U Bell Spiritu by SARL Pierucci I bought this at Formaggio Essex in NYC from Brooke. It is a Corsican cheese, hence the strange name. I believe it is a goat. The company, Fromagerie Pierucci, makes both sheep and goat cheeses. This one is an intense washed rind cheese with basket markings on the outside. There are tiny crunchy bits of salt from the rind that blend right into the paste when the knife slices down so that at first you can't tell if the salt crystals are in the cheese or on the outside. It’s tangy, but also strangely buttery with a definite barnyard funk on the finish. Patrick says it’s like butter that has gone over to the dark side. Could this be a sheep? There are so many sheep in Corsica. However, it also really tastes like a goat. It is tangy and crumbly. There is something, some taste of sweet hazelnuts mixed in, too. It is a cheese of a thousand layers. I think this is a goat. It’s hard to say what it is because there is so much flavor going on from the washed rind. It also has the markings of being a basket cheese, a cheese that was strained in a basket. It is semi-soft. It slices well and gets very flaky and crumbly, but it ends up so creamy on the palate. It’s tingly, too. It’s a weird washed rind. It could be goat. It acts like a goat. It is delicious with beer and challah. Photo of U Bell Spiritu
Ulloa Cow's milk from Spain. I need to try this one again. Semi-soft, sometimes even soft, creamy, mild. It is from Galicia in Spain.