Ten Vermont Cheeses Worth Tasting

Along time ago, I promised to make a foodie friend a list of my favorite Vermont cheeses. There are certainly many more, but here are my top nine--with the addition of a tenth from a fellow VT cheese-lover.. Additional Vermont foods that pair well are also listed. Enjoy!

Ten Vermont Cheeses Worth Tasting 

Cabot Creamery Co-operative: Alpine Cheddar
Cabot cheddar is every day cheese to Vermonters, but this kicks it up a notch with a drier, nuttier flavor I find addictive. Yummy paired with
Vermont Smoke & Cure Summer Sausage.


Twig Farm: Goat Tomme
This was the first tomme I ever tried, and still my favorite years later. Also, I think the cheesemaker's wife practicing/teaching violin makes for happy goats. To come full circle...we often put Twig Farm cheese in out visiting artists' green room.


Maplebrook Farm: Hand Dipped Ricotta
I've been on a real ricotta binge lately, and the rich, fresh flavor of this versatile cheese just overshadows the other ricottas in the dairy aisle.


Blue Ledge Farm: Maple Chevre
You knew something maple had to make it to the list. It was not uncommon for me to have a package of Maple Chevre and Whitney's Castleton Crackers' Middlebury Maple (now Salted Maple) crackers in my office at all times.


Jasper Hill Farm: Bayley Hazen Blue
I bought this yummy blue to make homemade blue cheese dressing. It's so creamy, it covered the fact that I totally botched the recipe.


Plymouth Artisan Cheese: Garlic Peppercorn
I'm not usually partial to flavored cheddar cheese, but this makes a killer companion to a LaPlatte River Angus Farm burger.


Grafton Village Cheese Company: Shepsog
I first tasted this earthy sheep/cow cheese on a charcuterie platter at a post-concert reception in a barn in southern Vermont. Quite fitting!

Vermont Creamery: Herb Chevre
Spread this on grilled O Bread Bakery French Batard and add the slightest drizzle of Champlain Valley Apiaries Honey or Sidehill Farm's Damson Plum Jam.


Taylor Farm Cheese: Leyden Gouda
I fell in love with Leyden—with its cumin and/or caraway seed flavor—in the Netherlands. Taylor Farms doesn’t make it often, but their Maple-smoked Farmstead Gouda is another yummy choice if the Leyden isn’t available. And these Goudas pair nicely with
Jan's Farmhouse Crisps.


And lastly a recommendation from a friend: 

Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company: Lillé (Coulomierres)

Handmade in small batches, their Coulommiers-style cheese--thicker ancestor to Brie--has a northern French origin as does the name itself, Lillé.

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Walnut Serving Board and picture by J.K. Adams Co. in Dorset, VT