celebrate the new year with california cheese

What better place to be in the month of January than California? There’s snow on the mountains, citrus on the trees and the sun in the sky. And let’s not forget the cheese! California’s cheesemakers are warding off the chilly January mornings with pre-dawn milkings, curd ladeling, and cheese turning. And we at GreenLeaf are perfectly positioned to enjoy the fruits of their labors. We continue to expand our cheese category almost daily, fine-tuning along the way to find just the right combination of specialty cheeses, rare imports, everyday cheeses and everything in between. And at the center of this expansion is a constant eye to what the locals are doing. California has grown into one of the premier cheese producing regions in the world, some of the best being right at our back door.

Find exceptional sheep and jersey milk cheeses and yogurts at Bellwether Farms – their Carmody is one of our favorites: Smooth and buttery with a soft, buttermilk tang on the finish. Discover the perfectly executed, French-inspired California Crottin from Redwood Hill Farm, with a fluffy texture and robust, earthy flavor. Cypress Grove has Truffle Tremor on offer, the perfect balance of surface-ripened goat cheese and black truffle–subtle and elegant. Laura Chenel brings us our favorite fresh goat cheese for the kitchen, Chef’s Chevre, fluffy, fresh and wonderfully soft.

Marin French is the oldest continuously running cheese factory in the United States–right here in the Bay Area–and for more than 100 years they have been producing what is easily the best domestic camembert available, Yellow Buck Camembert. Creamy, mushroomy, salty and virtually irresistible!

Bohemian Creamery’s Bo Poisse is inspired by a washed rind epoisses – triple cream, salty, savory and smooth. Bleating Heart crafts sheep’s milk Shepherdista, featuring a natural rind and a rich, slightly tangy paste. Nicasio Valley Cheese Company draws on the cheesemaking traditions of the Swiss alps in their Nicasio Reserve–aged for 3 months or more, and nutty-rich. Franklin’s Teleme is a California original–soft, fresh, tangy and wonderful melted over everything.

Valley Ford Cheese produces the excellent fontina-inspired Highway One. Fruity, with a tight, semi-soft paste, and excellent with wine. Barinaga Ranch has created Basseri in the spirit of a Basque farmhouse cheese–sheep’s milk, natural rind, subtle, nutty and dense. Central Coast Creamery produces a cheddar-style wheel made with a mixture of cow and goat milk. Complex, semi-soft and wonderfully creamy on the finish. And Fiscalini produces their award-winning Bandage Wrapped Cheddar … easily on par with fine British cheddars.

GreenLeaf stocks all of these exceptional cheeses, and more for you, every day. We can help you create a cheese program, make suggestions for cheese plates and courses, provide recipe ideas and supply you with all the cheese you need. Call us today for a full list of our available cheeses!