American Cheese Society’s 2011 Academy
of Cheese for her work as a pioneer in goat
cheese, and earned the 2011 4-H Club
Alumni Recognition Award from the 4-H
Foundation of Sonoma County, is the oldest
of 10 children. She took over the business
from her parents in 1978.
Ed Anderson, reprinted with permission from
VOLT ink. by Bryan Voltaggio and Michael
Voltaggio, copyright Olive Press 2011
Beet Winter Garden, with goat cheese mousse, garden “soil,” soil-roasted beets, hay-smoked
baby carrots, balsamic fluid gel, orange powder and beet meringues, is one of the recipes in
a new book by Bryan Voltaggio and Michael Voltaggio, VOLT ink. (Olive Press, 2011).
“In the mid ’60s, there was a big back-to-
the-land movement. My parents moved us
from LA to Sebastopol and got us tons
of animals. The goats quickly became our
favorites, since they have personalities like
dogs. They can learn tricks, and we would
dress them up and play with them. We were
all in 4-H and showing goats, and ended
up with all this milk. So, we started selling
it to the new health-food stores that were
cropping up. Then, we figured they would
want cheese and yogurt if we made it.”
Redwood Hill Farm also makes a French-style rind-ripened category of goat cheeses.
“These are Camembert-style semisoft goat’s
milk cheeses with the white, edible penicillium
candidum rind,” Bice says. “Our Cameo is
covered with a variety of fresh herbs, and our
Volt’s spring-garden salad features beets,
carrots in hay, radish, coffee soil and Cherry
Glen Farm fresh chevre and Monocacy
Crottin, a more-firm aged goat cheese that is
shaved over the salad.
Chef’s Camellia comes without the herbs. The
Bucheret is another cheese that is more dense
and ideal for slicing. And our California Crottin
has won numerous awards for its fluffy texture
and earthy flavor. These cheeses are typically
used by chefs on cheese plates.”
Bice makes three families of goat’s milk
cheeses, the first being fresh chevre.
“This is probably what most people think
of when they think of goat cheese,” she
says. “I would venture to say it’s a staple
in restaurants, stuffed into chicken, rolled
into fish and found in cheesecakes and on
salads. Chefs usually use the traditional
fresh chevre, but we also make chevre in
garlic/chive, three-peppercorn and roasted
chili flavors.”
ON THE MENU
Voltaggio, who wrote VOLT ink.: Recipes,
Stories, Brothers (Olive Press, 2011) with
brother Michael, not only uses Cherry Glen
Goat Cheese Co. products in his Cherry
Glen Farm goat cheese ravioli, but he
incorporates the ash from the ash rind on
the cheese into the dish.
At Soby’s, Garcia uses Split Creek Farm chevre
in a Southern pesto. “I serve it on a grouper
dish in the summer. I wanted to do something
fresher and not so heavy. It’s served with a
fresh potato salad with fennel. In the pesto I
use pecans instead of pine nuts and parsley
and rosemary instead of basil. I fold or whip
in the goat cheese for a nice complexity. It’s
sometimes served on flatbread.”
SOUTHERN GOAT CHEESE PESTO
Shaun Garcia, Chef de Cuisine
Soby’s
Greenville, S.C.
The National Culinary Review | November/December 2011
In the traditional cheese category, Bice
makes goat’s milk cheddar, smoked goat’s
milk cheddar and raw milk feta. “These can
be used sliced or in recipes, and they are
even better when melted into something.
Feta is great crumbled into salads and it’s
great on pizzas because it just gets warm
and not too melty. The cheddar is similar to
a cow’s milk cheddar.”
“The farm does cool things for me, like giving
me the vegetable ash they use to make the
ash-rind cheese,” Voltaggio says. “I use the
ash in the pasta I make for the ravioli, which I
stuff with fresh goat ricotta and fresh chevre.
The vegetables have been carbonized or
burnt to the point where they become ash.
This creates an anaerobic environment in
which to age cheese. Using some of that
ash in the pasta dough makes it black and
flavors the dough with the ash. Having the
ash pasta around the cheese mimics the
goat cheese aging in the ash rind.”
1 cup flat parsley
1 garlic clove
2 T. chopped rosemary
½ cup toasted pecans
1 cup olive oil
¼ cup white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 lb. Split Creek Farm chevre
Method: Combine parsley, garlic, rosemary,
pecans, oil and vinegar in food processor
until finely chopped and thoroughly
combined. Season with salt and pepper, to
taste. Fold into chevre until well-blended.
