I love cheese – all kinds of cheese (unless it’s runny).

I’m staying at the Orchard Garden Hotel in San Francisco this week. On their room service menu, there’s an “American Farmstead Cheese Selection.” I could have ordered each one individually, but opted for the full-on cheese tasting platter. Who could resist?! Sure, maybe the lactose intolerant…

Still(ton), I enjoyed:

• Humbolt Fog, Cypress Grove / Arcata, CA – Elegant soft ripened goat’s milk cheese. It has a creamy, luscious texture with a subtle tangy flavor. Each wheel contains a ribbon of edible vegetable ash along its center.
• Tamula Tomme, Juniper Grove / Redmond, OR – Raw goat’s milk cheese with a washed rind that has been aged 2 to 4 months. Semi-firm texture, creamy interior, and a slightly nutty flavor.
• Great Hill Blue, Great Hill / Marion, MA – Blue cheese made from raw cow’s milk. This cheese is aged 6 months (as opposed to the 2 or 3 month aging period of other blue cheeses), creating a round, robust flavor without the intense acidic finish of other blues.
• Green Hill, Sweet Grass Dairy / Thomasville, GA – Jersey cow’s milk cheese with a buttery taste and soft, creamy texture. Jersey cows are grass fed and developed just for Sweet Grass Dairy, causing the color of the cow’s milk to be bright yellow from the higher butterfat composition and pleasantly acidic with a very sleek finish.

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