When I was in Birmingham for Food Blog South, I met a nice guy named Mat Willey who works for a company called Sweet Grass Dairy. “We make cheese,” he explained, “in Georgia.”
Cheese from Georgia? Even though I lived in Georgia for 7 years (Atlanta, to be exact), I wasn’t particularly excited about eating cheese from The Peach State. I mean, I wasn’t against the idea, but it wasn’t causing me to hop up and down with excitement. He kindly offered to send me some cheese in the mail (a risky proposition, but there are ice packs) and I almost forgot all about it until the cheese arrived at my door.
The cheese came with a nice note, but don’t worry: I didn’t let that influence me.
Instead, I told Craig–who’s the world’s #1 cheese lover–that we’d be having cheese for dinner. This was the night I served that kohlrabi and those sweet potato wedges, so just in case you thought we were super healthy people with super light appetites, we’re not! Here’s what I served alongside that:
And damn, people, that cheese from Georgia is really, really good. On the upper left was this creamy white cheese that tasted like a combination of cream cheese and ricotta; it was tangy but also somewhat light. I served it again a few days later drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with herbs de Provence. People gobbled it up.
The other cheeses, the blue in the center and the cow’s milk on the right, had really mellow, clean flavors. They didn’t hit you over the head but they made you pause and appreciate the provenance of the milk that made the cheese. This was good stuff from good cows.
A few days later, I used their Pimento cheese to make My Best Grilled Cheese:
This, too, had surprisingly clean flavors. There wasn’t too much tang, though there was nice smokiness from smoked paprika.
All in all, I was impressed with this cheese from Georgia and would gladly eat it again. In fact, we haven’t gone through it all yet so we’ll be eating it for a few weeks more. Thanks, Mat, for sending it my way…hope you get some new customers out of this post.
The Tomme is wonderful. I buy their cheese often and many local restaurants serve it too.
I have to agree with Brenda, the Tomme is fabulous. Sweet Grass Dairy is very good!
So glad to know, as I do live in Georgia!
I was wondering what the deal was with the kohlrabi and sweet potatoes meal. I thought “now this is how a good eater stays at a healthy weight!?” Alas, that secret still eludes me. It didn’t look bad, but it was lacking the chutzpah I have come to know and expect of your meals. Cheese array= quandary solved.
Yay! This cheese is from my hometown, and I’m so glad you liked it!
why does clicking on the photos from the homepage bring one to flickr instead of to the post itself. I feel like this wasn’t always the case, and I find it slightly annoying.
The Green Hill is wonderful. My sister lives near Thomasville, Georgia, and I like to go into the the Sweet Grass cheese shop whenever I’m there. They have a farm house table in the center where you can order their cheese and other good things with wine and beer. I’m delighted you featured cheese from Georgia. :)
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed this sample from Sweet Grass. It is THAT good, and their store in downtown Thomasville is such a gem that further elevates the stature of their awesome cheese. And, as a fellow ’01 Emory alum (we have/had many common friends) that has found my way to Thomasville, I’m glad to see this connection between my current hometown and the famed Amateur Gourmet!
I’m from Tallahassee originally and love Sweet Grass Dairy. I even got to tour their creamery and, once, they did an open-farm cheese tasting! They’re really great people. Their Green Hill is incredible. I’ve actually found a store that stocks it in NYC, where I currently live.
I’ve never tried their pimento cheese, but how southern.