Sao Jorge cheese
eric edgar
Joe and Mary Matos are from the Azores island. Sao Jorge, off the coast of Portugal. While Mary was born in the United States, Joe, who came from a cheesemaking family, immigrated much later. The couple married and called Santa Rosa, California, home. There is a fairly substantial Portugese community in this city, about 50 miles north of San Francisco, and since Joe had cows and knew how to make the cheese from "home," he saw that cheesemaking might be a means to make a living. Thus was born the cheese from his home island, Sao George.
St. George, which is modeled after its Portugese counterpart, Sao Jorge, is a heat-treated raw milk, semi-hard cheese. It is a so-called stirred curd cheese, which means the curds are gently stirred entirely by hand before they are salted and scooped into molds. The cheeses are then pressed with presses fashioned from cinderblocks, before they are placed on the aging shelves for anywhere between four and nine months, becoming drier and sharper over time.
The paste or interior of the cheese is a golden yellow color with small "eyes," and the flavor of the cheese can be described as a cross between cheddar and Monterey Jack. It is ever-so-slightly sharp yet mellow and creamy. It is a little grassy and earthy, and it is also slightly tangy with a lovely fresh milk flavor. This extraordinary cheese goes equally well on a cheese board as it does on a grilled cheese sandwich.
A visit to the "factory," (more like a large shed) is a step back in time. No fancy machinery, no precise climate-control systems other than the thick walls serving to keep a constant temperature, just rows of shelves lined with wheels of cheese. Many of the cheeses have names on them to identify the customer for whom that particular cheese is being aged.
If you want to try the cheese, you can call the Matos' but don't bother getting out your credit card. Instead, plan to write down their address so that you can send a check or cash. They have never taken credit cards, and even though their daughter, Sylvia, now runs the show, she says there still are no plans to change their system.
Part of the glory of such a system is not only that it keeps the prices low - the cheese currently sells for $5.50 a pound at the farm (a steal for an artisan cheese of this quality and relatively limited availability) - but it also retains a bit of old country charm by using old-fashioned trust and building friendships as a result.
nancy jean baptiste
Thanks so much for posting about this cheese......I can hardly wait to taste it....just called in my order!
Regards,
Nancy
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:54:16 -0700
From: nobla...@gmail.com
To: Azo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Sao Jorge cheese
mikeg
great, the Matos are fine people. A little bit of Sao Jorge in our
back yard!
Mike
Hopland, Mendocino County
On Oct 29, 8:54 pm, "eric edgar" <noblankt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There is a great version of Sao Jorge cheese made in Northern California.
> I've been serving it in my wine bar for years.
> I have bought all the available imported ones from the Portuguese grocer in
> San Leandro and sampled them with my customers and we all prefer the Matos.
> It's distributed by a major restaurant supply house so should be available
> all
> along the west coast. Here's a review:
> *St. George*, made by Joe Matos Cheese Factory
gfsj...@aol.com
John Vasconcelos
-----Original Message-----
From: eric edgar <nobla...@gmail.com>
To: Azo...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 8:54 pm
Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Sao Jorge cheese