Venus Havarti

"Venus Havarti" comes to us from Milky Way Meadows farm and dairy of Townville, Pennsylvania.

Havarti is a famous, semi-soft cheese from Denmark that's typically made with pasteurized milk and aged about 3 months. But, like all of the cheeses produced at Milky Way Meadows, "Venus Havarti" is made with raw milk from their 100% grassfed Jersey cows and was aged over a year, allowing for a rich, fully pronounced flavor.

"Venus Havarti" is a dense, pale yellow cheese that's pocked with small "eyes" or holes and has a light, buttery aroma. The curds are rinsed with water before being pressed, drained and aged, adding to the moisture content and mild nature of this cheese. Due to its age, "Venus Havarti" can be slightly acidic (in a good way!) and nutty in flavor. In general, Havarti is a popular dessert cheese because it pairs well with dried fruits and nuts, like figs, raisins and walnuts, as well as with wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Pino Noir. It's also great for slicing over a sandwich – grilled or otherwise.

I've said this in previous posts, but it's important to note that the folks at Milky Way Meadows take cattle raising and cheesemaking very seriously. They understand that their farm makes up only one small, yet highly complex piece of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is why they like to name their cheeses after celestial bodies. As a nod to the intricacies and co-dependencies of the universe, they assert, "Milky Way Meadows is made up of many small things – many green plants in the meadows converted into many small drops of milk which is coagulated into many small curds of cheese pressed together and aged by many more unseen adventitious cultures and enzymes.”