I stopped by the farmer’s market to pick up some bread and cheese for a hike about a month ago. I grabbed my standby rustic olive loaf from Phoenix Pastificio, and then swung by the Cowgirl Creamery (CC) cheese stand. CC is well known for their creamy, soft cheeses, but I was intrigued to find that they had started to experiment with hard cheeses as well. I am a hard cheese girl at heart. In particular, aged gouda. You may call me the Aged Gouda Girl. I picked up a wedge (from Batch #27). Well, I will tell you the end result here: that cheese has a certain kind of funkiness and textural grittiness that I do not like. It was like eating somewhat milky sand. And I have smelled funky cheeses. Usually that funkiness makes me think of good things to come. This was not that kind of funky. I know they are still working out the kinks, so I hope their subsequent batches improve. I guess my first clue should have been when the lady at the CC stand tried a sliver from batch #27:

CC girl: “Oh, I haven’t tried this batch yet. Oh wow, there are so many holes this time.” *munch munch* “Hmm… it tastes different from the last batch.”

Me: “Uh, good or bad?”

CC girl: “Oh, not good or bad, just … different”

I guess that should have been a big clue. No salesperson would tell you that their product is off. It’s just “different” and “unique”. Oh, those imperfections in that vase? That’s how you know it’s HANDMADE. That’s what makes it so UNIQUE. (I admit I sometimes buy into this philosophy).

In any case, I think I shall stick to their softies until they get a few more hard cheese batches under their belt.