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Buy it or make it. Here, we made it, simply drizzling honey over conventional goat cheese logs. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE. |
| WHAT IT IS: Fresh goat cheese flavored with honey. |
| WHY IT’S DIFFERENT: It provides a sweet counterpoint to the naturally tangy goat cheese. |
WHY WE LOVE IT: The taste is divine! |
| WHERE TO BUY IT: At retailers nationwide. |
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Belle Chevre, a NIBBLE Top Pick on its own, makes a delicious goat cheese and honey spread, called
Belle And The Bees. Photo courtesy Belle Chevre.
Fill a fig “flower” with honey goat cheese and drizzle honey as a plate garnish. Photo courtesy Love &
Olive Oil.
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Honey Goat Cheese: Maa-d For It
At a recent food trade show, we came across a couple of large goat cheese producers with flavored goat cheese.
The standout was honey goat cheese, typically made by adding honey granules to the goat’s milk during production.
With more than 100,000 products at the show—we didn’t taste them all, of course—the one that we wanted to eat for the rest of our days was honey goat cheese.
The sweetness of the honey added to the light tang of fresh goat cheese is heaven. And oh, what an easy and wow-generating way to entertain or treat your family:
- Breakfast: with toast and/or fruit.
- Lunch: with a green salad (sliced in circles or crumbled, atop the greens); or as a sandwich on a French roll/baguette, whole grain bread or raisin bread.
- Appetizers: spread on crackers or toasted baguette slices, topped with a date or a candied walnut or pecan; stuffed into dried or fresh apricot halves or dates.
- Dinner: with beets (as good as regular goat cheese is with beets, honey goat cheese is even better!), for the cheese course or dessert, with figs or berries.
- Dessert: Try this recipe for “fig flowers,” a simple yet sophisticated dessert. Just slice/quarter fresh figs 3/4 the way down and use a melon baller or spoon to place a scoop of cheese in the center. (See photo below left.)
Buying Honey Goat Cheese
Just look for it in the supermarket or in cheese stores:
- The Montchevre brand is sold nationally in supermarkets and cheese stores.
- Relatively large producers like Capra and Celebrity International have good distribution.
- Publix, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and other chains have house brands (also known as private label brands.
- Small artisan producers make it—check with your local cheese shop. Artisan firms that make spreadable honey goat cheese in a tub include Belle Chevre and Coach Farms.
Make Your Own Honey Goat Cheese
Just drizzle honey over any goat cheese log or fresh goat cheese. If you’re using it as a spread or in a dessert like the fig, you can use a fork and blend it in.
Make it even more special by using lavender honey, sage honey, truffle honey (to die for!) or another varietal with panache.
But even the most generic honey on goat cheese is magic.
— Karen Hochman
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