All Bleating Heart Cheeses

GOODBYE CHEESE LOVERS!

 

10 YEARS OF AWARD-WINNING CHEESES • 2009-2019

Bleating Heart Cheese enjoyed a decade of cheesemaking in California.

Our last remaining cheeses were sold in 2019.

It was our immense pleasure to share our handcrafted, award-winning

"American Original" cheeses with all those who supported us.

This site is no longer being updated,

but all content about our cheeses and our history will remain here.

***PLEASE CONTINUE SUPPORTING LOCAL ARTISAN CHEESEMAKERS***

Death & Taxes

Pasteurized Organic Cow milk • Beer-Washed Rind

Our newest creation, "Death & Taxes," is a super tasty collaboration with Moonlight Brewing Company. Fresh organic jersey cow milk is pasteurized, cultured, and coagulated with natural calf rennet. The resulting cheese curds are cut, stirred, and then scooped into basket forms by hand. After brining the next day, the cheeses are regularly flipped and washed with Moonlight Brewing's "Death & Taxes" black lager.

Four Square

Blend of 4 Milks • Washed Rind • Aged 2-3 months
Bleating Heart Four Square mixed milk cheese logo - cow, sheep, goat, water buffalo

Where cows, sheep, goats and water buffalo play together. Behold Four Square....the only American-made 4 milk cheese we know of - how about you? Each of the 4 milk types that go into this one-of-a-kind cheese come from within a 10 mile radius of our creamery. There aren't many places on earth where one has access to cow, sheep, goat and water buffalo milk, all within a 15 minute drive!

Funky Bleats

Sheep & Goat Milk • Washed Rind • Aged 2-3 months
Funky Bleats cheese - Bleating Heart Cheese

Can y'all get funky? Funky Bleats is a funktacular blend of pasteurized sheep and goat milk, usually about 70% sheep/30% goat, with a washed rind and just the right amount of funk. This cheese was completely unplanned and only came about when in Spring 2013 a local goat dairy friend called up at the last minute to offer some excess milk. Cheesemaker Seana couldn't resist the temptation to experiment and devised a recipe in her head literally overnight. The next day, the goat milk was blended with sheep milk and Funky Bleats came to life.

Moolicious Blue

Raw Jersey Cow Milk • Natural Rind • Aged 3-4 months
wheels of Moolicious Blue from Bleating Heart Cheese

Our "Moolicious Blue" is an adaptation of our award-winning recipe for "Ewelicious Blue" sheep cheese, but using a different type of milk results is a very different cheese, albeit a delicious one, even when the same procedure is followed. That's just one of the countless fascinating aspects of cheesemaking that makes us eager to keep making more cheese. We didn't have to think too much about the name for this cheese.....our sheep blue is Ewelicious, and so naturally this one is Moolicious!

 

Goldette Tommette

Organic Raw CowMilk • Natural Rind • Aged 2 months or more
Goldette Tommette cheese from Bleating Heart

A little golden cheese, "Goldette Tommette" is a 1.5 lb semi-firm wheel with a lightly washed rind. Made from rich raw jersey cow milk, at 2 to 3 months of age the cheese has a firm but creamy mouth feel, pleasing aroma & a nice buttery tang. As it ages longer, the flavor instensifies. We think of her as the slim blonde cousin of our "Fat Bottom Girl" sheep cheese. The name is inspired by the paste's golden hue - thanks to the jersey cow milk - and suggests a touch of sass, which is present from the subtly funky microbes that grow on the rind.

Crush Edition

Raw Milk • Pomace-Soaked Rind • Aged 6+ months

From time to time we do a special seasonal twist on on our usual cheeses as part of our "crush" edition. The crush edition is a celebration both of our local milk and Northern California's annual grape harvest. To make the crush edition cheese, we take some older wheels of one of our cheeses from the regular lineup and immerse them in grape pomace sourced from a local vineyard. Pomace is the seeds and skins that remain after grapes are pressed to extract the juice that will become wine.

Ewelicious Blue

Raw Sheep Milk • Natural Rind • Aged 3-4 months

How is this cheese you ask? Well, it's Ewelicious! This unique raw milk, natural-rinded blue is not a palate-blaster like some blue cheeses. Ewelicious is pleasing even to the non-lovers of blue cheese...just mild enough to be approachable, but complex enough to not to bore blue lovers. The paste is dense and crumbly with sweet minerally flavors, while the blue mold imparts an earthy savoriness. The higher fat content of sheep milk gives it an added richness that balances everything.

Fat Bottom Girl

Pasteurized Sheep Milk • Aged 2 months or more
Fat Bottom Girl handcrafted American Original Cheese by Bleating Heart

We like a cheese with curves. Created in 2009 with absolutely no test batches, this is our flagship cheese, whose name was inspired by a Queen song and the cheese's accidental rotund shape. Fat Bottom Girl is approachable and appealing to both cheese geeks & novices alike. The cheese has a firm ivory paste with a toothsome bite and a touch of salt, conveying the subtle nutty & buttery goodness of sheep milk.

 

Fat Bottom Girl is amazingly addictive when paired with pepper jams. Enjoy this cheese with a light fruity California red such as petit syrah & pinot noir, or light farmhouse-style ales such as biere de garde & saison or a nice lager. This cheese is quite delicious with Moonlight Brewery's Death & Taxes black lager. Better yet, come up with your own fantastic pairing and let us know about it! We encourage everyone to always keep an open mind and palate.

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