TASTES: Aroma Bear

By Kara and Erica

For our first tasting session we tried a piece of Aroma Bear cheese from Capri Cheesery in Blue River, WI. This fall, the Capri stand at the Dane County Farmers' Market has been Kara's favorite - an opinion she exclaimed more loudly than necessary in front of the vendor (who cheerfully agreed).

Some Background:
Capri Cheesery is a small operation, spear-headed by an ambitious Swiss-American named Felix. Capri specializes in cheese made from raw (unpasteurized) goatsmilk, which purportedly allows for the full taste of the goats' "terroir" to infuse every bite. To quote the Capri website, "The cheese that results is the intersection of special goats and a special place."

We selected a "bear cheese," which is made with traditional Mu(e)nster techniques. A little context: Muenster cheeses were first made by monks in Alsace, France (hence, "munster," like monastery - no joke!); according to some (the French), Muensters are still made nowhere else. The cheese is traditionally made with cow's milk, although Felix has obviously deviated from this norm with Aroma Bear. Muenster is a "washed cheese," which means that the rind is rubbed periodically with a salt brine solution while the cheese ages, a process that simultaneously inhibits the growth of mold and nourishes the bacteria that produce the cheese's strong taste and smell. The cheese is aged for a week outside, and then for a minimum of 2 months next to other Muensters, in order to develop the unique, tangy "rind flora" that distinguishes Muenster from other cheeses. This communal aging traditionally occurs in a cave, and there does indeed appear to be a cave on the Capri Cheesery premises! In Steven Jenkins' Cheese Primer (Workman Publishing, 1996), French Munster is described as "at once piercingly sharp, beefy, and nutty." (Jenkins adds, "Odd as it may sound, I always think of fried eggs when I eat Munster.") Munster is commonly eaten plain, in quiche, with bread, on dessert plates, and with potatoes.

It should be noted that it's very easy to find disparaging remarks about American Muenster cheese, which apparently is a terrible imitation of German and Danish Münsters, themselves but bland knock-offs of the French original. We'll give Felix the benefit of the doubt and assume he's following the French technique. The descriptions of the French original definitely seem to conform to our impressions of this cheese, which was anything but "bland." Bear (haha) in mind that the cheese contains the word "aroma" in its name.

"Aroma Bear" ingredients:
- Goatmilk from Amish grass-fed goats (Amish goats!)
- Salt
- Rennet
- Cheese Culture

The Taste:
To our untrained palates, Aroma Bear is a delightful cheese. How does one expand on this statement? Indeed, it took some effort (see video) for us to get beyond general descriptors. After the first taste, we exclaimed that we liked it, then exchanged blank looks. As novice cheese tasters, we didn't quite know how to proceed. Under the "learn by doing" philosophy, though, our inexperience did not hold us back. Kara noted the sour notes. Erica noted the grassy flavor. It is a timidly pungent cheese, by which we mean it doesn't have a strong smell (where's the "aroma" in the bear? I ask), yet the strong flavor hits your tongue immediately and stays there (in the cheese world, I think they call this "lingering"). It is not a sweet cheese, and Kara suggested eating it with some jalapeno jelly, which we did. It was a nice complement.

As for the texture, Aroma Bear is not as crumbly as most goat milk cheese, although pieces broke off in crystalline bits. In fact, the cheese looks like some sort of mineral. The brown rind is like dried lava, and at some places folds into the cheese like the sulci of a brain or, more aptly, the mineral rind of a unpolished piece of quartz. Perhaps the natural appearance of Aroma Bear adds to its earthiness. I would recommend Aroma Bear to those who enjoy a stronger cheese-- this isn't your typical Muenster!

Erica had the foresight to capture our first tasting on video: