Ewelicious Blue
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This site is no longer being updated,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***
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. The cheese is delicious alongside a hearty Port, or with a roasty Imperial Stout or strong Belgian ale.
Ewelicious is the realization of Seana's longtime goal of making a blue cheese. When Seana was working as a cheesemonger at Venissimo cheese shop in southern California, her cheese nickname was "Vamp de Valdeon" (one of her fave blues from Spain) so it's no surprise that she wanted to make blue cheese. What delayed it? She could not make blue cheese while renting creamery time from other cheesemakers, who were worried the blue molds would invade their cheeses. Once Bleating Heart got settled in its own creamery in 2013, the pilot batches for Ewelicious began. By the 7th batch, Seana was pretty happy with the core recipe.... and so were the judges at the World Cheese Awards, where Ewelicious won a gold medal that year! In 2014 it won first place at the American Cheese Society for sheep milk blue cheese. Acclaimed chef Duskie Estes, owner of Zazu Kitchen + Farm in Sebastopol proclaimed “Seana is now making a sheep’s milk blue called Ewelicious that might be one of my favorite cheeses of all time.”
Why is this cheese sometimes unavailable? The sheep who produce the luscious milk for this cheese go on maternity leave every year for about 5-6 months. Each year we have to wait until the ewes are back on the job before we can start making this cheese again. Then once the ewes do return to milking, the cheese has to be made, and then it has to age. It's at least a 3 month wait from the time we make the cheese until it's available at cheese counters. Yes, cheesemaking requires patience......