ANCIENT HERITAGE DAIRY’S ADELLE CHEESE

It was an article in Gourmet Magazine in the late 90’s that truly put Portland on the map for me.

In it, the author compared Portland and the surrounding area to the Burgundy area of France: the beautiful verdant countryside, agriculture, wine, small batch foods, and fabulous restaurants. It talked about how Portland embraced the whole farm-to-table movement and how people there were dedicated to the art of living well.

My husband and I came up here shortly after reading this and we fell in love with this town. It was everything we had heard about and more. And in the dozen years we have lived here, the town has only ripened.

Proof in point.

I just learned that one of my favorite cheese makers is in the process of opening up an Urban Creamery on 7th and Main Street. I cannot wait to get over there to check it out. URBAN CREAMERY. Favorite new word pairing.

Portlanders, this is thrilling news. Ancient Heritage Dairy makes such wonderful cheeses: a bloomy Valentine, their award-winning Hannah, and then my favorite, Adelle here. And now a place to enjoy it day in, day out?

I refer to the AHD website for descriptors of the intoxicating Adelle: “light/buttery/drippy/herby”. She is like a French St. Andre but a little more rounded with a slightly fungal tone – but in the best possible way. I have devoured half of a young Adelle and been struck with the succulence of fresh creamy flavor of cows and sheep milk only to polish off the second half a week or two later and been floored by the almost truffle-like muskiness of it as it aged.

I honestly can’t say which I have liked better—the coquetry of the ingénue or the maturity of the femme fatale. Either way, she always remains true to the pure voluptuousness of her spreadable, dripping nature.

So it was with much anticipation I learned that once again that I had a half disc of this beauty raring to go in the fridge. How should I do it justice?

I bought a baguette at Grand Central Baking to go with some prosciutto and fig jam already in the fridge. Having had a pizza once that had a riff on these flavors, I knew that if given the chance, all these would play nicely together in a sandwich.

And how.

After I took this pic I added some arugula to it and it was perfection. The combination of soft Adelle (with a little thyme from my garden), prosciutto and fig jam and peppery greens all hugging the craggy contours of crunchy baguette was sensational. People, just look at that warm fig jam just dripping off the end there.

And to now know that a place is opening up in which I can converse and indulge with other Adelle addicts, right at the source? It’s almost too much for one girl to handle.

http://ancientheritagedairy.com/