesemakers and their dedication. I know many of them personally and how hard they work. I adore teaching about cheese, and so, I guess, I’ve come full circle to being the teacher my degree says I am, but I am happiest to be known as the Cheese Lady.
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