Lamb Chopper is a Gouda-style cheese made in the Netherlands for Cypress Grove Chevre, located in Northern California. Lamb Chopper is made from Dutch sheep’s milk and Dutch cultures.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mary Keehn, founder of Cypress Grove, decided to have the cheese manufactured in Holland because they have plenty of organic sheep’s milk, which is difficult to find in the States. Also, producing and aging the cheese alongside Cypress Grove’s surface-ripened goat cheeses (such as the amazing Humboldt Fog, possibly the greatest cheese ever invented) would likely result in contamination of the Gouda-style cheese by the wrong flora.
Like all Goudas, Lamb Chopper has a definite sweet and buttery flavor. It is aged for three months in the Netherlands, then waxed to make the surface impermeable, then shipped and further aged up to six months in California. During this time it develops a slightly darker, butterscotchy outer layer, shading to a creamy smooth, ivory interior.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Evansville Courier & Press