I procured three items at the Farmer’s Market yesterday: A mixed bag of Shitake and Maitake mushrooms for $10, a basket of Willamette Valley blueberries for $3, and I was given a block of Tomme cheese by E. Pierre Kolisch, owner of Juniper Grove Goat Cheese of Redmond, OR.
I was looking for a cheese similar to one I know from Boulder, CO by the name buttercup, made by Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy. Pierre is the sort of man who knows his line of work, his cheese, and other cheese makers, and so of course he knows of Haystack, a leading goat cheese maker. We discussed Boulder cheese makers for a bit before I asked for a sample of his beautiful looking gruyere. Tasty, but not quite what I was looking for. There was one next to it called a tomme, a cheese I have never heard of, but it looked very similar to what I was after. A sample was all I needed. It was firm but had the soft texture and light taste that buttercup had. Pierre, perhaps knowing that I was a future bulk buyer for Common Table, gave me a quarter pound for free. Life in the food business has its perks.