Maggie's Round - Even Dog's can't Resist it!

I live in Massachusetts. Massachusetts is a state with two faces and a spindly beard named Cape Cod. Eastern Massachusetts is centered around the bustling, widening hub of Boston with it's forever increasing population and insane traffic jams. I live in the east. People say it's beautiful in summer. It's definitely fun. Western Massachusetts is beautiful. The rolling greenery, the state reservations, the tree-filled mountains, the wildlife. In the very top corner of MA you will find Williamstown, the prettiest town you ever did see. I was there in 2012 before I became interested in cheese. What I didn't know at the time was that some of the best cheese you could imagine was being produced just south of the town at a place called 'Cricket Creek Farm.'
   Cricket Creek Farm produces a variety of cheeses amongst other products and the milk that is used for cheese-making is taken from a mixture of Swiss and Jersey cows. Therefore the milk is robust with good amounts of fat and protein. In their own words, handmade cheese has been a priority for the farm since transitioning to grass-based farming in 2001. The cheese of the day today is a raw milk cheese which tries to encapsulate the alpine style of cheeses that come from the Alps in the Italian region of Europe. It is called 'Maggie's Round.' The rind is a hard, mottled structure which almost has the look of some ancient Egyptian design encompassing it. On cutting it open, a bright and smooth looking interior is revealed and the citrus notes almost fly straight up your nose! It tastes amazing. There are no other words for it.
   The story behind the naming of the cheese is also good. On meeting a girl from the farm she informed me that Maggie was a dog who lived on the farm and she was partial to the odd piece of cheese. One day Maggie managed to get hold of a whole wheel of cheese and devoured the whole lot, hence, Maggie's Round!

Cheese-o-meter Rating: 9.5/10