Some Funky Fromage: Lazy Lady Rapture

Some Funky Fromage: Lazy Lady Rapture

When I walked into the Marion Street Cheese Market on Xmas Eve, Erik Larson said he had just the cheese for me: a real stinker called Rapture, produced by Vermont's Lazy Lady cheese makers. “The best rind washed cheese we’ve ever had,” he said, so I grabbed a small wheel.

Wow.

Opening the wrapper of this cave-ripened goat cheese, I heard my daughter say, from across the room (!), “Omigod, that smells like a foot that just farted.”

Rapture has a light, reddish-brown crust (edible), and a creamy, slightly pale interior. It's some potent stuff; the barnyard blast makes you go cross-eyed when you smell it, and when you eat it, the tongue burns just a little with the fermented energy of pasty, tasty rot. This is not a cheese for the weak, but if you like the full flavor of an unabashedly intense cheese, give Rapture a shot.

I couldn’t find much about Rapture on the Lazy Lady site (http://www.vtcheese.com/vtcheese/lazy/lazylady.html) so I emailed Laini Fondiller, the head cheese maker at Lazy Lady, who explained that Rapture “is based on the epoisse recipe, but I dry it way down and wash it twice a week with beer.”

Epoisse is, as you might expect, a French cheese technique, and the delightful stench arises in part from the interaction of the beer wash with cheese enzymes. Napoleon allegedly enjoyed the Burgundian epoisse with a Burgundy (Chambertin, legend has it), though it seems this cheese would also go well with a medium-weight wine (anything too heavy would seem to result in a War of Flavors that could leave no tastebud standing). I like it on crackers with beer and maybe a little sausage and palate-cleansing fennel.

According to iGourmet, epoisse is banned from public transport in France on the basis of its alarming aroma (http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/search.asp?cat=51&qry=epoisse).

Marion Street Cheese Market is a good place to visit if you’re in the area. Erik rewraps his cheeses every day and cuts them to order (so they don’t dry out and lose flavor in the display case). He’s always eager to talk about his treasures and give you a taste of anything that catches your eye...or nose.

Marion Street Cheese Market
101 N Marion St, Oak Park, IL
(708) 848-2088

I'm sorry, I have absolutely no comment related to your post. However, SteveZ has been having a strange smell coming from the heater vent in his vehicle which he said he couldn't quite describe...I was just wondering if your daughter could provide a description for us to enjoy.

Regards,
Peter

I second Eric and his market. I love the Cotswold, Parmesan, Boucheradin, Raclette, emmentaler, gruyere he has. He also carries nueske products, wines, interesting crackers, olives etc. He is a really nice guy and the cheese is always amazing.
LO

Definitely a nice guy. I saw one package of Nueske's bacon in the cooler and thought I'd stop back on my way home and pick it up. Wouldn't you know it, one hour later it was gone! Eric saw I was distressed and sold me the package he had squirreled away from himself to take home that night. Haven't tried any of the cheeses but will next time. Thanks for the tip.

grace

LO wrote:I second Eric and his market. I love the Cotswold, Parmesan, Boucheradin, Raclette, emmentaler, gruyere he has. He also carries nueske products, wines, interesting crackers, olives etc. He is a really nice guy and the cheese is always amazing.
LO

David Hammond wrote:Epoisse is, as you might expect, a French cheese technique, and the delightful stench arises in part from the interaction of the beer wash with cheese enzymes.

Brevibacterium linens. That's what does it. It is part of what make feet smelly.

Another killer US washed rind cheese is Mateo Kehler's Winnamere's (Jasper Hill Farm) which I highly recommend. They are carrying it at Pastoral...call ahead and make sure it is available. Drunk Monk, from Cato Corner also can be just amazing. Washed rind cheeses seem to be the style of the moment in the US.

I'm wondering if you meant to say that Epoisses uses a French technique rather than is a French technique? Epoisses is a style of cheese - AOC when properly made. Epoisses itself is washed with Marc, an eau de vie. Belgian Chimay is washed with beer, and I believe Drunk Monk and Winnamere are both beer washed. Affidelice, from Berthaut, is, unsurprisingly, washed in chardonnay. Alcohol is not needed to grow the b.linens. Munster from Alsace is washed in water and salt (brine), and still develops a sticky, smelly red rind.

For more on the history of Epoisses, and the website of one of the few companies still exporting to the US (their method is thermise - thermalized - and is slowly pasteurized) go here, to Berthaut.

If you buy a wheel in France, they will cryovac it for you for the ride home, if you are taking back to the US.