Bellwether Farms

I was watching Emeril on the Planet Green channel, and he was cooking a variety of dishes using Bellwether Farms yogurt and cheese. I recognized the logo—I've seen their sheep's milk yogurt at Whole Foods, but never tried it. I was a little wary of sheep's milk products, to be honest . . . I mean, I didn't even know sheep were milked for human consumption. Apparently they are.

Anyways, I decided to give the yogurts a try, as well as look for their elusive cheese, crescenza. I went to Whole Foods in Woodland Hills—they had the yogurt in all five flavors, but I had to order the cheese. It came in about a week later . . . all three pounds of it.

Reviews:

I bought all four flavored yogurts (vanilla, strawberry, blueberry, and blackberry), and they were all delicious.

There's a certain sharpness, or tang, to the sheep's milk yogurt, and it's a bit more liquidy than the cow's milk yogurt I'm used to. But, after getting adjusted to the differences, I found this yogurt to be smooth, creamy, and full of unique flavor. And, like Emeril suggests, lamb marinated in this yogurt must be divine. Final thoughts: vanilla is my favorite flavor, with the little black specks distributed throughout, and the yogurts, overall, are definitely of the best on the market.


On to the cheese. Crescenza . . . this is the first time I've tried this cheese. It is a soft, cow's milk cheese, barely stiff enough to be packaged. I almost had to squeeze it out of its shrinkwrap to use it. Nonetheless, I found the cheese smooth, mild, and milky. And again, like the yogurts, the cheese is very unique, especially texturally. I've never really had any cheese that I can compare it to. I think it would be an excellent choice for a grilled cheese sandwich, especially due to its meltability. Recipe to come?

Availability and pricing: available at Whole Foods (possible special order), $2.79/each for yogurt, $8 for 1/2 lb. of cheese.