The cheeses I crave most in summer are light, fresh, moist and milky. They have no rind or just the merest one. Their flavor is bright, lactic, buttermilky. They go with rosé, crisp white wines, wheat beers and kölsch, which pretty much describes my beverage menu right now. Mozzarella makes the list, of course. Burrata. Feta. And now, moving straight to the top, is this new-to-me charmer, Melinda Mae. I’m crazy for it and you will be, too.

Several years ago, while at an American Cheese Society conference in Providence, I visited the tiniest creamery I had ever seen and probably ever will see. This petite cheese plant, with everything necessary to make safe and legal cheese, was inside a shipping container on a dairy farm near Mystic, Connecticut. Cheesemaker Brian Civitello and his business partner, Jason Sobocinski, called their business Mystic Cheese, and hoped that their tiny, mobile pod would inspire other underfunded entrepreneurs with a cheesemaking dream.

Brian’s résumé is a mile long. He spent five years, off and on, making cheese all over Italy; he worked at Rogue Creamery in Oregon; and for a few years, he managed Calabro, known for its mozzarella and superb ricotta. He had almost 20 years of cheesemaking experience before he and Jason launched Mystic. So it’s not surprising that success came quickly.

A couple of years ago, they moved Mystic Cheese to a much—much!—larger facility in Groton, near the historic seaport of Mystic. They get all their milk from a single nearby farm and Brian transforms it into several cheeses, but Melinda Mae is the only one I know.

Made in a plump four-pound square and matured for about a month at the creamery, Melinda Mae has a thin white crust and a supple, squishy interior, as soft as a down pillow. The creamery’s website calls it “pudgy.” It smells fabulous—like white mushrooms, sour cream and cultured butter—and it finishes with a bright, refreshing tang. Brian likens it to an Italian robiola, sort of. It bears a family resemblance to Teleme and Crescenza, but it has more of a rind and more mushroom scent. I can’t wait to melt it on polenta in the fall, but for now, it’s on the lunch table with tomatoes, cucumbers and olives.

You’ll find Mystic Cheese’s Melinda Mae online at igourmet and at these retail locations.

Cheese & Wine Tasting with Blackbird Vineyards

Friday, July 24
4 pm PT

Join me for a deep dive into cheese and wine pairing with Blackbird Vineyards winemaker Aaron Pott and Nicasio Valley Cheese owner Rick Lafranchi. Order the Blackbird Trio of cheeses to taste along. To register for the tasting (it’s free) and purchase any or all of the wines we’ll be tasting, visit Blackbird Vineyards. Or just listen in!