Dave's Cheese Notes: Pleasant Ridge Reserve
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A cheese by Uplands Cheese, who have a website and page for the cheese itself:
I’ll quote their description:
Pleasant Ridge Reserve is an aged, alpine-style cheese. Like the coveted, alpage versions of Beaufort and Gruyere, Pleasant Ridge is made only in the summer months, while our cows are grazing fresh pasture. The sweetness born from the grass-fed milk combines with the savory flavors developed by the cheese’s natural, washed rind. The resulting complexity – rich and salty, with a long, fruity finish – has made Pleasant Ridge one of the most distinctive and celebrated cheeses in the country.
Uplands Cheese is a family-owned farm in Pleasant Ridge "in the Uplands region of Wisconsin".
In 2000, Mike and Dan began working with local cheese makers and with the cheese scientists at the nearby Center for Dairy Research, and eventually settled on their own version of these ancient, alpine recipes.
If this whole technology thing really does disappear entirely, I want to be a cheese scientist.
What do I think of it? Well, this is my second chunk. So that’s a ringing endorsement right there. I don’t buy cheeses twice if I’m even remotely ambivalent about them.
I like the mild flavor and somewhat gritty texture. It’s easily overwhelmed by just about any other flavor (such as a cracker with interesting grains). So I’ve just been eating it straight in little slices.
The rind is not edible, but I’ve found you can cut quite close to the edge and all of the "paste" (not a fan of that term - might come up with my own?) is tasty.
I’ve also heard you can make dishes using the rinds of cheeses like this as flavoring? I might have to look into that. I don’t like wasting things.