Noble Road is a raw milk, semi-soft, bloomy rind cheese made by Calkins Creamery, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, from their herd of registered Holstein cows. It ages for 60 days at the creamery, and has a lovely white, velvety rind when ripe. The paste has an ivory color with small eyes. It’s creamy and slightly runny at room temperature. The aroma is lactic, earthy, slightly herbal, with a hint of truffles. The flavor is reminiscent of a good camembert; earthy, mushroomy, with buttery notes, a great mouthfeel, and a medium-long finish. There’s some peppery notes in there at the end, too, which make for a nice finish to the finish. Noble Road was easily the most popular cheese at our recent grand cheese tasting, literally disappearing before our eyes.
Calkins created this cheese in April of 2009, as their version of a brie-style cheese. It’s named after the road that borders their farm, in honor of a former friend and neighbor. The creamery is a sustainable agricultural project, established on Highlands Farm in the Delaware Valley. The farm was founded in 1841 by the Bryant family, making it one of the oldest farms family farms in the area.
I found this cheese at Saxelby’s Cheesemongers, in the Essex Market in Manhattan. Calkins sells this cheese direct, and through a number of retailers around the country.
Highly recommended!
Other cheeses from my Grand Tasting are:
- Oma, from Von Trapp, in Vermont
- Pawlett, from Consider Bardwell Farms, in Vermont
- Landaff, from Landaff Creamery, in New Hampshire
- Capello del Mago, from Piemonte, Italy
- La Beola, from Piemonte, Italy
- Amenteigado, from Lisboa, Portugal
- Puits d’Astier, from the Auvergene region of France
- Ascutney Mountain, from Cobb Hill Cheese, Vermont
- Comte d’Alpage, from the Jura region of France
- An Aged Goat Gouda, from Holland
- St. Pete’s Blue, from Fairbault Dairy, Minnesota
- Colston Basset Stilton, from England
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