Blakesville Creamery Artze
$40.00 / Lbprice is $40.00 by Lb
- Pasteurized
- Animal Rennet
- Age: 14 days
- Sheep Milk
- by Blakesville Creamery
- United States
- ApproachableAdventurous
- SoftHard
Meet a sheep’s milk cheese that keeps things interesting. Blakesville Creamery’s Artze starts rich and buttery, finishing with a sweet, zippy note thanks to a dusting of Piment d’Espelette, the celebrated pepper of France’s Basque Country. It’s more fruity than spicy, accenting the slight yogurty tang in the cheese. Every bite is perfection, from the dense, creamy interior to the oozy creamline to the thin wrinkled rind. Just add crackers and a bowl of dried apricot spread, and watch it disappear.
“If Wisconsin cheese studied abroad in Basque Country, it might come back as Artze. The texture is so incredibly luscious, and the light dusting of Espelette just adds that something special. I love it with slices of smoked salami.”
Pasteurized Sheep's Milk, Rennet, Cultures, Salt, Piment d'Espelette
- Made by Wisconsin’s Blakesville Creamery, Artze is a somewhat rare example of a soft-ripened cheese crafted entirely from sheep’s milk.
- A snowy Geotrichum candidum rind develops delicate wrinkles as the cheese ages, while the interior transforms into an irresistibly creamy, spoonable paste with a remarkable creamline.
- Espelette pepper is produced in French Basque Country—it's not very spicy, more fruity and smoky, and delicious here with the milky richness of the cheese.
- Sheep’s milk naturally contains higher levels of butterfat than cow’s milk, helping create Artze’s dense, palate-coating texture and luxurious mouthfeel.
- For a standout cheese board, pair Artze with B&R Farms Dried Apricot Spread, La Panzanella Mini Croccantini, and Spotted Trotter Smoked Beef Steak Salami. The sweet fruit, savory smoke, and creamy cheese bring out the best in one another.
- Blakesville Creamery of Port Washington, Wisconsin, is a farmstead creamery—their cheeses are made by hand on the same farm where their goats are raised and milked.
- The farm was originally called Lake Breeze, but they changed the name in 2019 to honor the village that was previously located at that site.
- They began making cheese in 2020, now operating out of a 10,000 square-foot state-of-the-art creamery where they craft their naturally ripened cheeses.
- Lynde Uihlein, Blakesville Creamery’s owner, is dedicated to thoughtful land use and environmental protection, particularly through her organization The Brico Fund.
Woman Owned
Farmstead, Vegetarian
