About Locust Grove's Cheeses:
In getting back to basics we decided to make old fashioned cheeses using only the ingredients utilized for thousands of years by cheese makers all over the world. In our cheese you will find exactly what the label says: raw sheep’s milk, cultures, vegetable rennet, organic sea salt and nothing else. Our milk sheep receive no antibiotics and no hormones. The flavors are all natural, created by the actions of living, natural milk as it is turned to a curd and allowed to age in our cave environment. You will be amazed at what nature does when left alone.
What's Special About Locust Grove's Farmstead Cheese?
• All our cheese is made with milk from our own flock.
• Our cheese is made completely by hand, which allows us to give individual attention to every cheese at every stage of its development. This is crucial to the development of the character and finesse which is the hallmark of fine cheese.
• Our cheese is aged in our ripening room which is constructed to replicate the cave-like conditions used in old Europe. This type of aging room is ideal for maintaining correct temperature and natural humidity, so critical to the aging process of quality cheeses.
• Our cheese is also turned by hand. This means that we take great pains to carefully complete this task on an individual basis. This ensures adequate storage and shelf life. This also means that you can enjoy our cheese longer.
• Like all true farmstead cheeses, we do not standardize our production, which means you get cheese which varies over the course of the season, according to the stage of lactation.
In the beautiful, green rolling hills of Southwest Scotland lives a wonderful cheese-maker named Allan Brown. There at Millaries Farm, not far from the small village of Sorbie, he makes a very special Cheese. It is a great honor to have received his blessing on our use of his original process for making this wonderful cheese.
Locust Grove's Galloway cheese has been described in these words "The cheese has a hard, crusty rind. It is a raw milk, semi-hard cheese made from sheep's milk. The rind develops a series of wonderful moulds as it matures. The aroma hints an old leather and the texture is firm, like Cheddar but more moist. Aromatic and nutty, with the sweetness of caramel and burnt toffee, the cheese ripens in four to nine months..." Galloway is made exclusively with an Organic Sea Salt andthe wheels are approximately 4 pounds. We only sell our Galloway as a "Reserve" cheese, which means it is aged for a minimum of 6 months. Our Galloway Reserve sells for $19.50/lb.
Locust Grove maintains the old European world tradition with this “washed curd” cheese of unequalled character. Ours is all-natural and hand-crafted Gouda type using only fresh Raw Milk from our own sheep. There are never any herbicides, pesticides, additives, preservatives or hormones used.
Locust Grove Appalachian Spring - a traditionally cooked, pressed, semi-hard cheese which uses the ancient tradition of washing the curds during the make process is carefully patterned after Gouda-one of the world's great cheeses. Ours is white, slightly nutty with a subtle sweet finish. Aged a minimum of three months, Locust Grove's Appalachian Spring is complex and flavorful. Encapsulated by a distinctively natural rind borne naturally in a wonderful salt brining process, this cheese gains distinction as it ages. Appalachian Spring has a wonderful, aromatic flavor and the wheels are approximately 1 pound. Our Appalachian Spring sells for $17/lb.
Manchego, the famous Spanish sheep's milk cheese, is made exclusively from the milk of sheep grazing upon the plains of La Mancha, the land of Don Quixote. Locust Grove’s La Mancha, our “Manchego,” is made from beautiful, white raw sheep’s milk and is nutty, sweet, and tangy with a firm texture. Ours is made in very small, handcrafted batches with special cultures that give La Mancha a slightly sweeter taste and well-rounded complexity. Our La Mancha is covered with a basket weave pattern impressed by the molds in which they are formed. The wheels are approximately 2 pounds. Our standard La Mancha sells for $17/lb, and our La Mancha Reserve, which is our La Mancha aged for a minimum of 6 months, sells for $19.50/lb.
Peppered to give it that extra notch of flavor sometimes required, our Cumberland has a wonderful mix of green peppercorns, sweet red chili’s, onion, garlic, and ginger. We use our La Mancha as the base for this cheese which is an interesting combination of a very old, traditional sheep's milk cheese blended with loads of flavorful spices. Not only is Cumberland an attractive addition to the cheese plate, it is ultimate addition to the old fashioned bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich!
Cumberland is named in honor of our beautiful region of the country. The Cumberland Mountains run across the edge of East Tennessee and historic Cumberland Gap is not far from our home. Like the La Mancha, these basket weave pattern wheels are approximately 2 pounds. Our Cumberland sells for $17/lb.