Get 'Em While You Can: Fresh Burrata

We're super excited to announce that at this week's warehouse tastings we'll have a limited and exceptional batch of fresh burrata available--and when we say exceptional, we really mean it. In the words of our friend and Twitter follower @Que_Linda, "I think it's made from baby dreams and unicorn shavings."

Burrata is a relative of mozzarella. In fact, it's basically mozzarella stuffed with mozzarella--the outer skin is the same pasta filata curd, and the filling is a rough mix of unfinished curd and heavy cream. The producer, La Gioia from California, will make a batch for us on Thursday and it will arrive fresh on Friday. Burrata is very perishable. It lasts about five days, but once you try it we don't imagine you'll have any trouble eating it in time.

We got our hands on some samples last week and it would be no exaggeration to say that all the Dairymaids went nuts for it. The play of textures, the salt content, its milky white--all of it was absolutely perfect. So please come by during our normal hours on Friday and Saturday and try it for yourself.

Grilled Cheese Updates from the City Hall Farmers Market

There are some very easy ways to upgrade your lunchtime sandwich. Add a fancy condiment. Apply some toasted and unusual bread. Or come to the City Hall Farmers Market on Wednesdays and let us make you a grilled cheese.

We've been stationed there for a few weeks now and we wanted to give you an update on how things are going. Pete and Charlotte have been grilling them up to order (they're pros) and although we only have one cheese available each week, we've been swapping them out frequently for variety.

In the past, we've used super smooth Granbury Gold and Sand Creek Gouda and Brick. Back at the warehouse, we gave brie a test drive and this week we'll be using Veldhuizen Green's Creek Gruyere. As always, you have a choice between Slow Dough Harvest or challah and the results are melty and warm like a loving embrace.

Come by for a sandwich and let us know if you have any cheese or condiment requests! We love to hear feedback.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

Sometimes we get this urge to get dolled up in our nicest clothes but rarely do we have an excuse. So in honor of those unworn ball gowns that we don't actually own, we have some very dressed-up cheeses this Friday and Saturday.

The Cowgirl Creamery's spring cheese, St. Pat, is made exclusively with organic Jersey cow's milk from a single California dairy then wrapped in stinging nettles, which have been frozen to remove the sting. The nettles give the mild, buttery cheese a smoky, artichoke-like flavor.

We'll also be featuring Seahive, the latest from the Beehive Cheese Co., which also produces the Barely Buzzed. The Seahive is a cheddar rubbed with Utah wildflower honey and Redmond RealSalt. The colorful, mineral-rich salt is from an ancient sea bed near Redmond, Utah.

We'll also have Green's Creek Gruyere, Point Reyes Blue and a few more so we hope to see you this weekend!

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

(Photo by Flickr user kre8tiv)

If you grew up a Swiss youth, you very likely spend wintry evenings at home melting Raclette over potatoes with a side of cornichons. If you grew up a hamburger-eating American youth, now is your chance to finally try this culinary treat for yourself. At this week's warehouse tastings, we have a fresh batch of Reading Raclette from Spring Brook Farm in Vermont.

We can tell you all about how to melt and scrape this gooey cheese on your home Raclette set, but we enjoy the simultaneous sweet, creamy and tart, salty notes of this cheese in solid form too.

This Friday and Saturday we'll also be fully stocked on Paragon Reserve and Smokey Blue, a spectacular raw milk cheese lightly smoked over Oregon hazelnut shells.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

In honor of the fantastic spring weather, we have some delicious snacking cheeses perfect with fresh bread and a picnic blanket at the warehouse tastings this week.

We're still fully stocked on the Pure Luck Dairy chevre, including the Anaheim chile, cracked black pepper and mixed herb varieties. The Sweetgrass Dairy Green Hill, a brie-style cheese, is absolutely heavenly spread on baguette and a favorite among lovers of milder cheese with its rich and buttery paste.

This week we also see the return of the Bellwether Pepato, an Italian-style, raw sheep milk cheese sprinkled with peppercorns (Elizabeth swears it gives off a faint blueberry taste), and another Dairymaid favorite--the pungent Red Hawk washed rind (Lindsey's only true love).

This Week's Warehouse Tasting

Spring is a season of plenty and this week we're back to fully stocked on some of your favorite items. This Friday and Saturday we'll have our first Pure Luck chevre of the season now that some of the mama goats have had their kids--see above, snuggling with the dairy cat.

We also got a special shipment of Lucky Layla butter so your bread will be dry no more and your egg sandwiches will return to full decadence. Come by the warehouse for that and a tasting of the meltingly smooth and buttery Nancy's Hudson Valley Camembert, made from a blend of milk from the Old Chatham Shepherding Company's herd of East Fresian ewes and a neighboring farm's hormone-free cows milk. A wedge of this award-winning cheese, a baguette and some sparkling wine and you've got yourself a picnic!