Murray's Cave Aged Original Buttermilk Basque
- Pasteurized
- Microbial Rennet
- Age: 1 month
- Sheep Milk
- by Murray's Cheese Caves
- United States
- ApproachableAdventurous
- SoftHard
A Murray’s original—our Caves team used their own original recipe to produce this Cave Aged Buttermilk Basque, which is made in collaboration with Old Chatham Creamery. Taking inspiration from traditional Basque cheeses. We craft this one using 100% sheep’s milk to create a rich, buttery, lactic cheese. After spending around one month in our Alpine Cave, what emerges is a cheese with a pudgy, milky paste. A hint of earthiness blends with an essence of yogurt and notes of melted butter notes. A snackable cheese best paired with a sweet dollop of V Smiley Preserves Cherry Rosehip Hibiscus Honey Jam.
“I would say that even the best cheeseboards are incomplete without a sheep’s milk cheese. Bringing the flavor and a visual element with the basket rind, this sheepy cheese really hits the mark. Include the Blackberry Farm Smoked Onion Jam and Onesto Sea Salt Crackers for a perfect pairing on your board.”
- This cheese’s rind has a woven appearance, which results from the cheese being formed in a basket mold.
- Our inspiration for this cheese stems from the great tradition of sheep’s milk cheeses from the Pyrenees like Ossau Iraty.
- We kept the age time short, just one month, to keep the flavors bright, lactic and buttery.
- At Murray’s Cheese Caves in Queens, New York, our experts age and mature cheeses to perfection, creating unique products that are exclusive to Murray’s.
- We built our caves to enhance the quality of our products, as well as to honor the craft of cheesemakers across the globe. The practice of aging cheese, known in French as affinage, was relatively rare in the United States when we built our first set of caves in 2004.
- The cheeses that mature in our caves are crafted in a variety of ways, which are reflected on their labels, described below.
- Cave Aged Original cheeses are produced from a Murray’s original recipe—we have a hand in every step of the cheesemaking process.
- Cave Aged Reserve cheeses are made in collaboration with some of our favorite cheesemakers. They send us unaged wheels, and we use unique aging techniques to produce something completely new.
- Cave Aged Limited cheeses are born out of our constant innovation and experimentation, only available for a limited time.
- Cheeses in the Cave Aged category are aged in our caves with methods that replicate the treatment they would’ve received from their original producer. This category is largely populated by bloomy rind cheeses that don’t fare well in transport.
- Murray's operates four caves, designed to ensure that each cheese matures in its ideal environment—the Bloomy Rind Cave, Natural Rind Cave, Washed Rind Cave, and Alpine Cave.
- The temperature, humidity, and microbial activity in each cave are controlled and monitored with the greatest precision.
When you receive your cheese, unpack the order and refrigerate the items. We recommend using the cheese paper we send most of our products in to store the cheese. The cheese paper helps cover the items and stop them from drying out, while also allowing the cheese to breathe. Since cheese is mold, it's a living thing! If you cut off air circulation to the cheese, you can actually cause it to suffocate and spoil at a faster rate.
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