Basque-ing in Sheep's Milk Cheese

If he had told me it was sheep's milk cheese, I think I would have been reluctant to eat it. As it happened, I didn't ask about the cheese until I'd already had several pieces and had fallen in love with it.

We had been invited over to the house of some good friends of ours to share in their Christmas dinner. Kurt does most of the cooking in that family, and on Christmas his equally knowledgeable mother and sister joined him. While he worked on various aspects of dinner – including checking on the magnificent aged prime rib that he had prepared – Mark and I sat at the counter, sipping delicious champagne and eating cheese and salami.

We were fortunate indeed to be invited to share this bottle of delicious bubbly

Perhaps I should insert at this point that I, ummm, don’t know much (anything, really) about cheese. But I’d like to learn. And there’s no better place to start from than where I now am. So I asked Kurt what kind of cheese it was.  He showed me the label and proceeded to educate me. It was called Petit Basque, a cheese made from sheep’s milk in the Basque area of France at the western end of the Pyrenees Mountains. 

Our son Nathan playing with Julia's son before dinner

The cheese is made using traditional methods (which I haven't been able to learn more about), but marketed by a huge French company to North America and other markets. According to greatcheese.com, 

"Traditionally, shepherds made this small cheese from the leftover curd set aside after milking their ewes. Today Istara® P’tit Basque is still hand-made from pure ewe’s milk, using the same traditional methods established by local shepherds centuries ago ... Made with 100% pure sheep’s milk, P’tit Basque is aged for a minimum of 70 days. The Spanish influence on this cheese is noted by its resemblance to Manchego, but its flavor is milder and more delicate. P’tit Basque has a distinctive aroma of sheep’s milk, and a smooth, sweet flavor with a nutty finish. Its creaminess is unique for a semi-hard cheese."

The "discovery" of Little Basque is portrayed in this video that was made as a TV commercial. A more complete description of the cheese is available here.

I had read that natives of the Basque region where this cheese is produced like to have it with a black cherry jam that is made from local sweet cherry trees. We tried this last night, and it was a big hit.

The distinctive rind of Petit Basque

Since Basque Black Cherry Jam is not readily available at the local grocery store, I went with two options: a can of sweet cherries in heavy syrup - which my sister-in-law liked - and a jar of sour cherry jam, which we all liked. Combining the cheese and a bit of cherry jam with almond crackers was, in my opinion. delicious.

My brother-in-law also brought some of his homemade sausage to share. That was a big hit. Some of my older kids were here for the sampling, and they all liked the Petit Basque, which is saying something.

Mark, at right, with his sister and her husband, visiting from Portland, Oregon