the cheese blog

Valley Shepherd Nettlesome

After checking a few shops, I managed to find some of Valley Shepherd Creamery’s Nettlesome cheese. I noticed this one on their website when I was reading about their Fairmount cheese. Nettlesome is a mixed milk cheese (goat and cow) with stinging nettles. It has a beautiful marbled, rust-colored rind (not too thick either) that has started to penetrate into the core. The cheese is a pale white, almost vanilla color. The body is soft and supple. You can smell the nettles in the aroma. It had some faint fruit notes and had some slight barny tones too. The taste is cheddar-like, a bit sharp. It had nice mouthfeel, like a young cheddar. I thought the cheese was a bit sharp, but enjoyed it overall. Recommendation: Yeah, I’ll take another piece!