Cornish Yarg

One of our newest cheeses, Cornish Yarg is an absolutely beautiful wheel of cheese. Its nettle-coated rind with mottled white and tan molds bring to mind a woodland glen. Not just for looks, the nettles add a slight vegetal spiciness to the cheese and are completely edible on their own as well, having been frozen throughout the year for use, which removes the sting. The semisoft cheese is moist, fresh, and creamy flavored with herbal depths.

From Cornwall, the current makers are Mike and Margaret Horrell, who received the recipe from Alan and Jenny Gray, the original cheesemakers at the Horrells' farm. The Grays resurrected a 13th century cheese recipe to create Cornish Yarg, and the cheese was thus named for them, "Yarg" being an inversion of "Gray."

Cornish Yarg is a pasteurized cow's milk cheese made with vegetarian rennet and would go beautifully with crisp or minerally white wines and roses. Try a Pinot Gris or a chardonnay, or for a treat, enjoy it with a bottle of Townshend T3 Rose.

Come by Saunders Cheese Market and try this amazing cheese!

New Season, New Classes!

This season we have some wonderful classes. Again, our cooking classes feature Jeremiah Timmons, executive chef of Ambrosia Bistro and Wine Bar and the wine and cheese pairing classes feature John Allen from Vino! A Wine Shop. All the classes are informative and loads of fun!

Cooking Classes

Northwest Cuisine
May 19th 6pm-8pm, $45 per person
Our Northwest Cuisine class will feature recipes with local flair, taking advantage of the changing season and the bounty of spring and summer. Join us to learn how you can do it too!

Past Favorites
June 9th 6pm-8pm, $45 per person
Our Past Favorites class will feature recipes hand-picked by Jeremiah, Kim, and Oona as their favorites from our past cooking classes. Join us to reminisce about the highlights!

Wine and Cheese Pairing Classes

Spokane Wineries and Northwest Cheeses
May 27th, 6pm-8pm, $45 per person
Continuing our May theme of local, this class will feature some of Spokane's finest wines, which will be paired with regional cheeses from the Northwest. Come taste local originals!

Staff Favorites
June 10th, 6pm-8pm, $45 per person
Saunders staff and Vino! staff will join together, pairing our favorite cheeses with their favorite wines. Come see what we love!

Trailhead

Trailhead, from Mt. Townsend Creamery, is one of our most versatile, delicious, and popular cheeses.

Mt. Townsend Creamery is located in Port Townsend, Washington. They use cow's milk produced within thirty miles of the creamery, from two dairy farms that use no growth hormones and strive to allow the cows to pasture-graze as much as possible. Only a few years old, the creamery is already coming into its own and winning raves around the country for its outstanding artisanal cheeses.


Trailhead is styled after a French mountain tomme. It is a semifirm, smooth, creamy cheese with a clean tang in the finish. It is somewhat similar to Comte but has less nuttiness and more smooth richness. Trailhead melts wonderfully and makes great sandwiches and pizzettes, but is also exceptional eaten out of hand. It will go nicely with a variety of wines, and for a real treat, try it with our Palette Preserves Golden Raspberry Jam. The savory mild creaminess of the cheese goes very well with the popping tang of the jam. Visit our website or come into the shop to try it!

Upcoming classes!

Now that the hubbub of the holidays is behind us, we have some exciting offerings in our winter and spring class schedule.

Cooking Classes:

Our January cooking class will be Fun With Fondue. This will be an excellent winter class, with delicious, warming fondue and recipes for all. $45 per person, January 21.

In February, our cooking class is titled Love is in the Air. The class will prepare you for Valentine's Day, teaching you how to prepare a romantic meal from start to finish. $50 per person, February 11.

Forget March Madness! This March, Cheddar Madness will be taking over, with our class demonstrating fun treats with varying styles of cheddar from the United States and abroad. $45 per person, March 10.

Wine/Cheese Pairing Classes:

In January, learn about Spanish Wines and Cheeses. This class will highlight a variety of delicious cheeses and wines from Spain, with information on them and how to pair them. $45 per person, January 22.

In keeping with the romantic theme, our February class will feature Heart-Warming Reds, perfect for a date night or your Valentine's Day table, along with perfectly paired cheeses! $45 per person, February 12.

We'll be venturing abroad and back in history in March, with Old World Wines. For this class, we will be pairing styles of European wines and cheeses that have been made in the same way for centuries. $45 per person, March 11.


Join us for some of our outstanding classes! As usual, Jeremiah Timmons of Ambrosia Bistro and Wine Bar will be running our cooking classes and our wine and cheese pairing classes will feature the expertise of John Allen from Vino! A Wine Shop. Feel free to drop by our website to send an email, or call us to sign up!

Rogue River Blue

Rogue Creamery in Oregon makes several amazing blue cheeses, including Oregon Blue and Smokey Blue. However, their crown jewel is Rogue River Blue. Rogue River is made from all Brown Swiss and Holstein cow's milk that is certified sustainable. This cheese is completely seasonable, being produced only during the autumnal equinox and winter solstice, aged, and then usually released during the month of September.

The flavor of Rogue River Blue is sweet, creamy, and complex. The wheels vary to some degree because the cheese expresses the terroir of the Rogue River Valley in Oregon. The cows graze on grass, herbs, and wildflowers, supplemented by some hay and grain grown at the ranch. Then, rather than inoculating the five pound wheels with P. roqueforti (the Roquefort mold that is most commonly used to create the bluing in blue cheeses), the cheesemakers age the Rogue River in caves made to resemble those in France that are used for the aging of Roquefort. This aging exposes the wheels to naturally occurring molds from the Rogue River Valley.

As the final touch, the wheels are wrapped in Oregon-grown Merlot and Syrah grape leaves which have been macerated in Clear Creek Pear Brandy. This wrapping influences the character of the cheese, giving it a softer texture and a juicier, sweeter, fruitier flavor.


Rogue River Blue has won several awards, notably Best Blue Cheese and Best American Cheese at the World Cheese Awards in London.

We have managed to acquire several wheels of this great but hard-to-find Oregon cheese. Call us, check out the website, or come on down to the shop to try a taste of it yourself!

Hook's 12 Year Cheddar

One of our newest cheeses is a 12 year aged cheddar from Hook's Cheese Company. Hook's has been making outstanding aged cheddars in Mineral Point, Wisconsin since 1976. The 10 year aged version won the American Cheese Society 1st place in 1996, and their newest cheddar, the 12 year, is an exceptional treat!


It is a pasteurized cow's milk cheese made with vegetarian rennet. Colored with annatto seeds, at first glance Hook's 12 Year Cheddar appears to be a standard orange brick cheddar, but once you taste it, its individuality shines through. The 12 Year Cheddar is rich and complex flavored, and has pockets of crystallized proteins that make an amazing addition to the flavor and texture of the cheese. It is still sharp, but its sharpness is tempered by its smooth savoriness.

We are selling Hook's 12 Year Cheddar in quarter pound increments. Come into the shop or check out our website to purchase!

November 2007 Classes

Coming up in November, we will have two new classes.

Monday, November 12, we will have a cooking class featuring holiday entertaining recipes.

Tuesday, November 13, we will have a wine and cheese pairing class on California wines and cheeses.

Cooking classes feature chef Jeremiah Timmons from Ambrosia Bistro and Wine Bar, and the wine and cheese pairing classes feature John Allen from Vino! A Wine Shop. Both of them are extraordinarily knowledgeable and make for an informative, entertaining and sociable evening.

All classes are $45.00 per person and are held at Saunders Cheese Market from 6pm-8pm. Call or come into the shop to sign up!