The Wild Goose Creative, Too Many Cooks Series hosted Kent Rand, Cheese Director from Hills Market for a night of Ohio Cheese tasting. The suggested donation was $10. Too Many Cooks serves up something tasty the first Sunday evening of every month. Since I love cheese and support all things Hills Market and Wild Goose, I was there.
Friendly Neighborhood Cheesemonger Man
Kent Rand – also known as The Budda of Gouda, Chief of Cheddar, Prince of Provolone and Bhagwan of Brie guided a full house through a tasting tour of four Ohio Cheeses. He was assisted by one of my two favorite marketing mavens, Jill Moorhead, The Hills Market Marketing Director. In addition to creating good events, crafting fine prose on produce and significant craftiness to boot, Jill pours a good glass of wine.
The cheeses for the evening were:
Chevre with Herbs from MacKenzie Creamery in Hiriam
MacKenziecreamery.com
Organic Cheddar from Green Field Farms in Fredricksburg
www.gffarms.com
Old Time Smoked Swiss from Steiner Cheese in Baltic
www.steinercheese.com
(Yippee!! See my December 2008 post)
Caraway Gouda from Oakvale Farmstead Cheese in London
www.oakvalecheese.com
(Hills was the first local market to carry Oakvale cheeses.)
The cheeses were paired with South River Vineyard’s Temptation, a Rose from Geneva, Ohio.
www.southrivervineyard.com
We were also treated to a section of plated tastes to accompany our curdish delights so we could compare and contrast the flavors of the cheeses. Our tasting selections included dried apricots, black radish slices, watermelon radish slices, nuts, apple chutney, figs, an apple slice, Columbus Ham (not from Columbus), and a few other morsels.
In between eating, drinking and more eating, Kent discussed each cheese, provided an overview on cheesemaking and reviewed how to store cheese. He also fielded questions on Farmstead cheese, pasteurization in the art and science of cheesemaking, raw milk cheeses and why Cheddar is orange / yellow, among other questions. Kent topped things off with a serving of his Ohio Dutch Fondue (including grated gouda and a nip of gin).
It was an excellent night of eating education and you missed it. I used to worry about Hills Market and Wild Goose getting enough traffic at events to sustain their good ideas. Now I worry about getting a seat.
If you live in Worthington, Clintonville or Campus, The Hills Market can be reached after long but rewarding ride on the Olentangy River Bike Trail.
CMH Gourmand - Eating in Columbus & Ohio 