Andante Dairy Contralto, washed rind goats milk

In the words of founder, Soyoung Scanlan:

There are a few items of my cheese I decided the name first and worked hard to make the cheese to reflect the musical meaning of it.  Contralto is the cheese I had worked for years to make. Contralto is the lowest female vocal sound, and it is often performed in religious oratorios and mass pieces.

I was at the concert of Pergolesi’s Stabat Matter in Italy, and the voice of Maria has been staying with me. At the dairy, I started dreaming of making cheese I could name ‘Contralto’. The cheese should have a smooth texture, a delicate female feeling with deep flavor profile with a hint of pungency.

To do that, any 4oz small piece would not work. The delicate nature could be from 100% goat’s milk, the smooth texture could come from rennet curd, and the pungent flavor could come from washed rind. And Contralto was born.

It ended up having an orange rind with annatto added after a few months because my helpers could not distinguish Contralto from Alto. The cheese from the same version is made from cow’s milk, Alto. Possibly the most similar cheese to Contralto would be Chevrotin AOP from Savoie, France.

-Size: 14-16oz.

-Ingredients: goat’s milk, starter culture, vegetarian rennet, salt, annatto