Valdeon  $13.99 lb. at Whole Foods, $3.64 for a small chunk. Wrapped in Walnut leaves. Goats and cows milk from Spain. This cheese is made in the region called the Posada de Valdeon. This reminds me of a Cabrales, it is so strong. It is beige and blue/gray marbled in the center, and then towards the edges, it gets to be a brownish-khaki color. I suppose this is the influence of the leaves. Super strong and spicy. It is a lot like Cabrales, but with a nutty edge. Very bitter on the finish. Beautiful rich, creamy, spicy cheese. It is burning my throat, though, and has an almost chemical flavor at the end, like breathing out after swimming in a chlorinated pool. I love the taste towards the edges where it the nut flavor really comes through and the spice is not distracting. No wonder this cheese tastes like Cabrales. One of its ingredients is Penicillium Cabrales. It is supposed to be good with pears. 

Valençay Pyramide, Jacquin   Vallee d’Aspe Chevre  $14.99 lb., $8 or so for a pyramid. Central Market.  Wedding cheese.  Goat cheese in the shape of a small pyramid, covered in ashes and some mold.  It came with a green band wrapped around it, but Patrick threw it away in the midst of all the wedding stuff.  It is light, mild, creamy, and a little citrusy.  Very mild and not too crumbly.  It didn’t get eaten quite like the fromage d’affinois.  It was not crumbly.  I would definitely buy it again, but it was probably not quite sharp enough for my goaty tastes, though it was the cheese on the plate that I kept going back to and eating.  It was also really pretty.  I’d get it again if I had the money. It was delicious, but didn’t get devoured quite like the Fromage d’Affinois at the wedding.  I guess people were scared of it.  Supposedly this is the cheese that enraged Napoleon to the point that he hacked the tip off, making it a flat pyramid.  He was angry over uproar in Egypt.

Vampire Slayer by Calkins Creamery  $15.99 lb. at Whole Foods. This cheese is irresistible first for its catchy name. It is also a vegetarian, raw cow's milk cheese with herbs, including garlic, onion, paprika, and ginger. According to the website, the cheesemaker, Emily, starts with a stirred-curd Cheddar and hand-mixes an interesting blend of herbs into the curds before pressing.This Cheddar is white with a black rind made of wax. There are little red flakes in the paste of the cheese with some light marbling where the paprika has gone in between the curds. It is a semi-hard cheese. The name makes it a novel party cheese, as does the hint of "cheese ball" flavor, which I suppose comes from the garlic and onion mix, plus the paprika. It slices well and has a delicious, complex, "real" Cheddar finish to back up the playful seasonings; this cheese does not rely on its flavorings alone for its personality, though it does have a catchy name. Vampire Slayer comes from Calkins Creamery in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. The farmers employ sustainable farming techniques and the milk comes from their very own herd of Holsteins.  http://www.calkinscreamery.com  and  Vampire Slayer photo

Vasterbotten  From Sweden $10.99 lb. at Central Market, $2.64 for a small chunk.  This cheese is sort of like the Vodka Pepper Cheese, but without the vodka and pepper tastes.  It is hard, crumbly, has some crystals in it.  It is straw-colored, and has a weird refrigerator aftertaste that bugged me.  It is really good grated on a potato.  The label says Vasterbottensost.  It is only 140 mg of sodium.  I liked it, but I’m not too wild about the aftertaste.  

Vento d'Estate  $26.99 at Central Market, $5.40 for a tiny slice. Cow's milk from northeastern Italy, near Treviso. This cheese is so expensive because it is so labor-intensive. First, the cheese is soaked in wine. I am assuming it's Prosecco, a white grape, because the cheese takes on such an intense flavor of over-ripe apples and pears. Then the cheese is wrapped up in hay and finally bundled up in a wine barrel and left to age. It has an intensely fruity and floral flavor, slightly crumbly paste, and a thin rind with flecks of hay, grass, herbs, and flowers stuck in it. Whatever happened to get rolled up in the hay made its way onto the outside of the cheese. I ate the rind anyway. For some people, this cheese is too intense, not because it's stinky, but just because it's flavors are so pronounced. It is one of many northern Italian styles of cheeses that are rolled in grasses. I call these the "Chia Pet" cheeses.

Vintage Irish Cheddar  From Central Market.  Sharp, semi-hard, light-colored.  It has some bitterness in the aftertaste, but not too much.  It tastes a little bit herby.  Thong said that the cows in Ireland eat nice green grass, so their cheeses are good.  This is always a favorite at parties and goes well with a variety of wines. 

Vlaskaas Flax Harvest Cheese $12.99 at Central Market, $5.46 for a nice wedge. This is a Gouda style cow's milk cheese from Flanders. It is good and salty, nutty, floral, fresh, caramel-y, and then vaguely barnyardy on the finish. It tastes like an aged Gouda, but with an extremely creamy mouthfeel and little salt crystals inside. Its creamy texture sets it apart from other Gouda style cheeses. Also, it doesn't have any rubbery-ness like some Goudas can, even right after it comes out of the fridge. It is an intense golden orange shade, kind of like the lunar color that first made people believe the moon was made of cheese. According to Davee at Central Market, this cheese is supposed to be part of a flax harvest celebration. She even joked about some pagan ritual surrounding the cheese. The sticker depicts nothing more than a family out working in the field with a bunch of baskets, presumably collecting flax. The wife seems to have interrupted the harvesting to bring the husband a basket of cheese, which he has taken out and pressed up against his face to inhale the rich aromas. When I went to the website (http://www.vlaskaas.com), I saw that the woman wasn't holding up a big 20 lb. cheese, but rather a baby. I liked my story better. From the website: Historically, Vlaskaas was produced in certain regions of Flanders for the Flemish harvest festival. This festival is synonymous with rich traditions and rituals in song, drink and food. Spirit merchants were treated to an abundant meal consisting of slijtepap (thick porridge) and thickly-buttered sandwiches made with fresh bread and Vlaskaas.
 

Vodka Currant Cheese  $10.99 lb. at Central Market.  $3.52 for a big chunk. From Sweden. It is just like the other Swedish cheeses – hard, straw colored, a little crumbly.  I’m not wild about the weird currant taste with the cream.  For some reason it reminds me of that cranberry Wensleydale that made me think of mayonnaise.  I don’t think I like the hard cheese/berry taste at all.  It’s not bad, though.  It’s just the weird fruity aftertaste distracts me.   

Vodka Pepper Cheese   $10.99 lb. at Central Market, $2.31 for a decent chunk. From Sweden. The day before Easter, they put samples out and people nearly knocked the table over to eat it.  On the label, it says “rich, traditional Swedish cheddar aged with a splash of Absolut Pepper Vodka.  It has a picture of a martini glass on the label.  Semi-soft prastost (mean’s priest’s cheese) aged over 12 months.”  Cow’s cheese.  It is light and butter colored, very crumbly, yet creamy.  In between the crumbles and curd (?) holes, there is some white mold. It came in a little block with blue wax on the edge.  It tastes a little bit sweet, not too salty (150 mg sodium).  It has some crunchy bits in it like Parmesan does – little crystals. I guess that is the mold.  The aftertaste is fruity.  Maybe that is the vodka.  I don’t taste any pepper in it and I don’t know what pepper vodka is.  It does, however, have a little bit of a spicy tingle in it, and a little sour.  This cheese is hard to slice because it is so crumbly.  It is sticky if you eat it with your fingers.  I really liked this cheese a lot, though it might be difficult to serve at a party, except that the texture is pretty much like a blue.  This is one of my new favorites.  It kind of reminded me of Roaring 40’s blue.     

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