♣

I made the long schlep up from Chicago this weekend to check on the leaf situation in Sleeping Bear. Turns out I’m probably about two weeks ahead of the full-on apocaleaves, when leaves nose-dive from the trees in such numbers that it takes two full days with a commercial-grade blower to herd them into the forest. But the trip was far from wasted. I gave the grass its last cut of the year and mulched in the leaves that are on the ground. That’ll give me a good head start. It also leafed me with time on my hands to check out a local fromage blanc – a delicious fresh cheese that I stumbled on earlier in the summer.

♣

Leelanau Cheese

Leelanau Cheese French-style Fromage Blanc is a type of mild, milky, spreadable cheese that would remind me of a mostly-drained ricotta – if you could increase ricotta’s creaminess by at least a factor of two. That, and it’s also been infused with herbs. It’s small-batch, hand-crafted, artisan cheese made in the dune-swept hills of the northwest corner of Michigan’s lower peninsula by a couple who brought their craft and experience here from Switzerland and France.

Cheese in the Wood Shed

What’s fromage blanc?

Like its cream-based cousin, crème fraîche, fromage blanc is one of those cheeses you can make at home. However, it requires you to leave milk sitting out on the counter for a day or two – which we have been conditioned to regard as absolutely appalling. Seriously? Leave some milk sitting out on the counter for couple days? And then eat it? Is someone going to film this for an upcoming Jackass movie? No thank you. I’m pretty sure that cheese is made in secret laboratories by highly scientific processes involving specialists in hazmat suits, working in some kind of hyper-sterile, pure-oxygen environment. Cheese does not come from letting milk just sit around; it comes from grocery stores.

Cheese and Fall Cherries

What’s it like?

Depending on a few variables, fromage blanc can lean more toward being a very thick liquid – like sour cream – to something more like a soft solid – like cream cheese. Leelanau cheese is the latter type, but as I said, something like a ricotta that’s on the road to becoming  cream cheese, but it hasn’t gotten very far from home yet – far enough, though, that’s it’s noticeably outside the Ricotta City limits. It’s very soft, and on the very moist side of “dry.” Easily spreadable right from the fridge. Neutral in flavor. Mildly seasoned. Fantastic generously slathered onto a thick slice of rustic bread or bagel with your morning cup of coffee. Although the herbs/spices are savory, it pairs beautifully with jam or honey.

Cheese on a Fire Ring

What do you do with it?

You know how I love to serve my unexpected breakfast guests exquisite versions of simple things like pancakes and toast. Fromage blanc would make a perfect addition to a toast bar. Remove it from its carton, form it into a ball, and roll it in almonds that have been sliced paper-thin and toasted to a beautiful, maple-wood brown (and fully cooled, of course). Lunch: use fromage blanc in place of peanut butter on a PBJ: incredible! Especially if the bread is rustic, and you have an interesting jelly on hand – like Bing cherry peppercorn, or jalapeño – it’s extraordinary. Dinner: fromage blanc will separate at high temperatures, so use it in uncooked dishes. Nonetheless, it’s a fantastic garnish for hot foods like soups or chicken breasts. This stuff goes so well with chicken – hot or cold, actually – it’s like God himself came down from heaven and blessed us with it. And oh, by the way, Meijer (Michigan’s Cloud 9) now sells (what I’m sure is yesterday’s) rotisserie chicken, white meat, pulled off the bone, no skin, shredded into pleasantly bite sized chunks. It’s perfect! Ready to toss into a salad, sandwich, soup, stew, or to eat as a snack with a dab of this cheese.

Makes a Great Sandwich

Leelanau Cheese French-Style Fromage Blanc

Full disclosure: cheese does come from letting milk sit around. Sort of. Making crème fraîche is slightly – but only slightly – more complicated than that. I make it at home on occasion. Sorry to ruin your grocery-story fantasy. On a side note, meat comes from butchered animals. That concludes my disclosure.

Yes, it does.

No, Leelanau Cheese didn’t compensate me for this post. They don’t even realize that I visited their shop, bought some of their cheese, and then later bought more at a local grocery. I do it for the karma.

Keep us with us on Bloglovin‘.