Strong blue cheeses are not for the weak. They're not for every cheese lover even. This blue cheese won't knock you down as hard as some other cheeses, but it most definitely packs a punch and will turn some away. Common Folks brings their Incanestro to the table and dares you to take a big bite. Common Folks makes their cheese (this one's certified organic too) out in Leola, PA, a bit east of Lancaster and as far as I know, it's only available at Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market.
In case you've never seen a cheese like this, with it's gorgeously deep grooves on all sides of this magnificent, medium sized wheel, it's an Italian basket molded cheese. I found this page from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company's website explaining a bit about the style. Canestri is Italian for wicker basket. The cheese curds (once separated from the whey) is pressed directly into the baskets where they sit and develop those gorgeous grooves in the thicker than usual rind.
The cheese is inoculated with mold spores (it's aliiiiiive!) and poked with metal rods allowing the mold to travel through the cheese and form those characteristic veins you've seen in blue cheeses. Riiiight, but how does it taste?
My co-worker, and in house cheesemonger, Paul Lawler, writes the blurbs for our cheeses and I'll quote from his tag:
A bold and meaty — even porky blue!
I gotta agree, it's meaty, bordering on porky. It's immensely salty. It's a heavy cheese on the palate. The only saltier cheese available at the Farmstand is a cow's milk feta from Keswick Creamery which we sell in little tubs resting in brine. Eating a piece of this cheese, the rush of flavor is bigger than you'd expect from taking a whiff of it beforehand; it's not an immensely stinky cheese. It's creamy and a little bit crumbly. It's a sticky wheel to cut and it'll stay all over your fingers if you try to crumble it over a salad by hand (that salad better not have any bacon in it or it'll be overload!). I know that Mme. Fromage [who we dined with last night!] is most definitely a fan as she tweeted:
My local cheese of the moment: Incanestro, a porky blue. Salty, creamy, meat-tastic.
I'll close this post with a shot of the rind of the cheese. Wedges of this decadent Italian style blue cheese to for $18/lbs so a nice 1/3lbs hunk will run you $6. It won't break the bank, but it's a little something different from the more standard cheddars Americans love to love. Ask for a taste, but remember that the taste will be fullest after letting the cheese come to temperature.
Gorgeous photos, I faint! I'm glad you wrote about this cheese because I couldn't find much info and I've been scratching my head over this one. What are you pairing it with, Picky? The porkiness of this wedge makes me crave brown sugar. Maybe a barley wine?
I'm a simple cheese pairer. I like cheese with apples. Crispy, flavorful apples. I had this with a pink lady, a honey crisp an gold rush over a few days.
oooh this sounds heavenly! Had I known sooner, I would have picked some up when I was at RTM yesterday. I love apples and cheese. Can't wait to try it!