Raw Milk Cheese

This is raw milk cheese made by Sea Breeze Farm. They're one of several local outfits producing raw milk cheese, including Estrella Family Creamery, and River Valley Ranch. Raw milk cheese is made from unpasteurized milk, so it contains those healthy (and tasty) bacteria that are destroyed when milk is heated enough to meet the health department standards that are enforced in most states.

In Washington state it's legal to sell raw milk cheese as long as its been aged for 60 days. The aging process changes the pH enough to make it safe enough for the health department's standards. River Valley Ranch pasteurizes the milk they use in their fresh cheeses (those that are less than 60 days old), but uses raw milk for their aged cheeses.

I'm a long term cheese aficionado, but it took me a while to get used to the taste of raw milk cheese. At first I found it, well, skunky. But the more I ate of it, the more I liked it. It tastes much more real than the pasteurized cheeses I grew up with. It's always a good idea to eat cheese at room temperature, but with the raw milk cheeses, it's nothing short of necessary.