Smoked Cheese is a cheese that is given extra flavor by placing it over smoky embers. Food is smoked using either a hot or cold method by exposing it to smoke emanating from burning wood in a smoking device or container. Smoked Cheese is most often smoked using the cold method, as the hot method is performed at temperatures that would melt most cheeses. Cold smoking is preferred for cheese since the temperatures used in cold smoking typically range between 70 and 90 degrees, warm enough to soften the cheese, but not warm enough to melt it. A cheese may be smoked while it is aging, or after the aging process, when the flavor of the smoke will settle into the outer portion of the cheese. The smokiness of a Smoked Cheese will depend upon the type of wood used during the smoking process as well as the length of time that the cheese is smoked. Beech, birch, cherry, hickory, oak and other hardwoods are common woods used in the smoking process. While most cheeses may be smoked, firmer cheeses are preferred for smoking since they withstand heat better than softer cheeses.
Many cheeses lend themselves to being smoked, such as Cheddar, Rauchkase, and Gouda. Our Smoked Gouda, available in the familiar processed log or in the artisan natural form, is smoked in brick ovens with hickory chips. Sherwood Smoked Cheddar combines mild Paprika with a moist firm smoke flavored Cheddar. Quicke's Oak Smoked Mature Farmhouse Cheddar is an English cow’s milk cheese smoked with oak chips. Mature and flavorful, with nutty and grassy notes. Oregon Blue by Rogue Creamery, the world’s first smoked blue cheese, is cold smoked with Oregon hazelnut shells for sixteen hours. This award–winning smoky blue cheese is sharp and creamy, thanks to the inclusion of all-natural full cream sustainable milk.
Simply meaning "smoked cheese" in German, Rauchkase is smoked over beech wood embers and made with smooth creamy Bavarian cow's milk. The result is a semi-soft cheese that has a smoky brown rind. Bruder Basil is the most famous brand of Rauchkase, and is named for Basil Weixler whose company Bergader Privatkäserei is still in business today. Similar to smoked Mozzarella, Polish Kurpianka is a semi-firm lightly smoked cheese that is enhanced with garlic. Idiazabal is a Spanish smoked sheep's milk cheese produced in all-natural smoking process that produces a hard edible orange-brown rind. San Simon is a Spanish smoked cow's milk cheese that is aged up to four weeks and lightly smoked for two weeks. Creamy and buttery, San Simon's smoky flavor ranges from mild to sharp.
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