Tussey Mountain

This week's featured cheese is among my favorites that we carry here at Family Farm Creameries!

"Tussey Mountain" is a cellar-aged Emmentaler style cheese from Clover Creek Cheese Cellar. Aged in the cellar on the Clover Creek family's farm, "Tussey Mountain" is named after a mountain in the range that can be seen from the farmland.

Clover Creek's Emmentaler cheese is very savory and less sharp than traditional American versions of Swiss cheese. While the "Swiss" cheeses with which we are most familiar tend to have large holes and a very sharp, tangy taste, "Tussey Mountain" is a "blind" cheese that can be almost creamy with a buttery, nutty flavor profile. Generally, the large holes or "eyes" in Swiss-style cheese indicate that the flavor will be more developed. The "eyes" form as the specially chosen bacteria digest the milk's lactic acid as the cheese ages.

"Tussey Mountain" is a great melting cheese. Try it in fondue, sliced onto a Reuben or tuna melt sandwich, or stuffed inside of chicken cordon bleu.