When I ask how his Dragon’s Breath Blue cheese is made, Willem van den Hoek, owner of That Dutchman’s Farm in Nova Scotia, is cagey: You can ask me the questions, but I’m not going to tell you anything. He pauses, and then reconsiders, You can say the secret is my magic touch.
As first impressions go, this cheese lives up to its foreboding name. Covered completely in black wax and about the size of a tennis ball (though more oval) you could mistake it for a prehistoric egg. To taste it you simply cut off the top and spoon out as much of this pungent beast as you dare.
And it is pungent. But the good news is you don’t have to be a blue cheese kamikaze sacrificing your taste buds to enjoy it. Yes, its flavours are aggressive, but the sharpness is good. There’s a masochistic pleasure in its initial bite, which is then tempered with a creamy texture, and sweet, tangy notes that unfold more gradually. Its gruffness will grow on you. Plus it’s easy to care for the van den Hoeks keep an opened Dragon’s Breath on the kitchen counter and snack on it all week.
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