Birchrun Blue

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The other day I wandered into DiBruno’s and asked for what they had that’s locally produced.  Despite getting the new guy in the cheese cave, he immediately pulled out the Birchrun Blue.  I have been happily munching on it since then.

Birchrun Blue is an aged, natural rind, raw cow milk (from pastured cows) blue cheese produced by Birchrun Hills Farm in Chester Springs.  Birchrun Hills is relatively new to cheesemaking, only cranking out cheese for a few years now.  Of course, they’ve been the dairy business much longer than that.  It’s an absolutely wonderful blue cheese that will even appeal to those that are not blue cheese fans.

The Birchrun Blue has a lovely creamy texture and a delicate blue cheese taste, nice and earthy.  It’s perfect with slices of apple, and a fantastic melting cheese.  I made burgers using some ground beef from Natural Acres and melted some of the Birchrun Blue on top - it was delicious!  The rind is vaguely brie-ish, although pretty intense, flavor-wise.

Birchrun Blue can, as I said, be found at DiBruno Bros., and also at the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market, as well as several farmer’s markets in the area.