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A lot of cheese is coming through Oak Park’s Marion Street Cheese Market these days, and when I queried cheesemonger Eric Larson about his favorite of the bunch, he picked Prairie Fruits Farm Chevre Round. This fresh organic goat cheese is preternaturally fluffy. Leslie Cooperband, the cheese maker at Prairie Fruits Farm, hand-ladles the milk of Nubian and La Mancha goats into the forms, Eric explained, so as “not to disturb the curd.” The result is an airy cake, perfectly white, with slight citric acidity, bringing to mind lemon chiffon. There’s hardly a hint of “goatiness,” which tends to turn off some folks, and the slight sourness perks up the taste buds, making this an excellent before-dinner bite. Decorated with lavender and peppercorns, dried marigold, or other wild herbs and flowers, the finished cheeses look beautiful–but they’re also tasty, excellent for nibbling or sprinkling in salad. They seem so subtle, though, that’d you’d lose something if you cooked it into an omelet or pasta…but I’ll let others be the judge of that.
