chevre

Making Spring Happen at Barbette

I won’t even begin to discuss the weather this past week -- gray, cold, spitting rain, and even (gasp) snow? Is this fair for Minnesotans? No. Is this normal for Minnesotans? Well, I hate to say it, but yes. And yet, every year we seem to forget what we should never forget: April isn’t really spring. It can be lovely, in bits and snatches here and there with the longer days and the ever-so-slightly warmer sun, but mostly, April reserves the right to be cold and ornery.

 

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Goat: The World's Favorite Meat

If the current over-industrialized state of beef, pork and poultry production is getting your goat, then you may want to consider doing just that.

Many Americans may be more familiar with goat products made from its milk, like specialty soaps and artisanal cheeses (chèvre), and its fibers, which produce luxurious goat hair yarns such as Cashmere and Mohair, but for most of the world, it is goat meat that is top choice. Now, with growing demand from immigrants for whom goat meat is part of their food culture and savvy foodies interested in authentic ethnic cuisines and local sustainable food sources, Capra hircus is starting to stand out from the herd in the US as well. 

The Other Red Meat

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The Proper Care and Feeding of Cheese

The cheese available in the United States has changed dramatically in the past decade. From coast to coast, the quantity and quality of locally made cheese has increased, and so has our interest in sampling new and different types. From Brebis (sheep’s milk cheese) to Chêvre (goat’s milk cheese), and from a triple cream to a Tomme, we are wide open to new tastes and textures; but we may not be up to speed when it comes to taking care of this fragile food.

To be able to fully enjoy the flavors of a cheese it needs be stored properly and served at the right temperature. Those delicate wheels, wedges, blocks and logs that have been carefully coaxed to ripened perfection and are teeming with beneficial microorganisms that deserve better treatment than in your fridge and on your counter.

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